Yield: 4 – 6 servings

Adapted from Elizabeth E. Skipper

Circa 1988: Beef Wellington is a masterpiece of a dish. It’s really not all that hard to make, but you need to be careful and follow all of the directions. There are many variations for the recipe. Some insist on using mustard to coat the seared meat. Others wrap the duxelle coated meat in crepes to keep the puff pastry dry. Individual Wellingtons are also a nice touch when made from filet steaks.

• ½box puff pastry
• duxelles (see below)
• 6oz foie gras or pork liver pate (optional, but recommended)
• 1center of a trimmed filet of beef (tenderloin), about 2 – 3 lb
• dorure (pastry glue) made with 1 egg yolk and 3 TBS milk
• vegetable oil

If starting from a whole tenderloin, trim it to remove the center cut (chateaubriand).  Remove any remaining silver skin.  Click this link for detailed instructions on preparing a tenderloin.

Season the meat all over with salt and pepper, then lightly coat meat with a film of oil and broil or sauté to sear – about five minutes on each side. Using a pair of tongs, sear the ends also. This will not cook it, only brown it. Set aside to cool.

When cool, put a hole through the center of the meat (down the length of it), and fill with the foie gras. Spread on three sides and the ends with the duxelles and set aside once again while you roll out the pastry.

Roll out the pastry into a rectangle large enough to enclose the meat with an overlap, about 1/8″ thick. Set the meat upside down on the pastry, and fold the pastry up over the meat. Seal the flap with dorure and trim the sides (ends) to just fit with a slight overlap , Seal these with dourer also. Invert the pastry-wrapped meat onto a baking sheet, decorate with pastry cutouts made from the scraps (affix with dorure), and chill for an hour.

Make some steam holes in the dough.

Bake at 425°F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is cooked a nice brown color.

Allow to rest for ten minutes before carving with a serrated knife.

Duxelles:

• ½onion, minced
• 2shallots, minced
• 12oz mushrooms
• ½cup madeira or sherry
• ½cup heavy cream

Sauté onion and shallot until soft but not brown in 2 TBS butter. Add mushrooms, salt. Turn heat up high and cover until they exude juice (a l’étuvée). Uncover and cook until juice evaporates. Add ¼ – ½ cup dry sherry/madeira and cook until evaporated. Add heavy cream. Cook until cream appears to disappear.