I've started doing beef wellington every Christmas for a few years now, and every time, I actually love it more and more because of how far you can explore with that dish. For me, I use mushrooms, garlic, thyme and scotch for a smokey aroma for the absorbent layer. I also like to use dill mustard instead of Dijon sometimes. Brings an earthy yet slightly tangy flavor to it that's oddly nice in my opinion.
But how do you eat it? I've never had one and I always imagine your bites would have to be too big to be able to get some of everything in each bit, or your left with a big chunk of just meat at the end.
@@psyneur9182 I love this dish too. I'm not sure about this confusion with how to eat it though. Just get a bit of meat, mushroom, pastry on a fork? Its no harder than eating a pie.
@@psyneur9182 keep in mind Adam opted out of having delicious ham sprinkled throughout. And beautiful pink tenderloin in that rich sauce is never a bad thing. Not just a chunk of meat
@@smythcooks not really a b8. He himself has admitted to being an amateur at best and frequently his stuff comes out over or under done. Chef John at food wishes are what you should expect for a pro cook that can make home ready recipes even with mistakes documented.
I've made beef wellington a few times before, and it is a lot of work, yeah. I'd probably only consider busting it out for a very special occasion in the future. I disagree that the addition of parma ham is excessive to the dish, however. It really adds a different flavour profile to each bite that compliments the beef and duxelles perfectly, in my opinion. To each their own though :)
@@wembleyford I find that once I've sliced the wellington, the juices are going to soak into the pastry no matter what, lol. Especially when a slice is laid flat on a plate. But true, it offers some additional structural integrity in the meantime.
Ten or so years ago I made a wellington with my ex for her and her family. Probably the best food I've ever made (used Gordon Ramsay's X-mas version recipe with a few minor alterations adding chesnuts to the duxelle). I was pretty sceptical about it at first because I don't particularly like filet mignon/beef tenderloin and because of the cost of the ingredients I couldn't afford to do a test run either. We used really high quality ingredients, this is certainly essential. The family, who frequented Michelin-star restaurants, unanimously gave this Christmas dinner a place in the hall of fame of the best dishes ever.
definitely can't imagine this being worth the work without the mushrooms! that umami bomb is arguably the best part! chef john's got a fairly painless individually portioned recipe for beef wellington using filet mignon and store bought puff pastry dough that i really like. however i'm sure the pastry in this recipe is better, as well as the sauce
That's what I was going to say. I've only made one once, but it was amazing how incredibly meaty it was. I'm assuming it was that way because of the mushrooms. One of the best things I've ever tasted tbh.
@@foreignlink306 the usda, cdc and food scientists everywhere say not to wash raw chicken. you can end up splashing bacteria all over yourself, your sink, and everything else by trying to wash it. cooking temperatures kill the bacteria just fine as for adam’s recipes, i generally find them to be really good and well adapted for the home cook 👍
@Foreign Link Then specify the type of washing, because Adam has gone over that type of washing. If you hate Adam's content, stop watching and go fuck around some other youtuber's comment section.
My wife wants this so bad. We are having a special dinner, just her and I tonight, and will make wellington. I have a background in cooking but no longer work in restaurants. For my wife and I, we want to make this for the challenge and spend the day in the kitchen. She's excited to make a design. Happy holidays, everyone!
Did this with venison once. Man that was good. Wellington is definitely a celebration dish and if you don't make your own pastry it honestly isn't all that hard.
@@janetmackinnon3411 As a special occasion dish beef wellington is definitely worth the effort and expense. Adam just tried his best to fuck up this dish and make it as hard as possible to do.
You blew my mind with this fish man... As an Alaskan-American, I have always wondered what the Brit's were thinking with their foods, but this explained the Wellington to me perfectly. Thank you!
In my experience, I've not had a wellington separate like yours does. Having said that, it might be a property of the mushrooms, the ham, or the pre-made dough that binds it all together. I can't say for sure. I love a good Beef Wellington, but you're absolutely right. They are unreasonably expensive to make here in the states. I also very much like the idea of substituting the mushrooms for the greens and bread crumbs. How did that mix turn out?
Throughout my entire career, I have never seen anyone with English so good, that they use a comma before “though” Like “The sauce you made sounds really good though” that's what I usually see Thanks. Also, there seems to be a misspelling in your sentence, I think you meant “made” & not “ade”
@@gilbert2720 The funniest part is that they're also wrong about using a comma there too If you're punctuating a sentence using though as an adverb, it is completely optional whether or not to use a comma, and not at all indicative of "English so good" lol
Adam I have never seen you less enthusiastic than this :) Years ago I made a pork "wellington" with apple added to the duxelles and pear jelly/mustard, and phyllo dough. It was amazing, even though the bottom got soggy. I have been afraid to try it again, I had a lot of beginner's luck on that day!
I love making wellingtons. But if beef is too expensive or difficult to do right for beginners, pork is cheap and still makes a fantastic dish. Including tart apple in the duxelle for that extra bit of apple/pork combo really make the dish unique from traditional beef ones.
A traditional beef wellington is an experience. Just pure luxury and a labor of love. Sometimes you just have to go the extra mile. No cutting corners. No sub par ingredients.
