Beef Wellington Pot Pie Recipe | Gift of Hospitality (2024)

FAQs

Why is Beef Wellington so hard to make? ›

Beef wellington is not an easy dish to prepare with perfection. For starters, getting the tenderloin steak right is a challenge in itself. It has to be tender on the inside but decently firm on the outside, so it doesn't get mushed inside. The pâté and the duxelles are like preparing two individual dishes themselves.

How do you keep the bottom of Beef Wellington from getting soggy? By adding breadcrumbs to the mushroom mixture like we do in this recipe, the juice from the beef gets soaked up before reaching the bottom layer of your Wellington, leaving the pastry to get nice and crisp for the most satisfying beef Wellington ever.

Tying the tenderloin improves both the appearance of the final dish, and leads to more even cooking. Phyllo provides a moisture barrier, preventing the puff pastry from getting soggy. A double layer of plastic wrap makes it easier to wrap up the tenderloin.

What's a Beef Wellington? It's a beef tenderloin (better know as "filet" outside of the US) covered in a mushroom paste (duxelles) and wrapped in puff pastry. It looks stunning, tastes amazing, and can be prepared up to the final bake the day before the event.

Overcooking: Overcooking the beef or having portions of the pastry get soggy are common issues. To prevent overcooking, it is essential to sear the beef tenderloin quickly before wrapping it in puff pastry. This ensures that the beef remains tender and juicy [3].

Traditionally, the dish centers around beef surrounded by pâté, mushrooms and some form of ham that is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked in the oven. The best cut of beef for beef Wellington: We're starting with one of the most tender cuts of beef ever—the tenderloin!

Lower the fat content of your wellington by using filo pastry instead of puff, eliminating butter, a non-stick frying pan to reduce the amount of oil needed, replacing the pate and using herbs and garlic to boost flavour without needing salt.

It is usually the pastry base of a beef wellington that turns out to be soggy, as the juices from the beef and the mushroom filling tend to drip down onto the pastry as the wellington cooks. The first step to a crisper pastry is to make sure that the mushroom filling is cooked until all of the liquid has evaporated.

Generally you want the beef fillet (tenderloin) to be fully cooled before wrapping it in the puff pastry as if the beef is warm when it is wrapped it can warm the puff pastry up and cause it to be a little greasy after baking.

Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp – 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.

Should you cook Beef Wellington on a rack? ›

Place beef lengthwise in middle; wrap pastry around beef so long sides overlap. Place seam side down on a clean wire rack on the baking sheet, and tuck pastry ends underneath.

However, some would argue and recommend an English mustard since beef Wellington is a British recipe. Crepes – Using thin crepes creates a base to place the prosciutto and duxelles on. However, crepes are optional, you'll see many different recipes and some use crepes and some don't.

The pastry should be golden brown and brittle when it's ready. You can check the core temperature of the beef with your meat thermometer - for a succulent pink Wellington, it should be 54°C after resting for 10 minutes, so we suggest that you remove it from the oven when it reaches 50°C.

We skip the prosciutto and dijon mustard all together, and instead, we add a rich liver paté infused mushroom duxelles directly to the puff pastry. If liver paté isn't your thing, feel free to skip it and just add some cream cheese to the mushroom duxelles to make it spreadable.

Tenderize the sirloin by pounding with a meat mallet for several minutes (we're trying to simulate a filet here). In a medium-hot pan, sear the steak on all sides, about 30 seconds per side. The steak should still be rare inside at this point. Refrigerate until ready to use again.

Beef Wellington is a dish that is rated under the “top 10 hardest dishes to make”, at number 4. One of the hardest parts of this dish is cooking the meat correctly, and not over cooking it. Typically a beef wellington's tenderloin should be at a medium rare – which is not always an easy feat to achieve.

Beef Wellington is a steak dish of English origin, made out of fillet steak coated with pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe or dry-cured ham to retain the moisture and prevent it from making the pastry soggy.

Bake in a hot oven (220C/425F/Gas mark 7) for about 40 minutes until the pastry is well puffed and browned. At this stage the beef should be rare. If more cooking is required lower the temperature to moderate (l80C/350F/Gas mark 4) and cook for a further 15 minutes for medium to well done.