The Beef Wellington Appreciation Thread
Discussion
It seems several PH'ers (myself included) are having Beef Wellington for Christmas dinner rather than the more traditional turkey. So I thought it would be good to have a thread for the BW aficionados to gather in one thread and post recipes, tips and of course lots of photos of majestic beefy-in-pastry goodness.
So what recipe are you following? What are you making ahead? To pancake or parma-ham or not to pancake or parma ham? To chop mushrooms then to cook or to cook then chop? To mustard the beef or not? I notice Jamie Oliver puts chicken livers in his duxelles. There are so many variations. And that's before you consider a sauce.
Post away and let's have some good BW appreciation!
So what recipe are you following? What are you making ahead? To pancake or parma-ham or not to pancake or parma ham? To chop mushrooms then to cook or to cook then chop? To mustard the beef or not? I notice Jamie Oliver puts chicken livers in his duxelles. There are so many variations. And that's before you consider a sauce.
Post away and let's have some good BW appreciation!
I'm doing a rib roast, but this is the recipe I use for Wellington: https://www.gordonramsay.com/gr/recipes/beef-welli...
I'll be doing a wellington for NY day. Probably start thinking about it day after boxing day and make the duxelle. For me this is a combination of soaked, dried mushrooms and roasted field mushrooms. Cook them off dry and then dry fry with shallots, a little garlic, madeira and lots of fresh thyme. Then leave uncovered in the fridge for a couple of days to dry out properly. Make the crepes on the day adding more fresh herbs to the batter.
I'll be using frozen fillet which is slowly defrosting. The day before I will trim and sear it then coat in mustard and fresh herbs and cling tight and chill for 24 hours to improve the shape.
on the day the whole lot gets assembled in about 10 minutes with shop bought pre-rolled pastry.
The main job on the day is making a good sauce but I still have a few litres of demi-glace fromzen down to get rid of so thats not a problem!
I'll be using frozen fillet which is slowly defrosting. The day before I will trim and sear it then coat in mustard and fresh herbs and cling tight and chill for 24 hours to improve the shape.
on the day the whole lot gets assembled in about 10 minutes with shop bought pre-rolled pastry.
The main job on the day is making a good sauce but I still have a few litres of demi-glace fromzen down to get rid of so thats not a problem!
Gameface said:
Is there an alternative to the mushrooms in Wellington recipes?
I've seen pate used but unless you make it yourself it tends to be greasy and not particularly pleasant.You could always use roasted veg like peppers, courgette, aubergine etc. Just roast it until almost dried out then either cook off with sweated shallots and garlic.
mattdaniels said:
Sounds great Tony. One question - why are you not making the sauce ahead too? I want to do minimal cooking on Christmas day so want to make as much ahead as possible - one item I planned to do today was the red wine sauce but if it's better to leave that to tomorrow then I will.
if I didn't have the demi-glace frozen I would be doing the sauce in advance. Completely agree about doing everything ahead, my Turkey is in right now and this afternoon the veg will be blanched and stuffing prepped. Xmas day is the one day a year I really cannot be bothered with any hassle in the kitchen!21TonyK said:
mattdaniels said:
Sounds great Tony. One question - why are you not making the sauce ahead too? I want to do minimal cooking on Christmas day so want to make as much ahead as possible - one item I planned to do today was the red wine sauce but if it's better to leave that to tomorrow then I will.
if I didn't have the demi-glace frozen I would be doing the sauce in advance. Completely agree about doing everything ahead, my Turkey is in right now and this afternoon the veg will be blanched and stuffing prepped. Xmas day is the one day a year I really cannot be bothered with any hassle in the kitchen!mattdaniels said:
21TonyK said:
mattdaniels said:
Sounds great Tony. One question - why are you not making the sauce ahead too? I want to do minimal cooking on Christmas day so want to make as much ahead as possible - one item I planned to do today was the red wine sauce but if it's better to leave that to tomorrow then I will.
if I didn't have the demi-glace frozen I would be doing the sauce in advance. Completely agree about doing everything ahead, my Turkey is in right now and this afternoon the veg will be blanched and stuffing prepped. Xmas day is the one day a year I really cannot be bothered with any hassle in the kitchen!By small batch I mean they must not reduce the boiling water to a simmer so it really depends on the size of your pans.
Once they have been the sink for a minute or two transfer them into a big bowl or pan of more ice cold water.
Basically you are cooling them as quickly as possible. This will preserve the colour and texture. You can also get rid of any loose leafs that come off and make them look messy.
Once you have done this they can be drained properly and kept in the fridge under cling.
For carrots cook as normal but only 90% of what you want. Drain and leave to cool. No need to use cold water.
On the day reheat as desired. I fry the spouts with chestnuts and microwave the carrots
Bill said:
I'm doing a rib roast, but this is the recipe I use for Wellington: https://www.gordonramsay.com/gr/recipes/beef-welli...
We are having rib on boxing day. Been hung for weeks and looks stunning. 
Looks good Matt, but the pastry seems to be the same as mine.........massively undercooked.
As an aside, I cooked another piece of left over pastry just now at 230 and it puffed up very well within about 4-5 mins.
I'm going to cook another piece over the holiday at 230 and see how it turns out, probably high for 5-10 then turn it down to 200
Happy cooking!
Chris
As an aside, I cooked another piece of left over pastry just now at 230 and it puffed up very well within about 4-5 mins.
I'm going to cook another piece over the holiday at 230 and see how it turns out, probably high for 5-10 then turn it down to 200
Happy cooking!
Chris
ChrisnChris said:
Looks good Matt, but the pastry seems to be the same as mine.........massively undercooked.
The pastry was perfect for me, nice and crispy but not burnt. Certainly not "massively undercooked". I used the jus-rol puff pastry sheets.
Did you remember to egg wash yours? That helps with the colour.
21TonyK said:
Gameface said:
Is there an alternative to the mushrooms in Wellington recipes?
I've seen pate used but unless you make it yourself it tends to be greasy and not particularly pleasant.You could always use roasted veg like peppers, courgette, aubergine etc. Just roast it until almost dried out then either cook off with sweated shallots and garlic.
The meat is also seared in whisky, so some of that makes is across to the duxelle as well..
The outside was OK but, like yours, the pastry isn't cooked all the way through and remains at most 5-6mm thick. You can see that from the cut pieces in both our photos.
This is how I would expect puff pastry to be, irrespective of how you, or I would like it. I, like you, don't mind a bit of undercooked pastry, but this isn't how puff pastry should be.
The pastry had 2 egg washes, one whilst it was firming up the other immediately prior to cooking. My oven temperatures are off & next time I'll take this into consideration.
Perhaps we should leave it here, it's pointless debating personal preferences. I'm merely stating that puff pastry should puff into many layers and it hasn't, for either of us, as is evident in the pics.
Happy cooking
ChrisnChris said:
As an aside, I cooked another piece of left over pastry just now at 230 and it puffed up very well within about 4-5 mins.
The piece I cooked later as an experiment puffed up to a good 20mm thick, in layers & cooked all the way through.This is how I would expect puff pastry to be, irrespective of how you, or I would like it. I, like you, don't mind a bit of undercooked pastry, but this isn't how puff pastry should be.
The pastry had 2 egg washes, one whilst it was firming up the other immediately prior to cooking. My oven temperatures are off & next time I'll take this into consideration.
Perhaps we should leave it here, it's pointless debating personal preferences. I'm merely stating that puff pastry should puff into many layers and it hasn't, for either of us, as is evident in the pics.
Happy cooking
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