ANY recipe for an easier laminated dough like this one has plenty of value to me. Learning to bake (that started during lockdown) has stalled out because I've been too afraid of the many steps and precision involved with lamination. I may never make beef wellington (who exactly would I ever care to impress??) but I'll damn sure give "rough puff pastry" a go. Cheers!
Laminations sound scary and it’s definitely a bit of work, but it is more forgiving then it seems. Sure getting something that is done a professional is hard but they use rolling machines. But I definitely enjoy the process even if it is not picture perfect.
It's a huge surprise to me that Lauren doesn't like mushrooms. I've been using your cream of mushroom soup recipe (I don't even think I modify it at all?) for a long time now and it's a family and friends favorite. even my 61 year old mom who has disliked mushrooms her whole life is coming around on them because of it.
Thats weird, I got over my dislike of mushrooms by having them fresh, just pan sauteed with some butter. High quality mushrooms too that we have here in Finland, some of world's best (italians are paying top euros for our porcinis). Chanterelles, porcini and matsutake. Before that I've just had them like you mentioned, in a cream sauce of sorts. Where theyre just slimy and ugh
Adam : I think making Beef Wellington is too labor intensive and overall not worth the effort Also Adam : Makes his own puff pastry from scratch and butchers the beef himself
@@lollertoaster pretty much every professional chef (as in restaurants) agree that making puff pastry is a waste of time. The machine does it just as good if not better for no effort and no time on your part. If you want to make it fancy just make sure to get a more expensive brand that actually uses butter as the fat (fun tidbit, puff pastry is cheaper in it's vegan form)
The difficulty is why when i made it i went with chef jon's individualized wellingtons, made with filet mignon stakes instead of a whole roast. Turned out perfectly
@@Donttalktomeifyoureabot I'm with her though... I want to like mushrooms, I really do, but something about eating a fungus just weirds me out :/ I can't explain it
Respectfully Adam, as I always enjoy the content, it does feel like this probably could have done with being a closer attempt to the 'regular' recipe to pass a real judgement on the dish. I've seen others mention it - the duxelle and the parma ham do make quite a big difference in my opinion. As this channel has also covered before, they're loaded with glutemates on top of other complex compounds so do change the profile of the dish quite a lot, in a way spinach is just not going to. Otherwise you just end up with a beef roast inside pastry. Would I make this other than for a very special occasion? No, massive cost and as you say it is one of the most technical roast dishes out there. But it can be a real showstopper in my view if executed properly.
1) I’ve made it and eaten it the traditional way before. My comments are not based solely on this experience with the dish; 2) My problem with the dish has nothing to do with flavor. My chief complaint is with the eatability of it.
Completely agree. This isn't really a beef Wellington, its Beef en croute. I feel like Adam put in 90% of the work required to get a Wellington to get 50% of the outcome. The crepes and duxelles (and potentially Parma ham too) aren't luxury items in this dish. He cooked it really well though.
With the risk of sounding like an asshole. I usually REALLY enjoy Adam going against the grain a bit.. but here it really felt like he was frustrated with the dish beforehand, did not enjoy making it, and diverted from the recipe a lot. I'm the last person to pass judgement and videos do need to be made (I get that) but this one felt off for me. Could also be because I have a real soft spot for the dish.. like you said it's absolutely fantastic when made right, and I think it's a shame if people watching this video won't give it a try. So much technique and flavor. It's really fun, although a bit stressful to make :-)
I made a venison wellington for Christmas 22 and I am emotionally invested in how well it went ;) Best decision ever was to have a practice with just the three of us instead of guests and it was TERRIBLE - pastry fell apart, temp was uneven, honestly I thought I was the worst cook ever. Slices ranged from overdone to blue. This was beef, before I decided to change the meat. Learned A LOT and made notes! I watched loads of videos for tips - Kenji made sense of the whole liquid control and I rolled back from the crazy amount of overpowering wild mushrooms in the trial as well as really targeting rotating the food in the oven (obvs also using a probe). I also ditched the fois gras but kept the horseradish. It's a hugely enjoyable thing to make and offers loads of space to experiment if you enjoy working out what was great and what could improve. Also people think you're a god, so there's that.
So one year on the bastards asked me to do it again ;) Wierdly despite how well it went last year I was absolutely stressed over trying to repeat it - my subconscious must have thought it was a fluke rather than careful tweaks based on trial and error. I get venison from a local estate, the hinds are shot about 5 miles from my house. Unfortunately my loin arrived twice as long and half as thick as I wanted so I decided to cut it in half and risk it falling apart on slicing. Made the duxelles extra-gluey and wrapped the thing extra-tight. It all worked fine, cooked well and for the first time ever I now think this is a thing I can repeat at will. It's my favourite Christmas meal as it lets me choose an entire menu based on things either made the day before or which take no time on the day which is SO relaxing. I did pavé potatoes and a tron of other things made on Christmas Eve so on the day we all just hung out and played games xx
I think my favourite variation I've made is a Pork Wellington using a pork tenderloin. Way cheaper, and still tasted really good. Apple and mushroom duxelle.
While we're here talking about labor intensive beef dishes, I would absolutely LOVE to see your take on a braciole. It seems right in your wheelhouse flavor wise; and unlike a welly, worth the effort.
