Beef Wellington with Bordelaise sauce

I recently had occasion to genuinely push the boat out.  Be extravagant with a meal; purchasing quality ingredients and allowing myself the time to prepare them properly.  These recipes are based on a mixture of traditional recipes, tweaked slightly, but still retaining their complexities and traditions.  I didn’t cut any corners with this dish. 

A beef wellington is made up of a filet of beef, wrapped in a mushroom mixture, a duxelles, which is wrapped in a cured meat, traditionally Parma ham, encased in puff pastry.  Some recipes call for crêpes to be added between the Parma ham and pastry, but I feel these detract from the textures, and can lead to gaps forming between the pastry and the meat.  I don’t include them.  

To make the duxelles you need 500g of chestnut mushrooms, and three shallots.  These should all be finely chopped, in a Brunoise fashion.  This results in small cubes, no more than ⅛ inch and allows for both a close compacting of the layers against the beef and a smooth even texture of the duxelles.  If done by hand, not in a blender, expect this to take up to an hour.  Once complete, brown some butter before sautéing the shallots.  Add some garlic, thyme, tarragon, parsley, and a bay leaf.  Once the shallots are translucent and the garlic is starting to cook, add the mushrooms.  Sprinkle a generous pinch of salt, to help draw out the liquid from the mushrooms.  All of the water from the mushrooms needs to be boiled off, so that the mushrooms can be fried.  Move the mixture around the frying pan, being patient for all the water to evaporate.  Don’t be tempted to turn the heat up, but rather, leave it on a medium simmer.  The shallot, herbs, and garlic will not burn while there is water present.  As soon as the last of the water is cooked off, add another knob of butter and ensure the mushroom mixture, by now less than half the size of the dry mix, is evenly browned.  Add some freshly ground black pepper just before removing from the heat, to let cool in a bowl.   

Don’t be shocked by the price of the filet.  You want the best cut you can afford, to ensure even cooking and no fat, or gristle, in the final dish.  Don’t be surprised if the cost of the meat is close to 3 figures.  For the occasional one-off it’s worth it.  You need around 1kg of beef.  Generously season the beef with salt and pepper, ensuring all parts are covered. This seasoning will add depth to the final dish. Put a skillet on a high heat, allowing the metal to come up to temperature before starting to sear the beef.  You want to ensure all sides are evenly seared with a nice dark  brown.  For the scientists amongst you, you want the Maillard Reaction to occur.  This is where the amino acids and sugars in the meat are browned by a high heat, resulting in a crust that introduces complex savoury flavors and aromatics.  This is essential for the best flavors in the final dish.  Don’t worry about burning the meat, or cooking it, if you keep moving the meat carefully browning each face, it will not burn and the meat just under the surface will still be raw.  As soon as all parts are browned to a coffee / chestnut shade, place the meat onto a cooling rack.  If the meat is placed on a baking tray or chopping board, steam will be trapped underneath the meat and the magical layer that was just created will be reduced in potency.  While the meat is still hot, brush a generous layer of Dijon mustard all over the meat.  The mustard will infuse with the Maillard layer further enhancing the flavors and offering some protection during the later cooking.  Some people string the beef at this point to ensure it holds its shape.  This is only necessary if you don’t have the right cut of meat.  If you have a top quality fillet you can allow the meat to cool without any further action.

Once the meat has cooled, it’s time to assemble the layers of duxelles and Parma ham.  You can use any thinly sliced cured meat.  Prosciutto is also commonly used, along with Jamón Serrano.  Lay lengths of plastic wrap over a table; this will be used to bind all the layers around the meat for storage prior to final assembly and cooking.  Lay pieces of your chosen cured meat on the plastic, ensuring an even layer with no holes or gaps.  Once there is enough cured meat to completely cover the beef, add the duxelles mixture.  This should be no more than 5mm thick, evenly distributed across the cured meat.  Use all of the mixture and take time to ensure it’s even.  If you find any stalks from the herbs, remove them.  The more time that is taken in these preparation steps, the better the results of the final dish will be.  Lastly place the cooled cut of beef in the middle of the duxelles.  Take the corners of one side of the plastic and pull them up and over the beef.  Don’t worry about trying to place the duxelles tight against the meat just yet.  Gently press against the meat to ensure the layers stick to this side of the beef.  Then take the other side of the plastic and pull this over the other half of the beef.  Where the two sides join, ensure the duxelles is not overlapping, maintaining the same thickness around the rest of the beef.  Remove some duxelles if required, but don’t leave a gap in the ‘seam’.  Ensure the cured meat also covers the seam.  It’s OK if the cured meat overlaps itself.  The final step here is to take the ends of the plastic wrap and use them like handles to roll the assembly, like a rolling pin.  The goal is to get the plastic as tight as possible around the meat, compressing the layers to the beef.  The plastic will also pull in from the sides resulting in something that may resemble a giant egg, or haggis.  This is expected.  Wrap another layer around the whole assembly to ensure the ends don’t become loose to maintain the shape.  It now needs to rest in the fridge for as long as possible - ideally overnight.  I had completed these prep steps the day before I wanted to cook the Wellington, giving the beef about 30 hours of rest.

