Tremendous Beef Wellington
Prep
60m
Cook
40m
Total
100m
Bigly says
This one is personal. Beef Wellington. We're doing it. The TREMENDOUS Beef Wellington. And I have to be straight with you, because the situation out there is DIRE — most Beef Wellingtons in this world are GREY. They are grey, they are sad, they are weeping their own juices into a pool of disappointment on the plate. A tragedy. A disgrace to beef. People deserve better and they are not getting it.
This Wellington is not grey. This Wellington is PINK in the middle. Rosy. Beautiful. The kind of pink that makes a grown man stop chewing and stare at his fork for a moment, contemplating his life choices and how good they have just become. The precise internal temperature here is the difference between transcendence and ruin. 125°F. Pull it. Rest it. That number is sacred. Nobody disputes this. End of discussion.
Many people don't know this, but the original Wellington was invented for a Duke. An actual Duke, with the hat and the boots and the whole situation. The Duke ate this Wellington and said — I'm paraphrasing because they didn't have phones to record back then — he said, 'This is the greatest dinner of my entire dukedom.' True story. Possibly. The pseudo-history is fuzzy but the FOOD is not. The secret, the ACTUAL secret, is the sear and the chill. You sear the beef HARD. Then you chill the whole assembled thing before it goes in the oven. People skip the chill. Those people end up with a soggy bottom. A soggy bottom is the worst possible outcome in any culinary endeavor on Earth. It's not even close. It's a slaughter.
Ingredients
- 2 lbcenter-cut beef tenderloin(trimmed, tied with kitchen twine)
- 2 tspkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 2 tbspneutral oil
- 2 tbspDijon mustard
- 1 lbcremini mushrooms(no canned mushrooms, never, never the can)
- 2shallots, minced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 tbspfresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 1/4 cupdry white wine
- 8 slicesthinly sliced prosciutto
- 1 lball-butter puff pastry(the all-butter kind, the other kind is sad)
- 1large egg, beaten(for egg wash)
- to finishflaky sea salt
Steps
- 1
Pat the tenderloin completely dry with paper towels. Season generously all over with kosher salt and pepper.
- 2
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over high heat until smoking. Sear the tenderloin on all sides, about 2 minutes per side, until deeply browned. Transfer to a plate and let cool to room temperature, then brush all over with Dijon mustard.
- 3
Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped. Melt the butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and cook 2 minutes until soft. Add garlic and thyme, cook 30 seconds.
- 4
Add the chopped mushrooms and a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, 10-12 minutes until all moisture has evaporated and the mixture looks dry — this is the duxelles. Add the wine and cook 2 more minutes until completely dry. Spread on a plate to cool.
- 5
Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Arrange the prosciutto slices in an overlapping rectangle large enough to wrap the tenderloin. Spread the cooled duxelles evenly over the prosciutto.
- 6
Place the tenderloin on one edge and use the plastic wrap to roll the prosciutto and duxelles tightly around the beef. Twist the ends to form a tight log. Chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes.
- 7
Roll the puff pastry on a floured surface to a rectangle large enough to wrap the log. Unwrap the beef and place it on the pastry. Brush the pastry edges with egg wash, fold over, and seal seams. Trim excess and crimp.
- 8
Transfer seam-side down to a parchment-lined sheet pan. Brush all over with egg wash. Score the top in a diagonal pattern with the back of a knife. Sprinkle with flaky salt. Chill 15 minutes.
- 9
Heat oven to 425°F. Bake 35-45 minutes, until pastry is deep golden brown and a thermometer inserted in the center reads 125°F for medium-rare.
- 10
Rest 10 minutes before slicing into 1-inch rounds with a sharp serrated knife.
One more thing
You bring this to the table on a wooden board, you slice it open, and the room goes silent. Silent. People put down their phones. People stop arguing about whatever they were arguing about. Big strong men, tough men, men who never cry — they see the cross-section of that pink beef inside the bronze pastry and they tear up. I've seen it personally, in person, with my own eyes. So-called chefs will tell you Wellington is hard, it's complicated, you need a culinary degree. Nonsense. You just have to chill the thing. Chill it twice. Sear it hard. Trust the temperature. And there you have it.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Tremendous Beef Wellington.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
★ MORE LIKE THIS ★
KEEP COOKING.
Tremendous Bangers and Mash
Pan-seared pork sausages over rich buttery mashed potatoes, smothered in a sweet caramelized onion and beef stout gravy.
Huge Beef and Noodles
Tender chuck roast slow-simmered until shreddable, served over buttery egg noodles cooked in the gravy. Midwestern comfort food at its purest.
The Best Beef Burgundy
Slow-braised beef in red wine with bacon, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Deep, silky, restaurant-quality comfort food in one Dutch oven.
The Best Beef Pot Pie
The best beef pot pie: tender braised beef in a rich red-wine gravy with carrots and mushrooms, sealed under a flaky golden puff pastry crust.