Man, not a fan of Wellington? Like, it is admittedly a lot of work, but that was part of the fun, for me. This isn't an everyday meal, it;s for special occasions only. I used store-bought puff pastry, which I think takes a lot of the edge off. I love that crispy bread mouthfeel with the smooth feel and mild savoriness of the tenderloin, plus the more flavorful section of the mustard and duxelles. Oh well! Everyone's got their own tastes.
I tried the Wellington at a Gordon Ramsay Steak and while it was good, I was seriously underwhelmed. I think it's a dish that is massively overhyped, probably because it is easy to ruin and therefore a good skill showcase, because the taste is just above average to me.
He might not admit it out loud, but I think he associates the dish with Ramsay, who he notably isn't a fan of. The beef wellington is sort of the go-to for dishes that are super popular and "fancy" but more trouble than their worth for home cooks just trying to get dinner on the table, which is Adam's whole focus. Basically, I think he dislikes beef wellington because it's a symbol of class divide, for better or worse.
Great video, Adam! I've been looking forward to this one. I want to share my experience with making Wellingtons. I decided to make Wellingtons for my family holiday gatherings last year, and spent the preceding months doing various practice variants. For me, the trick was to make Pork Wellingtons rather than Beef, and it ended up being not that much more work compared to other family-scale dishes (other than deliberately-optimized recipes like stews and casseroles). For context, my family dinners are buffet-style, where a bunch of food is laid out on chafing dishes, and everyone serves themselves. Therefore, I aimed to make mini-Wellingtons, as close to single-serving as I could get them. Something someone could just pick up and put whole on their plate, without having to cut it. I start the duxelles in a food processor-mushrooms, shallots, and garlic, whizzed into a puree. I have family members that don't like the texture of mushrooms, but by the time it's cooked down into a paste, all they get is the meaty flavor without the mushroomy texture, in my experience, so they don't even realize there's mushroom. As far as cooking the duxelles, I only add butter at the very end, after most of the water has been boiled off. That way the buttery flavor is still perceptible. Instead of prosciutto or Parma ham on the inside of the Wellington, I bring back the beef with slices of roast beef. The original Wellington has two meats, too, so I think it works. And together with the beef to pork tenderloin swap, this brings the cost of the recipe way down. Speaking of, you can make two or three mini-Wellingtons out of a single pork tenderloin, in my experience, and the pork tenderloins I usually see don't require any butchery-just cut them to size. The construction of the mini-Wellingtons resembles tradition. Lay down shingles of sliced meat (roast beef) on plastic wrap, spread a thin layer of duxelles, paint the (pork) tenderloin with mustard, and roll it all up. In my case, I used store-bought puff pastry, and cut out pieces to size as needed to wrap my mini-Wellingtons, with extra pieces for lattice decorations. Go that extra mile for the holidays, and all that. It bears repeating that making a batch of mini Pork Wellingtons is a non-trivial amount of work, but as someone who made this very recipe one or twice a month for six months leading up to the holidays, I can confidently say that it could be scaled down to a more reasonable weeknight affair, and it's much easier on the wallet than a traditional Beef Wellington.
Thanks for sharing this experience of yours. I've always been daunted by beef wellington because of cost. But between this video and your comment I realize that I can apply some of the techniques without doing the full beef thing. I'll keep that in mind for some fancy occasion next year.
I mean the only reason I can think of that someone would dislike mushrooms yet eat meat (as in they taste pretty similar) is texture. Which I would think wouldn't be too much of an issue in a Welly as you're already supposed to chop the mushrooms up hella fine so going even finer wouldn't be too much of an issue
Great tip to not worry about the meat temp is to sous vide the meat the night before. Then all you have to worry about is how done the pastry is. I cooked the meat to just under medium rare and it is always perfect!
if you want to make a wellington that is softer and easier to cut, I recommend salmon wellington. The store I work for used to have in store cooking demonstrations, and that's one of the recipes I made when that was my job.
My issue with beef Wellington is that it *is* the sum of its parts. It’s not more or less than. It is beef tenderloin with puff pastry and an added flavor of the duxelle prosciutto. It is what it is unapologetically and the entire time I wish I was just having a nice tenderloin and some fresh bread.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. If you make it right it most emphatically IS more than the sum of it's parts. It might not be your thing, (and that's perfectly OK) but the whole point of combining ingredients together is to make them more than the sum of their parts, otherwise what's the point? Beef Wellington is *very* tricky. You need the pastry to be light and crisp and flaky, the beef needs to be rare (45C in the centre) the stuffing needs to soak up enough liquid and complement the meat, it all needs to stick together so that when you slice into it it's one thing and not several layers that fall apart as soon as they catch a sniff of a knife. When you get it right it's really really good, but if you miss, it's a fillet steak in a mediocre vol au vent.
You know, I’m still planning on making Wellington for Christmas. Why? Because I’m curious that’s why. And that’s a good enough reason for me. Thanks for the recipe Adam :-)
i did wellington one christmas and it was phenomenal. the one adam does here is sorta stripped back, i would recommend going the whole 9 yards with it. You've already expended all that effort making puff and trimming meat so you might as well wrap it in a chive crepe, prosciutto, and duxelles. the order from the inside out is meat, mustard, duxelles, prosciutto, crepe, puff
Good luck - I'd recommend not leaving out the parma ham layer between the mushrooms and the pastry - without it you you're at risk of the juices from the meat or the moistrure from the mushrooms turning the pastry into a soggy mess.