In my opinion, it is never worth trying to make your own puff pastry.  A single packet of store brought pastry is perfectly adequate.  Roll the pastry out to about ¼ inch thickness ensuring no thin spots or gaps.  Before unwrapping the beef, check that the rolled pastry is going to be large enough to encompass the beef.  Gently unwrap the beef and place it on the pastry.  Aim for the seam of cured meat to be on the bottom of the finished Wellington.  If the beef has been chilled for more than 4 hours, it will be firm enough to be gently handled as you maneuver it, and the pastry.  Gently pull the pastry over the beef, in the same way the beef was wrapped in the duxelles.  Once the pastry is wrapped around the beef, use a little egg wash to join the seam of the pastry.  Then turn it over, so that the seam in the pastry is on the bottom.  There are options for how to finish the ends of the Wellington; either trim the pastry and pull a single piece down, tucked underneath, or, as I usually do, put a single pleat in the pastry at roughly a 45° angle.  Trim and tuck any remaining pastry underneath.  Don’t allow the pastry to be bunched or to become too thick in any one area.  One of the keys to this dish is even layers, to ensure an even cook of the beef.  As with the ends, there are a myriad of options and possibilities for the top.  I follow the tradition of a cross hatch, of diaper pattern, with a simple egg wash.  Don’t be tempted to cover the top with everything bagel seasoning.  The beef and the dish don’t deserve that.  Allow the dish to present the flavors so carefully prepared throughout.  

To cook the Wellington, place it in a pre-heated oven at 200°C or 390°F for 35 - 40 minutes.  Don’t be intimidated by the fact that you cannot see the meat as it’s cooking.  After 35 minutes has elapsed, remove the Wellington from the oven, take it off the baking tray and place it on a cooling rack.  This again, prevents negative effects of steam, ensuring the pastry stays crisp all round.  Very importantly, leave the Wellington to rest for at least 15 minutes.  The beef will continue to cook inside.  These cooking and resting times will produce a medium cook on the beef.  

Traditionally, a red wine sauce is served with a Wellington.  I was pushing the boat out, so I made a Bordelaise sauce.  This is a red wine sauce with the inclusion of a demi-glace and bone marrow.  The epitome of decadence.  Some larger stores sell marrow bones, usually beef shins.  Most butchers also stock them.  Whether you find shins that have been canoed, cut down their length, or just cut into sections, the cook is approximately the same.  Firstly, roast the marrow.  Simply place the bones in a roasting pan and into an oven at 180°C or 350°F to cook for 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the size of individual bones.  The marrow should be bubbling at the ends, but not falling out.  Set the bones aside for now, the marrow will be added to the sauce later.  

Finely slice some shallots and sauté these along with some garlic.  If you have retained the skillet from searing the beef, using this will add additional depth of flavor.  Once the shallots are translucent, add 2 tablespoons of brandy and flambé.  Be careful, don’t singe your arm hairs or eyebrows!  Then add ½ to ⅔ a bottle of good quality Bordeaux wine.  This is the traditional wine that should be used.  Add a pinch of salt and a generous pinch of both chopped parsley and tarragon.  Add a demi-glace, which can be made from a cube of jellied (or powdered) stock and 300ml of warm water.  Allow the liquid to reduce in volume by two-thirds.  Do this by gently simmering the sauce, don’t use a rolling boil.  After approximately 10 minutes, the sauce should start to thicken.  When it’s reduced enough, it will coat the back of a spoon.  At this point, add the roasted bone marrow.  Simply scoop the marrow out of the bones and stir it into the sauce.  It should all dissolve into the sauce.  Roasted bone marrow can also be spread onto toast triangles.  It tastes like deeply roasted beef and butter - divine!    

The sauce can be left until needed, warmed through again if needs be.  Before serving, decant the sauce into a gravy boat sieving out the herbs and any undissolved bits of bone marrow.  What separates fine dining from regular meals is the attention to detail.  You don’t want your guests finding anything undesirable or inedible.  Do the work for them and ensure the sauce is silky smooth.  I like to serve this with garlic butter potatoes.  These are simply chopped salad or white potatoes, that have been seasoned with salt and pepper, roasted in a small deep pan.  Add finely chopped, or powdered garlic to butter, gently heated until liquid.  Then add the garlic butter to the potatoes.  If the pan is small enough the potatoes should be half submerged in the butter.  This will half confit the potatoes making them extra soft and giving them a smoother texture.

Serve by carefully slicing the Wellington into inch thick slices.  Remember the cook of the beef should be medium; a nice pink area in the center of each slice.  Plate this along with the potatoes with a spoon of Bordelaise sauce.  Allow your guests to add more sauce from the gravy boat.  Serve with a good quality red wine that you enjoy.  Is this dish worth the extra effort and expense?  In my, albeit biased opinion, yes.  This isn’t something I would cook on a regular basis.  But for a treat, a couple of times a year, why not push the boat out?  With good company, gentle background music, dimmed lights and a relaxed atmosphere, the meal will be one for the books.  

Bon appetite.