Beef Wellington

[Cliffjr75]

Hi all. Happy New Year.,

Over Christmas I made a beef wellington for dinner. I seared the tenderloin first and let it cool for a couple hours. I then topped it with duxelles and some pieces of foie gras and wrapped it in puff pastry. But when I took it out and sliced it, the pastry was a little too much on the soggy side, and rather than having a bunch of nice slices in tact, the puff pastry and duxelles were falling out. What did I do wrong?
Many thanks for your help.
Cliff

[cape chef]

Originally Posted by Cliffjr75

Hi all. Happy New Year.,

Over Christmas I made a beef wellington for dinner. I seared the tenderloin first and let it cool for a couple hours. I then topped it with duxelles and some pieces of foie gras and wrapped it in puff pastry. But when I took it out and sliced it, the pastry was a little too much on the soggy side, and rather than having a bunch of nice slices in tact, the puff pastry and duxelles were falling out. What did I do wrong?
Many thanks for your help.
Cliff

Hi Cliff, a couple thoughts.

First, it is important to dry off the tenderloin before wrapping, also, be sure your duxelle is very dry. Your foie that you placed on top should be sliced very thin, also, did you use raw foie? This will render an enormous amount of fat foie gras is almost all fat.Also, hot oven and pre-heated, I roll my pastry a bit thinner if using store bought. Also, pastry need to be very cold before firing.Did you use any chix livers in your duxelle? this will help bind it as blood is a natural thickener.I you let the wellington sit to long it will steam internally, was your knife really sharp?Did you egg wash?docking will also help some steam escape.

[Cliffjr75]

Thank you very much for the advice. I see a couple of errors I made. The foie gras was sliced definitely not sliced thin enough. I didn't leave it in huge chunks but I could have been a little neater with it.

My oven was definitely preheated but the puff pastry was not VERY cold as you mentioned. I had to let it get a little warmer so I could roll it out. When it was too cold, it would just break apart with the rolling pin going over it. Is there a trick to that?

I did not use chicken livers in the duxelles but I certainly could have as I have a container of them in the freezer. I used butter, shallots, various muchrooms and parsley. I definitely think the duxelles could have been a bit drier.

The knife was extremely sharp and I did check the internal temperature of the beef a few times so I stuck an instant read thermometer through the puff pastry.

Thank you.
CLiff

[cape chef]

Originally Posted by Cliffjr75

Thank you very much for the advice. I see a couple of errors I made. The foie gras was sliced definitely not sliced thin enough. I didn't leave it in huge chunks but I could have been a little neater with it.

My oven was definitely preheated but the puff pastry was not VERY cold as you mentioned. I had to let it get a little warmer so I could roll it out. When it was too cold, it would just break apart with the rolling pin going over it. Is there a trick to that?

I did not use chicken livers in the duxelles but I certainly could have as I have a container of them in the freezer. I used butter, shallots, various muchrooms and parsley. I definitely think the duxelles could have been a bit drier.

The knife was extremely sharp and I did check the internal temperature of the beef a few times so I stuck an instant read thermometer through the puff pastry.

Thank you.
CLiff

Cliff, as far as rolling the puff pastry, let it temper, roll it out, then let it retarde for 15/20 minutes. This should help.
Happy cooking
CC

[mredikop]

I am not much help here, but Gordon Ramsay's recipe is the only one I ever made and it was superb.

http://www.channel4.com/life/microsi...rdonsbeef.html

You will need to convert the metrics.

[Suzanne]

Mike, I couldn't get the link to work. Can you check it, please? I really want to see that recipe -- if you liked it so much, it MUST be good.