@@kameronpeterson3601 well the thing is… I’m not making puff pastry. I’m a sad human who is gluten intolerant (and so is most of my family) so I’m buying some gluten free puff pastry. Hopefully it turns out, but the rest? Yes I’m planning on going the whole 9 yards.
@@thecoastergnome8603 th-cam.com/video/Cyskqnp1j64/w-d-xo.html This recipe is tons better than Adam's, easier too. I'm honestly a little disappointed with Adam's lack of effort here, he usually makes amazing things in these videos.
I used sous-vide to make Beef Wellington for New Year's once. Cooking the meat sous-vide beforehand and then storing it in the fridge worked really well. Made things more convenient the day of, because then it was only a matter of enveloping the meat in the duxelles and pastry and throwing it in the oven until the pastry looked nice.
made one for the first time the other year. time consuming but not necessarily difficult if you aren't picky over precise doneness. imo the duxelle was crucial to the overall flavour. would do again on a smaller scale or deconstructed to get the flavours without the fuss.
That green stuff instead of mushrooms is rough, definitely need thin sliced Serrano too. Coating the beef in strong mustard before you wrap is a must. Great pastry tips. Thanks
Perfect timing! I wanted to try making a Wellington for Christmas just for fun. Might try using a pork loin which is much cheaper than beef (which I also learned about from you!) Thanks Adam!
Chef john of foodwishes has recipes for an individual beef wellingtons that uses a fillet minion steak instead of a whole tenderloin and a "cheeseburger wellington" which is what it sounds like. I've also seen recipies for pork tenderloin wellington. There are a lot of good options if you want to play around with the wellington concept without breaking the bank.
I always thought the idea of Wellingtons was dumb. Then my cousin-in-law made mini ones. The combo of flavors with the mushroom and ham and gravy, and textures, with the soft meat and crumbly pastry...I'm a convert. They're amazing.
We made beef wellington properly a few years back for a dinner party. It went down really well. Loved it so much, though its pretty expensive to get the cut of meat from the butchers.
Bro, if you're not going to make a Wellington, don't pass off a completely different dish as a Wellington. Great piece of meat, just make a nice and roasted Cote de Beouf.
With due respect this is not a good recipe. You need the ham or pancake for a start. This not only keeps the moisture inside of the meat, but also adds fat to an otherwise lean meat, it also aids the rolling. The mustard should be applied to the just-seared meat, and you need to cook the moisture out of the mushroom (or in your case spinach) filling. Your wellington "fell apart" from having too much water content in your filling, and not being wrapped tight enough. Being wrapped more tightly would be produce the characteristic cylindrical shape. The water content of your filling and thickness of your pastry is why it didn't brown and crisp as well as it should have.
Not sure how you can claim to dislike Wellington if you’re using a spinach duxelle with no prosciutto. Those are 2 key elements that elevate the dish. But if you’ve had traditional Wellington and still dislike it then I understand.
That is the most rudimentary dough I have ever seen. I'm not a professional pastry chef by the stretch of anyone's imagination but even I know that you need to incorporate your butter and flour better. I suggest using a handheld pastry blender; it cuts the butter cubes into ever-smaller fragments which are then coated with flour, which is what creates the crispiness of the pastry. Rolling it out and laminating it over and over is what creates the flakiness, because you're trapping those little fragments of butter and flour between other fragments of butter and flour.
The last few years I've made Salmon en Croute as a riff on a wellington, since I'm not paying $30/lb for an almost tasteless cut of meat. Absolutely delicious, and able to made as individual portions without a lot of extra work. Store-bought puff pastry works just fine in that application, since the whole piece is going right on a plate.
I NEED a series of Adam doing overly complex dishes, but with this "can't be bothered to be that fancy" kind of style. I found this extremely helpful, and a whole lot of fun to watch. Same with the chili recipe with Adam shouting "No" every minute or two. More of these Adam please! I honestly did not know I needed this style of cooking video in my life as much as I clearly do now that you're making them. Hopefully doing a few of these wouldn't kill the "more relaxed" Adam's schedule.
I know you have done one video and how it’s not for you but I have to say that this is the single best recipe to use venison the back straps are the perfect size for this and always a hit a Christmas with chef Jean Pierre’s mushroom cream sauce
Re: Opening a can of tomato paste: There's a brand, Mutti, comes in a cardboard box in the shop and the paste itself is in basically a toothpaste tube. The only tomato paste exposed is the diameter of the nozzle, it takes forever to spoil, can measure easily, doesn't oxidize metal into the paste, and tbh I just keep it in the fridge, has lasted months. If you use it often but never in a standard tin's volume, it's the way to go in my opinion!
This is how it should be done everywhere imo! The tube is lighter so easier shipping and shopping, less spoilage, and convenient measuring. Glad to hear that it's at least popular in other countries! I've switched to the format entirely here, but cans are default here in Canada.
How did the veggie filling turn out? While I think it would be fun to try making something like a Beef Wellington someday, I likewise do not like mushroom, so it'd be good to know if you wound up having any notes about the veggie alternative 👍🏻
You lost me on the mushroom sub out for greens. It is a very very special event to make a Wellington. It takes forever to make, but this is a wonderful dish to experience.
