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Beef Wellington

John Amundson
Jan 22, 2018
5 min read

Most of the people reading this probably know already, but I'm at my moms house celebrating Christmas and she agreed to let me cook Christmas dinner. And what better thing to have for Christmas dinner than the legendary beef wellington?

I mean who wouldn't want to just dive into that? Combined with a rich red wine sauce, it was truly a masterpiece. We had the leftovers for dinner tonight and they were even better the next day. All the flavors had melded beautifully. It's a shame it cost almost $100 to make and took all day. It's worth it though. If you get the chance, make this for Christmas dinner.

I kept the experimentation to a minimum since the original recipe was so perfect. Think of this as more of a hilight of a classic recipe. It's also so complex and involved I was afraid to stray too far from the instructions. This is by far the most amazing thing I've ever tasted.

There's a certain order you should do things in since things like the stock base for the sauce has to be refrigerated for several hours. Here's how I did it:

Stock in the morning
Duxelles and beef later in the day/night
finish the sauce while the beef cooks

You'll need:

For the Beef:

2 lbs beef tenderloin

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

8 slices of Parma ham or prosciutto ham

Puff pastry to cover the beef

1 egg

For the Duxelles:

1/2 lbs baby Bella mushrooms

1 tbsp cream sherry

2 large pinches Magic Mushroom Powder

5 sprigs fresh thyme

For the Sauce:

1 1/2 lbs oxtails

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 rib of celery, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped

1 head of garlic, cut in half and broken into cloves

1/2 bottle of red wine

1 tbsp dried thyme

1/2 tbsp Herbs de Provence

1 bay leaf

2 large shallots

1 can chicken broth (8 oz)

1 can beef broth (8 oz)

2 tsp black peppercorns

6 parsley stems

1/4 cup ruby port

4 tbsp butter cut into 4 slices

Start by making the sauce since that takes the longest (about 4 hours plus cooling time) I made it in the morning and then went and did other things for a few hours while it cooled in the fridge until it was time to cook the mushrooms and beef.

Begin by combining the Oxtail, celery, carrot, onions, and garlic, and roasting in oven for 40-50 minutes at 450 degrees. Stir every 10 minutes to make sure it doesn't burn.

While that's happening, in a seperate pan combine red wine, thyme, Herbs de Provence, bay leaf, and shallots, and simmer until its reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes.

When the oxtails are completely browned, remove them from the oven and put the pot or roasting pan over the stove.

Add chicken and beef stock and cook, scraping up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add the wine reduction (and spices), peppercorns, parsley stems, and 3 1/2 cups of water and simmer for 3 hours on medium low heat.

Check it every now and then to make sure it's still simmering or it's not boiling over and be sure to always taste it. That's how you know when it's done. If it tastes like beefy heaven (or as my instructions called it "rich and full-bodied") it's probably done. If you think you can get more out of your oxtails or if there's too much liquid left, keep on simmering. Here's what our halfway looked like.

Not quite there yet. I let it go another hour. And it was gorgeous. So good it could have been a sauce on its own.

Strain out the solids through a fine mesh seive or cheesecloth and refrigerate for several hours while you do other things and wait for dinner time. The sauce shouldn't be finished until the Wellington is in the oven. I had about a cup and a half of concentrated stock base left after all the reducing.

Now that it's been a few hours it's time make the duxelles. Put the mushrooms in the bowl of a food processor with the magic mushroom powder and sherry and blend until it forms a smooth paste. I forgot to take pictures of this so here have a cat instead.

Transfer the mushroom paste to a hot dry pan and cook it. This dried out the mushrooms by evaporating the water and intensifies the flavor. Pick the leaves off the thyme and add them to the duxelles as they cook.

When it's done it should be much darker and look something like this.

Next, prepare the beef. Season it on all sides with salt and pepper and roll it around so the seasoning really gets pushed into the meat.

Add the olive oil to a nonstick pan and turn the heat up really high. We're just searing the beef now, browning the outside to add more flavor. The inside cooks when we put it in the oven.

Once the beef is brown on all sides (including then ends; use tongs to stand it up and sear the ends) take it out and place it on a plate.

Brush it with mustard or horseradish so as it rests it absorbs all the heat and flavor from it. It's important to do this right out of the pan or it won't absorb the flavor as well.

Now it's time to wrap it. Lay down cling film or plastic wrap to help you roll it. Lay out 8 pieces of Parma Ham of prosciutto, slightly overlapping. Spread the duxelles out on top of them and place your beef in the middle.

Use the plastic wrap to help you roll it tightly around the beef, making sure it's encased in mushrooms. Place it in the fridge to firm up for 15 minutes. I forgot to take a picture of it wrapped up but I'm sure you can imagine it looks something like Parma ham wrapped around a beef tenterloin. While it's firming up, take out your puff pastry to thaw.

Place the puff pastry on more cling film. Place the wrapped tenderloin in the middle of the puff pastry and wrap until the edges of the pastry just meet. Cut off any extra pastry. Use the cling film to help you wrap.

Brush the pastry with egg wash (1 egg and 1 tsp water) and bake at 450 degrees until a meat thermometer reads an internal temperature of 120 degrees.

The pastry should be a dark golden brown and the meat should be pink. It will continue to cook as it rests. If it's burning, cover it with aluminum foil.