Guest Bite – Beef Wellington

This bite was contributed by our friend Adam Starowicz.

Beef Wellington is a food many people have heard of, but few have actually eaten. There are many reasons for this: the ingredients are expensive and hard to find, its difficult to assemble, even harder to cook properly, and, finally, it rarely tastes all that great. This bite contains all of the components of a traditional Wellington, but I have altered them to optimize enjoyment. While there is some confusion in regard to a Wellington’s components and origin, the most important components are filet of beef, Madeira, pate(duck liver), duxelle, puff pastry and black truffle.

With those in mind, here is the break down:

Meat – Hanger steak instead of tenderloin. Hanger is more flavorful, has a better texture, and is at least half as expensive. It also handles being cut into small steaks, seared, and sliced into bites.
Pastry – Danish dough instead of puff pastry. Danish dough is fermented, yeasty and flavorful, then laminated with butter. Much more interesting than simple puff pasty.
Duxelle – A precise dice of mushroom, celery root and carrot browned in butter, thyme and garlic. Duxelle is usually cut to shit and then cooked to shit. That is useful for some things, but in this altered mushroom duxelle with make for a better bite.
Pate – Duck liver and pork belly. Instead of foie gras, un-fattened duck livers have a beautiful flavor and texture when combined with the fattiness of pork belly.
Truffle and Madeira – Both will finish a rich, meaty sauce. Instead of fresh truffles I’m using truffle butter to finish the Madeira meat sauce.

Danish Recipe

300g + 60g Bread Flour

120g whole eggs

6g instant yeast

40g sugar

10g salt

20g olive oil

80g milk

226g butter

Pate Recipe

200g duck liver

60g whole egg

100g braised pork belly

60g butter

6g salt

.5g black pepper

Duxelle Recipe

1 carrot

1 celery root

3 cremini mushrooms

thyme

garlic

butter

Sauce Recipe