Nice to see the trimmings (and the plastic wrap) getting some additional use out of them. Imho some parts of the cooking (i.e. cutting vegetables) seem a bit wasteful at times so this makes for a welcome difference.
There are two reasons for a Ragusea recipe. One is to genuinely gain the skills and knowledge to prepare a meal. The other is entertainment. This one is entertainment. There's nothing wrong with food entertainment, especially when it's not just vapid and silly. There's still plenty to learn here even if you never make a Wellington in your life, which I will not.
I'm a big fan of beef wellington. So I think everyone should give it a try at least once! I love how you ignore the need of specific things tho! And replace the mushrooms with greens. I'll def give it a try some time. Keep it up! Subscribed!
For the puff pastry, do you think it's worth replacing some of the water with white wine, like you did for your chicken pot pie crust? Since less water means less gluten development
wow, it was fascinating watching the butter squares slowly disappear as you do a taffy to the layers (or in the metallurgy world, maybe doing a damascus)
So, you could make a giant sausage mix in there and it'd be easier? Like a quiche, or those vegan mushroom and nut fillings? Hard to overcook that. It'd still look fancy and Christmassy
Issue with that could be that sausage has to be thoroughly cooked and your pastry might burn. Or the outside of the sausage would be cooked to hell while the inside would be just done
In the UK, this would be called a 'giant sausage roll', lol. Beef Wellington is just a meat pie, really, of which there are many better versions. It still looks delish though. The pastry scoring makes it look special, like a French 'Pithivier.'
I made a Wellington for Christmas last year and wholeheartedly agree: It's great, don't get me wrong, but I could also just gut the same cut of beef into steaks, make the same sauce and add something nice on the side. Basically the same but a lot less work.
I highly respect your channel and your cooking skills, but you offended this amazing dish greatly. If you cooked it properly, there is no doubt you would love it as much as so many people throughout the world. Also- my very large extended family hates mushrooms as well. But a good Duxelle proved them all wrong- cooked properly, there is no moisture in the mushrooms (hence no slime), and you have pure umami. Amazing dish!!
My family loves a variation of this with salmon instead of beef. I believe it’s called a salmon encrut, and it’s accompanied by hollandaise and peas. Since we use store bought puff pastries the hardest part is actually the hollandaise. - won’t be trying this for many reasons listed but thanks Adam!
I think the value of a beef wellington is the presentation, and how the components pair together in a textural and flavorful way. I highly recommend doing a deconstructed Wellington instead: traditional beef roast, with roast mushroom duxelle and puff pastry as a stand-in for Yorkshire Puddings
Kitchen is an interesting place. Sometimes you use it to prepare something just to enjoy the end result, like a cup of coffee. In most cases we use it to make food, just so we get nutrients. But we also can have fun while cooking something new, get new skills and everything. Almost like an art, enjoying the process of doing something beautiful. And at the end we can eat delicious (hopefully), cool looking food. Also it can be useful to show someone else your chief skills, or just to impress them.
So glad you mentioned the probe thermometer. I just got one this year for grilling and thought the same thing for making these. Done it without in years past and it was horrifically difficult to get right.
I think he's said on the podcast that he gives out test runs and extras to neighbors and friends, unless it's just waste or very time-sensitive to eat in which case, it gets tossed.
He's talked about it in an Ask Adam video. Don't remember which one. Must be at least a year or two old, I'd say. Maybe you can look for it. But the tl;dw is that sometimes he does toss things (especially the things that don't turn out as they should), but he thinks (and I agree with him on that, it's just logical) that it's better when he makes four attempts at cooking something of which the first three are inedible to then show online how he did it the fourth time, instead of sharing his first and only attempt that resulted in a not good enough product for 1000 of his viewers to then cook it like that themselves and tossing that before they all manage to produce a good result on their respective fourth attempts.
In this particular recipe he said on the podcast the only run with a whole roast was the filmed one. His test runs used the off-cuts we saw at the start when he was butchering.
It is a lot of work, but I personally love making it for every now and again and think it's worth the work for really special occasions, but I can see why others wouldn't want to make it. I will gladly borrow the rough puff pastry idea though for the next time so I don't have to buy frozen pastry. Greatly appreciate the recipe even if you're not a fan of the dish.
"This is a terrible dish and not worth the effort" "Also I replaced the mushroom duxelle with spinach and panko, and then left out the crepes and ham..."
My family has done a Pork Wellington for the past 2 decades at least. And we use one of those rolled pie crusts instead of puff pastries. I also use prosciutto instead of a paste to keep the dough from getting soggy from the pork juices.
I only say these cause you are right. Puff pastry is a lot of work and not worth it. This method cuts so much work out and is still absolutely delicious
Says you shouldn't make beef wellington because it's a ton of work, then proceeds to make puff pastry from scratch... For real tho, beef wellington really isn't that hard to make and it's absolutely delicious. It is VERY expensive though, but to me it's a once-a-year kind of dish so I don't mind.
You know, I'll never forget the time when I invited the staff of a restaurant I worked at over for a post holiday party. I made 4 wellingtons. The head Chef (he's won a few food network show competitions) pulled me aside and said "Man, you really f**kn' nailed this." That, to me, was one of the best compliments I've ever had about my cooking. He's a modest guy. Great guy.
