Filet of Beef in puff pastry

[Ted Hudgins]

I have made countless "wellingtons" and have eaten even more, none of which has made me appreciate what should be a very sublime dish. IIRC, Andre Soltner made a "simple" fillet of boeuf en croute and served it with a truffle sauce. The fillet looked to be about 6oz and he dispensed with the foie gras & duxelles altogether which kept the pastry crisp.

My thought is to cut the fillet into slices about 1 1/2" thick, sear them, then cut a small pouch to insert a piece of foie gras bloc & a slice or 3 of black truffle, then wrap in thin puff pastry.

Has anyone doe something like this recently and were you able to keep the beef rare-med. rare and the puff crisp? What temp did you roast it? Is brioche better like Julia Child suggested and will it cook quickly enough?

[Adam Balic]

If you use a layer of thin crepes, this should prevent the puff from becoming limp. It also gives you an extra textural element and you can use it to introduce discrete flavours.

Edited November 25, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Susan in FL]

I did something like this recently, and several times in the past. Like you, I keep trying to refine and improve; and I think the last time I made it, it was the best. It was the first time I used homemade puff pastry, and that was a big part of the difference.

Here's a photo of how it turned out, so you can see that the pastry was crispy. It was just the way we like it, and the pastry was definately the best of any Beef Wellingtons we've made.

The beef filet steaks weighed 8 ounces. I did sear them first, and then on the sheet of pastry I placed the pâté -- Les Trois Petits Cochons (Three Little Pigs) Mousse to be exact -- and then put the seared steak on top of the pâté, and then wrapped it with the seams on the bottom to cook with the pâté on top of the steak of course.

I wrote it down this time so I would remember. I am all the time forgetting this! I roasted them for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. I don't know how accurate our oven is so this might not work for you. I think our oven is slow. They came out medium-rare/medium.

I've nicknamed these Steak Diane Wellingtons because we enjoy a Steak Diane -type sauce with it, and dispense with duxelles on the inside.

I hope this gives you some ideas that will help.

[budrichard]

The reason for using the biggest piece of beef/veal or what have you in a 'Wellington' is to assure that the puff is done and the center of the meat stays a pink rare, not raw but pink. After the puff is done the 'Wellington is rested to allow the meat to further cook. Using such small sizes of meat almost guarantees your meat will be well done. I also make my own puff which is really the other most important part of the dish. Pepin has a short method for making puff if you are short of time.-Dick

[Susan in FL]

The reason for using the biggest piece of beef/veal or what have you in a 'Wellington' is to assure that the puff is done and the center of the meat stays a pink rare, not raw but pink. After the puff is done the 'Wellington is rested to allow the meat to further cook. Using such small sizes of meat almost guarantees your meat will be well done. I also make my own puff which is really the other most important part of the dish. Pepin has a short method for making puff if you are short of time.-Dick

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I'm curious... What do you mean by "the biggest piece" and what do you mean by "such small sizes of meat"? Thanks!

[budrichard]

The original poster referred to slice of meat 1&1/2" in thickness, that is small to me and in fact too small to achieve a nice pink rare, your meat will be well done by the time you cook the puff. I use whole tenderloins, be they beef, veal or lamb for Wellington's and that is what i mean by the biggest piece. You could remove the head of a beef tenderloin and just use the body or filet section also. For veal or lamb since they are so small anyway, I don't sear. With a whole beef tenderloin, I sear but stop the cooking process in cold water and the dry, layer with mousse or pate, put into puff and the bake until about 100F internal and the let rest for 30 minutes for a beef Wellington and about 15 for a veal or lamb Wellington.

Just made a veal Wellington wrapped in a veal mousse and it turned out perfectly, slightly pink internal veal and cooked mousse and puff. -Dick

[Susan in FL]

Interesting. I was wondering because I've had no problem with Wellingtons of beef tenderloin steaks that are 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick getting well done. I guess my experience is one of the exceptions to your almost-guarantee that the meat will be well done when using small sizes of meat!

I've always made individual Wellingtons, and after this discussion I'd like to try doing the whole piece of beef tenderloin.