Mastering Beef Wellington
Of all the recipes I’ve developed, none has made me as proud as beef Wellington. That’s not to say I wasn’t intimidated at first: The ingredients are expensive, there are multiple components to consider, and success is notoriously elusive. But over time, I figured out how to orchestrate the steps into a foolproof process to produce a stunningly beautiful—and delicious—dish.
Most beef Wellington recipes come together like this: Coat a well-seared beef tenderloin in duxelles (finely chopped sauteed mushrooms), wrap it in crepes or thinly sliced prosciutto, top it with smears of liver pate or slabs of foie gras, and encase everything in fancifully decorated pastry. Then slide it into the oven, fingers crossed that the beef emerges juicy and pink inside a crisp, golden crust.
I spent three days (and a staggering $600) evaluating five such recipes, and none fully justified the time or expense. However, there were bright spots: One Wellington featured deeply savory duxelles; another boasted medium-rare, juicy beef; and yet another had a beautifully crisp, golden crust.
Coming up with my own version was a tall mountain to climb, so I tackled the easy stuff first. I salted the beef overnight to enhance its flavor and ditched the dull crepes in favor of umami-rich prosciutto. I fortified the duxelles with shallots and a splash of Madeira and cooked it long enough to drive