It is a classic because of the Wow factor AND because you can prepare it in advance and just pop it into the oven on the night, when it does not take too long and does not require any attention/time in the kitchen. Compared to roasting a turkey/duck/capon that is a major advantage….
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I've started doing beef wellington every Christmas for a few years now, and every time, I actually love it more and more because of how far you can explore with that dish. For me, I use mushrooms, garlic, thyme and scotch for a smokey aroma for the absorbent layer. I also like to use dill mustard instead of Dijon sometimes. Brings an earthy yet slightly tangy flavor to it that's oddly nice in my opinion.
But how do you eat it? I've never had one and I always imagine your bites would have to be too big to be able to get some of everything in each bit, or your left with a big chunk of just meat at the end.
@@psyneur9182 I love this dish too. I'm not sure about this confusion with how to eat it though. Just get a bit of meat, mushroom, pastry on a fork? Its no harder than eating a pie.
I simplify it a bit... Just scotch and skip ALL the other ingredients... :)
@@seanseoltoir Hey that's exactly what I mean by exploration of beef wellington. Almost anything could work with it!
@@psyneur9182 keep in mind Adam opted out of having delicious ham sprinkled throughout. And beautiful pink tenderloin in that rich sauce is never a bad thing. Not just a chunk of meat
Adam really just sounds like a teacher who is not at all excited about a lesson he has to hold
@Foreign Link what led to you dropping bait in Adam ragusea comments?
@Foreign Link gr8 b8 m8
@Foreign Link looks like someone hasn't seen the brownie saga
@Foreign Link looks like somebody probably burns their scrambled eggs
@@smythcooks not really a b8. He himself has admitted to being an amateur at best and frequently his stuff comes out over or under done. Chef John at food wishes are what you should expect for a pro cook that can make home ready recipes even with mistakes documented.
I've never heard Adam sound this exhausted and done with an episode before. You've earned a cold glass of wine friend.
A whole bottle even 😂
Make sure it’s white wine not
Red
@@kaenryuuart543 he actually prefers red wine i think
As an Adam Ragusa podcast watcher, I am proud to say, I knew this was coming.
It insists upon itself.
@@Peter..Griffin tell meg I said shut up
@@Peter..Griffin Because it has a valid point to make, it's insisted!
Me too!
Same here
I've made beef wellington a few times before, and it is a lot of work, yeah. I'd probably only consider busting it out for a very special occasion in the future. I disagree that the addition of parma ham is excessive to the dish, however. It really adds a different flavour profile to each bite that compliments the beef and duxelles perfectly, in my opinion. To each their own though :)
It also helps ensure the pastry doesn't get soggy from either the mushrooms or juices from the meat. I agree, I think it's an essential component.
@@wembleyford I find that once I've sliced the wellington, the juices are going to soak into the pastry no matter what, lol. Especially when a slice is laid flat on a plate. But true, it offers some additional structural integrity in the meantime.
It's a non-forgiving dinner item, for sure
I would probably do Spanish serrano ham instead of parma. Serrano is sweet so that could be a nice addition to the flavour profile.
Agreed. Parma ham or Prosciutto is essential.
Ten or so years ago I made a wellington with my ex for her and her family. Probably the best food I've ever made (used Gordon Ramsay's X-mas version recipe with a few minor alterations adding chesnuts to the duxelle). I was pretty sceptical about it at first because I don't particularly like filet mignon/beef tenderloin and because of the cost of the ingredients I couldn't afford to do a test run either. We used really high quality ingredients, this is certainly essential. The family, who frequented Michelin-star restaurants, unanimously gave this Christmas dinner a place in the hall of fame of the best dishes ever.
definitely can't imagine this being worth the work without the mushrooms! that umami bomb is arguably the best part! chef john's got a fairly painless individually portioned recipe for beef wellington using filet mignon and store bought puff pastry dough that i really like. however i'm sure the pastry in this recipe is better, as well as the sauce
That's what I was going to say. I've only made one once, but it was amazing how incredibly meaty it was. I'm assuming it was that way because of the mushrooms. One of the best things I've ever tasted tbh.
@@foreignlink306 the usda, cdc and food scientists everywhere say not to wash raw chicken. you can end up splashing bacteria all over yourself, your sink, and everything else by trying to wash it. cooking temperatures kill the bacteria just fine
as for adam’s recipes, i generally find them to be really good and well adapted for the home cook 👍
@Foreign Link Then specify the type of washing, because Adam has gone over that type of washing. If you hate Adam's content, stop watching and go fuck around some other youtuber's comment section.
My wife wants this so bad. We are having a special dinner, just her and I tonight, and will make wellington.
I have a background in cooking but no longer work in restaurants. For my wife and I, we want to make this for the challenge and spend the day in the kitchen. She's excited to make a design.
Happy holidays, everyone!
A dish I will never make but I enjoy watching other people make it for some reason!
Because you enjoy watching people struggle and suffer, probably.
@@cheekibreeki904 The Wellingtons on Hell's Kitchen is a prime example of this XD
Did this with venison once. Man that was good. Wellington is definitely a celebration dish and if you don't make your own pastry it honestly isn't all that hard.
Really good with venison--or maybe organic beef. You need good-quality protein. And it's far too much bother!
