Beef Wellington advice appreciated.

YYZash · February 2008

I have tried beef Wellington 3 times and still don’t have it down. The first two times I seared the tenderloin prior to wrapping. I cook at 400 on a pizza stone and pull when the pastry looks done. Both times the meat came out at medium I am trying for medium rare.

Last night I didn’t sear the meat first just wrapped. As you can see in the pics (hope they work) the meat is more rare than medium this is good but the bottom layer of pastry didn’t cook it was all mushy and I lost a lot of fluid at slice. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

Richard Fl · February 2008

Here is another idea.

Beef, Tenderloin, Wellington, Filet de Bouef en Croute

Or as we English speakers say, Beef Wellington, the Christmas meal this year. This is the first time I've posted a picture, not having a digital camera before, though I've been egging for 4-1/2 years.

1 TheStormyDog,
2 We used the version in Julia Child's Art of French Cooking, Vol II - which would be way too long to type out, since it incorporates recipes for sauce (Ragout in this case), brioche (for the wrapper, done by my amazing wife), one for stuffed filet (mushrooms, good ham, duck pate, marsala, shallots, parsley & seasonings), and the final assembly.
3 We made everything a day ahead of time. The filet gets sliced into 1/2" sections that are reassembled salted and peppered with a tablespoon or two of the cooked stuffing between each slice. This gets tied up in oiled cheesecloth and string, then roasted ~25 minutes at dome ~475. Then refrigerate the roast overnight so the brioche dough can first rise twice, then be deflated and weighted so it won't rise after the second one.
4 Next day, about an hour or two before serving, roll out the brioche, put the filet on it, cut off the strings and cloth, then cover with another rolling pin full of brioche. Paint on some egg beaten with a tsp of water, twice. Into the egg at ~475 dome for 20 minutes, drop the temp to ~400 dome and cook until you get 120 internal for rare, or how you like it.
5 Yum.
6 12/26/06--Stike--EdF, nice work!
7 We did them a bit different, as individual filets using phyllo pastry. also seared the tenderloins and let them cool before wrapping and doing the final roast til done
8 This was some of the leftovers. these didn't brown as much, because we didn't give them an egg or butter brushing.

Recipe Type
Beef, Main Dish

Recipe Source
Source: BGE Forum, EdF, 12/26/06

You can cook just about anything in the egg.

- Ed

AlaskanC · February 2008

I sear the tenderloin a few hours ahead of time, then let it cool down to room temp (yeah, I'm sure there's some food safety rule I'm breaking). Wrap it up and cook it as usual, just starting with room temp pre-seared meat.
If you do it that way, by the time the dough has browned, the meat is usually right around 120-125 or so. Let it sit for about 10 minutes after that, and *voila* perfect wellington!

I can't remember how we do pics on here, so you may have to copy & paste.

Little Steven · February 2008

Stike posted an amazing looking wellie the other day, maybe he will chime in.

Syeve

stike · February 2008

i wish i could tell you how i did my christmas one, exactly, but i was buzzing on scotch all day. first christmas we ever got to just stay home and play with the kids' toys...

i seared first, and i think i may have put the tenderloin back into the fridge while i built the rest of it.

as for cooking til it's done... i let the meat tell me when it was done, not the dough. i DID use an egg wash so that she'd brown faster, allowing the meat to remain rare to medium rare. the first time i did this, i did individual filets right on the plate setter (pizza stone), and they were also moist on the bottom. this time i did it on parchment paper sitting on the stone. i don't think that helped keep it dry, though. but this one was not mushy on the bottom. in fact, had a great crust.

my platesetter WAS preheated to 400 though. if you put the wellington on a cold platesetter, i think it would hold it back from cooking while the top cooked.

the other thing... i can see from your pic that the duxelles had big bits of mushroom in it. the duxelles should be free of any 'wetness', no liquid at all. some recipes say 'dry', though i keep it like a paste.

that 'shroom moisture would be the spoiler. next time, let the shrooms lose much more water, as i think that was the issue.

i have posted these pic three times since december. some folks are gonna think i haven't cooked anything other than this! i even posted these this week, i'm pretty sure. but li'l steven mentioned it, so here they are (some of them).

marinated tenderloin already seared, duxelles, and pate'. damn. next time i'ma just eat the duxelles and pate'.

the wellington all done. those were supposed to be holly leaves and all...

and plated.

Beef Wellington advice appreciated.

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