Beef Wellington
Beef Wellington is a traditional English preparation of beef tenderloin coated with pâté and duxelles, which is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. Some recipes include wrapping the coated meat in a crêpe to retain the moisture and prevent it from making the pastry soggy.
A whole tenderloin may be wrapped and baked, and then sliced for serving, or the tenderloin may be sliced into individual portions prior to wrapping and baking. Many spices may be added to enhance the flavour; some examples are curry, allspice, any grilling mix, or ginger.
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Naming [edit]
The origin of the name is unclear.[1] Some theories suggest Beef Wellington is named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; other theories go a step further and suggest this was due to his love of a dish of beef, truffles, mushrooms, Madeira wine, and pâté cooked in pastry, but with a noted lack of evidence to support this.[2] Other accounts simply credit the name to a patriotic chef wanting to give an English name to a variation on the French filet de bœuf en croûte during the Napoleonic Wars. Still another theory is the dish is not named after the Duke himself, but rather the finished fillet was thought to resemble one of the brown shiny military boots which were named after him.[3] Clarissa Dickson Wright, celebrity chef and co-host of the BBC cooking show Two Fat Ladies, maintains that the dish "has nothing to do with that splendid hero, the Duke of Wellington; it was invented for a civic reception in Wellington, New Zealand, but it is a splendid addition to any party."[4]
"Wellington" is sometimes informally used to describe other dishes in which meat is baked in a puff pastry; the most common variations are sausage Wellington, lamb Wellington and salmon Wellington.
Gallery [edit]
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Pastry exterior
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Individually wrapped beef Wellington, medium rare, served with asparagus
References [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beef Wellington |
- ^ Food Timeline
- ^ Beef Wellington - Historical Foods
- ^ The Great British Kitchen
- ^ Dickson Wright, Clarissa, and Scott, Johnny "Sunday Roast" Kyle Cathie Limited, 2006, p26.
External links [edit]
History of Beef Wellington at www.foodsofengland.co.uk
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