@@janetmackinnon3411 As a special occasion dish beef wellington is definitely worth the effort and expense. Adam just tried his best to fuck up this dish and make it as hard as possible to do.
You blew my mind with this fish man... As an Alaskan-American, I have always wondered what the Brit's were thinking with their foods, but this explained the Wellington to me perfectly. Thank you!
In my experience, I've not had a wellington separate like yours does. Having said that, it might be a property of the mushrooms, the ham, or the pre-made dough that binds it all together. I can't say for sure.
I love a good Beef Wellington, but you're absolutely right. They are unreasonably expensive to make here in the states. I also very much like the idea of substituting the mushrooms for the greens and bread crumbs. How did that mix turn out?
Oh, *this* is why I have never made either rough puff pastry or beef wellington. The sauce you ade sounds really good, though.
Actually, he really makes the pastry look easy.
Throughout my entire career, I have never seen anyone with English so good, that they use a comma before “though”
Like “The sauce you made sounds really good though” that's what I usually see
Thanks. Also, there seems to be a misspelling in your sentence, I think you meant “made” & not “ade”
@@grammarpolice8909 I think you meant comma, not come
@@gilbert2720 The funniest part is that they're also wrong about using a comma there too
If you're punctuating a sentence using though as an adverb, it is completely optional whether or not to use a comma, and not at all indicative of "English so good" lol
beef wellington i understand, but puff pastry? cold butter, flour, cool water, not exactly an above-and-beyond thing to make
Adam I have never seen you less enthusiastic than this :) Years ago I made a pork "wellington" with apple added to the duxelles and pear jelly/mustard, and phyllo dough. It was amazing, even though the bottom got soggy. I have been afraid to try it again, I had a lot of beginner's luck on that day!
I love making wellingtons. But if beef is too expensive or difficult to do right for beginners, pork is cheap and still makes a fantastic dish. Including tart apple in the duxelle for that extra bit of apple/pork combo really make the dish unique from traditional beef ones.
The pastry scoring came out with a lovely contrast even if you thought it was too wide
A traditional beef wellington is an experience. Just pure luxury and a labor of love. Sometimes you just have to go the extra mile. No cutting corners. No sub par ingredients.
ANY recipe for an easier laminated dough like this one has plenty of value to me. Learning to bake (that started during lockdown) has stalled out because I've been too afraid of the many steps and precision involved with lamination. I may never make beef wellington (who exactly would I ever care to impress??) but I'll damn sure give "rough puff pastry" a go. Cheers!
Laminations sound scary and it’s definitely a bit of work, but it is more forgiving then it seems. Sure getting something that is done a professional is hard but they use rolling machines. But I definitely enjoy the process even if it is not picture perfect.
I don’t want Wellington; but this was fun to watch! Yours looks fantastic!
It's a huge surprise to me that Lauren doesn't like mushrooms. I've been using your cream of mushroom soup recipe (I don't even think I modify it at all?) for a long time now and it's a family and friends favorite. even my 61 year old mom who has disliked mushrooms her whole life is coming around on them because of it.
Adam have every time specified that he only does mushrooms when Lauren is out of town.
Thats weird, I got over my dislike of mushrooms by having them fresh, just pan sauteed with some butter. High quality mushrooms too that we have here in Finland, some of world's best (italians are paying top euros for our porcinis). Chanterelles, porcini and matsutake. Before that I've just had them like you mentioned, in a cream sauce of sorts. Where theyre just slimy and ugh
Jesus i didnt know that so many people dislike mushrooms, how do you all even live?
@@jotaros_dolphins2213 Without mushrooms, I presume
@@rykehuss3435 i do not consider that a possibility
people watching this , dont listen to this and definitely try a beef wellington, they taste amazing
he said don't make it, not don't try it.
@@sneakyfart1337 he sucks at cooking, so he is no authority on anything cooking-wise
For some reason I thought you filled it with relish... and I was totally willing to follow you down that path.
Are you saying , “i should go?”
Adam : I think making Beef Wellington is too labor intensive and overall not worth the effort
Also Adam : Makes his own puff pastry from scratch and butchers the beef himself
Even Ramsey in his recipe uses store-bought pastry.
Him making it from scratch is probably the reason he thinks that 😂
And makes some spinach mixture abomination instead of a mushroom duxelle because he's pussy whipped. Worst Ragusea recipe video I've ever seen.
@@lollertoaster pretty much every professional chef (as in restaurants) agree that making puff pastry is a waste of time. The machine does it just as good if not better for no effort and no time on your part. If you want to make it fancy just make sure to get a more expensive brand that actually uses butter as the fat (fun tidbit, puff pastry is cheaper in it's vegan form)
The difficulty is why when i made it i went with chef jon's individualized wellingtons, made with filet mignon stakes instead of a whole roast. Turned out perfectly
How many draft recipes did you have to go thru for this one?
Just two practice runs. I did them with the spare parts from the whole tenderloin.
@@aragusea Nice synergy!
