Should I Sear Before or After Placing the Beef Welling to Rest in the Fridge

If there is a dish that represents decadence, luxury, and richness, information technology is beefiness Wellington. This dish, beloved in—and strangely discarded since—the '60s, is every bit equally delicious today as it was in the era of Continental Cuisine. And how could it non be! It's a beef tenderloin coated in sautéed mushrooms with pâté all wrapped upward in puff pastry. Those are four of my favorite things in the whole globe already, and when you put them all together…

Simply isn't Beef Wellington super difficult? It's an experts-and-real-chefs-but kind of dish, right? Absolutely non. Just because it has many steps does not mean it'southward difficult! With step-by-pace guidance and with some good thermometers—like the ChefAlarm^® and the Thermapen^®—you really tin can get perfect results. So allow'south take a look at this festive archetype and, with some assistance from one of our culinary heroes, Mr. J. Kenji López-Alt of SeriousEats.com, permit'south explore its thermal mysteries.

Contents:

• What is Beefiness Wellington?
• What is duxelles and why do I need it in my life?
• Thermal properties of Beef Wellington
• Beef Wellington recipe

What is Beef Wellington?

Though popularly associated with Arthur Wellesley, Showtime Duke of Wellington, there is no record of the dish by this name before 1940. In fact, in that location are few dishes that even match its description before that fourth dimension! (For a full bookkeeping of it's recorded history, run into The Nutrient Timeline.)

But regardless of the provenance of the name, the dish is worth eating for its own sake. Equally we said in a higher place, it consists of a beef tenderloin with duxelles (pronounced dook-sell)—sometimes containing truffles—and pâté (often of foie gras, which is fattened goose or duck livers) all wrapped in a dough—sometimes basic pie dough, often puff pastry.

Gordon Ramsey has been working to re-popularize the dish with his take on it that includes a mustard rub for the beef and an extra wrap in prosciutto di Parma or other dry-cured ham—a great idea! Simply Kenji takes it one pace further by wrapping the prosciutto, duxelles, and loin in filo dough before wrapping information technology in puff pastry. Why? Because filo is bang-up every bit making packets that contain liquid, and that'southward great for keeping your puff pastry from getting soggy, one of the common problems with Beef Wellington. Genius.

What is duxelles? Why do I need it

"You keep using that word," you say. "What is it?" Duxelles is a crumbly, spread-y paste fabricated past sautéing finely chopped mushrooms with shallots or onions and herbs in butter. It'southward amazing. Even people who don't like mushrooms similar it. Why? This is a flavorful umami bomb. There are loads of naturally occurring glutamates in the mushrooms and onions that combine and condense to make delicious. It's great on buttered toast, fantastic on a steak, and a revelation when combined with pâté in beef wellington. Only information technology is tasty enough to stand on its own, stuffed into a piecrust and eaten as a turnover without any meat. One time you lot start making it, you'll never go dorsum. It will become something you crave, specially in the cold winter months when condolement is male monarch.

Sometimes, as in this recipe, it is finished with a lilliputian bit of brandy, Madeira, or sherry and cream, which just adds to the richness and depth of flavor of the whole.

In the photos below, you can see that I minced my mushrooms by hand, simply that'southward non necessary. You tin use a food processor for the mincing, only you will need to pre-cut the mushrooms some. Putting whole mushrooms in a nutrient processor can exist an do in frustration, equally they quickly turn into spheres that only curl around on top of the blade. Piece the mushrooms coarsely before adding them to the processor. Work in batches for best results.

Beef Wellington: thermal backdrop and why it works

In our post on beef tenderloin, we recommend cooking to perfection by cooking more than slowly, in a 225°F (107°C) oven. But for Wellington, we're adding puff pastry to the mix, which needs an instant hit of high heat to create steam and puff the layers out. Can these two processes be reconciled? Yes.

In truth, they kind of reconcile themselves. Nosotros'll cook the Wellington at 425°F (218°C) to puff the pastry. But we needn't fear that our beefiness will overcook too apace considering once the pastry is puffed, it literally becomes a coat of insulation for the meat: all those air pockets irksome the period of rut from the outside to the beef and prevent it from scorching.

Even with that insulating blanket and a few chill cycles for the whole thing, we will still need to monitor the temperature carefully to achieve annihilation like perfection. Use a ChefAlarm inserted laterally into the loin through the pastry to track the meat'south internal temperature. Set the high alert to 125°F (52°C) for perfect medium-rare.

Notes:

• For extra protection from overcooking, do as we recommend in our other tenderloin post and chill the beefiness before searing.
• Kenji'due south recipe calls for slices of seared whole foie gras, but that's not an ingredient that is like shooting fish in a barrel to come by in near markets. I've substituted pre-made pâté that is fabricated with foie gras. Yous may still need to hit up a college-finish grocer or butcher to get it, merely information technology's much easier to find than a lobe of foie.
• If you lot're crazy about DIY, y'all can make your ain puff pastry, simply fifty-fifty I'm not going to practise that for this dish. Frozen puff pastry is delicious and pretty readily bachelor.

Beef Wellington Recipe

Based on Ultimate Beef Wellington by SeriousEats.

Ingredients

• 1 eye-cut beef tenderloin, trimmed of silverskin and fat, about ii pounds
• Kosher table salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
• 3 Tbsp Dijon, spicy dark-brown, or hot English (Coleman'southward) mustard
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms (cremini, shiitake, portabello, or, if y'all're lucky, chanterelles) cleaned, trimmed, and roughly chopped
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 medium shallots
• ii tsp finely minced fresh thyme leaves
• one/ii C cognac or other brandy or barrel-aged spirit such as bourbon
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 4 oz fresh foie gras (about two 1/2-inch slabs, come across note higher up) or foie gras pâté
• 1 large or 2 small sheets filo dough
• 1/4 lb prosciutto, sliced paper-thin
• Flour for dusting
• 14 oz frozen or homemade puff pastry, thawed (see note)
• i egg, beaten
• 1 agglomeration finely minced chives for garnish

Instructions

Set the beefiness and mushrooms

Sear the tenderloin and make the duxelles

Create the initial beefiness roll for the Beef Wellington

Set the puff pastry and roll the beef

Wait at that beautiful Beef Wellington Loaf!

Bake the Beef Wellington

With the holidays coming up, yous're bound to be eating with friends or family at some betoken. Why not brand the occasion a special one with a true center-slice dish that is out of the ordinary and stunningly delicious? With the help of some thermal tricks (chilling and insulating) and a good thermometer or 2 (ChefAlarm and Thermapen), yous can achieve chef-worthy results that volition astonish you and your gustation buds, not to mention your family and friends.

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Source: https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/beef-wellington-recipe-with-thermal-tips/

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