Beef Wellington is a classic meat dish of beef (tenderloin) and duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms), with a puff pastry crust, baked in the oven. One of the most famous beef wellington recipes is from Gordon Ramsay. He has made a lot of beef wellingtons in his life, doing this completely in the oven. Because he has made so many it does not go wrong. Since most people do not regularly make beef wellington, it may be that the doneness is not good (too well done or under frying). I therefore wanted to make this dish sous vide. The challenge is: get the meat to a perfect cuisson in advance and round it just before serving.
On the advice of our butcher I do not use tenderloin, but rump steak. Was curious if it would be equally tasty. If the meat is bought from a quality butcher, I suggest taking rump steak instead of tenderloin.
Ingredients (4 persons)
- 500 gr. rump steak in one piece, cut elongated
- 250 gr. chestnut mushrooms
- 250 gr. mushrooms (mix)
- 2 shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- hand thyme
- horseradish or Dijon mustard
- 150 gr. Parma ham
- puff pastry
- pepper and salt
- ghee or butter
- egg
- rope to tie up meat
Prepare
Sprinkle salt and pepper on the meat, tie the meat with a string if necessary to get an elongated oval shape and vacuum the meat. Cook the meat in the sous vide at 51°C for 2.5 hours.
Clean the chestnut mushrooms and the remaining mushrooms, peel the shallots and garlic. Place all the mushrooms, shallots and garlic in the food processor and grind them finely.
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat without butter and fry the mushrooms (duxelles) without butter. Stir frequently to avoid searing. Add pepper, salt and tyme
The mushrooms will start to lose their moisture. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes dry. The moisture must have disappeared from the duxelles. Pour the duxelles into a bowl or on a flat plate and set aside.
After 2.5 hours, remove the meat from the sous vide and cool the meat in ice water. Place the cooled meat in the freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the meat out of the freezer and put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour to keep it cold.
Heat a frying pan over high heat and heat the ghee (clarified butter). Ghee can withstand higher temperatures, if you don’t use ghee, then butter. Remove the meat from the plastic and remove the string. Fry the meat very briefly until it is brown on all sides, don’t forget the sides of the meat.
Brush the meat, immediately after cooking, with horseradish or with Dijon mustard.
Roll out cling film on the workbench. Make sure that more than enough cling film is used so that the meat can be rolled up properly. Place the slices of Parma ham on top of each other like roof tiles. The width should be wider than the length of the meat.
Brush the Parma ham with the cooled duxelles. This can be quite thick. Make sure that a small portion of the Parma ham is not covered with duxelles on the sides. Place the meat in the middle of the duxelles.
Roll up the bottom of the foil and once the foil has reached the Parma ham / duxelles, lift it slightly upwards, then roll the Parma ham over the meat, making sure that the Parma ham is tight around the meat. When the meat is completely rolled up, roll the foil a little further, so that the meat is well wrapped in the foil. Cut the foil.
Make sure that the sides of the foil are rolled up very tightly. The meat must be completely wrapped in the foil, it must be an elongated, round whole. Place the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Roll out foil on the workbench and place the (thawed) puff pastry on top. Preferably use homemade puff pastry or large sheets. Remove the meat from the freezer and remove it from the foil. Place the meat with duxelles and Parma ham on the puff pastry and roll the puff pastry around the meat. Do this in the same way as before with the Parma ham meat. Trim off any excess puff pastry. Make sure the foil is tight around the puff pastry and make sure the meat is completely covered with puff pastry.
When the puff pastry is wrapped with foil around the meat, remove the foil from the puff pastry and put the puff pastry in the refrigerator until use.
Finalizing the dish
Heat the oven to 200°C. Brush the puff pastry with beaten egg and, if necessary, with a little salt. If necessary, make patterns in the puff pastry or put a pattern of puff pastry over the puff pastry, this is not necessary.
Put the meat in the oven for 17 minutes and then set the oven to 230°C and leave the meat in the oven for another 5 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the meat cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes. The puff pastry is nice and crunchy. The meat is warm and not cooked any further.
Serve
Cut the beef wellington in half and cut into slices. Serve these slices with a sauce This can be a red wine sauce or a licorice sauce. Serve vegetables such as haricot verts or broccoli. Serve mashed potatoes if desired.
Add an Amarone when served with the licorice sauce, this is a great combination. If you serve the dish without licorice sauce, serve it with a pinot noir from Burgundy, a Barolo or a Pomerol.