@@aragusea your wife not liking mushrooms is tragic
@@Donttalktomeifyoureabot I'm with her though... I want to like mushrooms, I really do, but something about eating a fungus just weirds me out :/ I can't explain it
@@Donttalktomeifyoureabot Hardly uncommon tbh. I don’t mind the taste all that much, but seeing them in the dish just turns me off
I made this with Salmon. Thank you for the step by step for the puff pastry. This is the first time I made delicious puff pastry! Thanks
Respectfully Adam, as I always enjoy the content, it does feel like this probably could have done with being a closer attempt to the 'regular' recipe to pass a real judgement on the dish. I've seen others mention it - the duxelle and the parma ham do make quite a big difference in my opinion. As this channel has also covered before, they're loaded with glutemates on top of other complex compounds so do change the profile of the dish quite a lot, in a way spinach is just not going to. Otherwise you just end up with a beef roast inside pastry. Would I make this other than for a very special occasion? No, massive cost and as you say it is one of the most technical roast dishes out there. But it can be a real showstopper in my view if executed properly.
There is a lot of "regular" recipes on the internet for this, go watch those.
1) I’ve made it and eaten it the traditional way before. My comments are not based solely on this experience with the dish; 2) My problem with the dish has nothing to do with flavor. My chief complaint is with the eatability of it.
@@aragusea You're supposed to eat it like a burrito Adam. 🙄
Completely agree. This isn't really a beef Wellington, its Beef en croute. I feel like Adam put in 90% of the work required to get a Wellington to get 50% of the outcome. The crepes and duxelles (and potentially Parma ham too) aren't luxury items in this dish. He cooked it really well though.
With the risk of sounding like an asshole. I usually REALLY enjoy Adam going against the grain a bit.. but here it really felt like he was frustrated with the dish beforehand, did not enjoy making it, and diverted from the recipe a lot. I'm the last person to pass judgement and videos do need to be made (I get that) but this one felt off for me. Could also be because I have a real soft spot for the dish.. like you said it's absolutely fantastic when made right, and I think it's a shame if people watching this video won't give it a try. So much technique and flavor. It's really fun, although a bit stressful to make :-)
You're the only person who can make a youtube video teaching a recipe while saying that they don't like the dish.
I made a venison wellington for Christmas 22 and I am emotionally invested in how well it went ;) Best decision ever was to have a practice with just the three of us instead of guests and it was TERRIBLE - pastry fell apart, temp was uneven, honestly I thought I was the worst cook ever. Slices ranged from overdone to blue. This was beef, before I decided to change the meat. Learned A LOT and made notes!
I watched loads of videos for tips - Kenji made sense of the whole liquid control and I rolled back from the crazy amount of overpowering wild mushrooms in the trial as well as really targeting rotating the food in the oven (obvs also using a probe). I also ditched the fois gras but kept the horseradish. It's a hugely enjoyable thing to make and offers loads of space to experiment if you enjoy working out what was great and what could improve.
Also people think you're a god, so there's that.
So one year on the bastards asked me to do it again ;) Wierdly despite how well it went last year I was absolutely stressed over trying to repeat it - my subconscious must have thought it was a fluke rather than careful tweaks based on trial and error.
I get venison from a local estate, the hinds are shot about 5 miles from my house. Unfortunately my loin arrived twice as long and half as thick as I wanted so I decided to cut it in half and risk it falling apart on slicing. Made the duxelles extra-gluey and wrapped the thing extra-tight. It all worked fine, cooked well and for the first time ever I now think this is a thing I can repeat at will.
It's my favourite Christmas meal as it lets me choose an entire menu based on things either made the day before or which take no time on the day which is SO relaxing. I did pavé potatoes and a tron of other things made on Christmas Eve so on the day we all just hung out and played games xx
When he talked bout pastry, he talked as if any other recipe videos. When he talked about the beef itself, he used prefix "I".
Nicely done adam
I think my favourite variation I've made is a Pork Wellington using a pork tenderloin. Way cheaper, and still tasted really good. Apple and mushroom duxelle.
Apple and Mushroom, with Pork sounds fantastic. What a great idea.😁
Pork Wellington? Isn't that a euphemism for a sausage roll?
@@MagicBollocks That uses ground (minced) pork.
Beef Wellington > Traditional turkey 🎅 🎄
Cheers from San Diego California
Made my first welly yesterday.. and it was bomb, will do again. Made mine off jean-pierre recipe
While we're here talking about labor intensive beef dishes, I would absolutely LOVE to see your take on a braciole. It seems right in your wheelhouse flavor wise; and unlike a welly, worth the effort.
Man, not a fan of Wellington? Like, it is admittedly a lot of work, but that was part of the fun, for me. This isn't an everyday meal, it;s for special occasions only. I used store-bought puff pastry, which I think takes a lot of the edge off. I love that crispy bread mouthfeel with the smooth feel and mild savoriness of the tenderloin, plus the more flavorful section of the mustard and duxelles. Oh well! Everyone's got their own tastes.
I tried the Wellington at a Gordon Ramsay Steak and while it was good, I was seriously underwhelmed. I think it's a dish that is massively overhyped, probably because it is easy to ruin and therefore a good skill showcase, because the taste is just above average to me.
He might not admit it out loud, but I think he associates the dish with Ramsay, who he notably isn't a fan of. The beef wellington is sort of the go-to for dishes that are super popular and "fancy" but more trouble than their worth for home cooks just trying to get dinner on the table, which is Adam's whole focus.
Basically, I think he dislikes beef wellington because it's a symbol of class divide, for better or worse.
The rough puff instruction is good enough on it’s own. Gonna be making that soon
Don't follow it, it's a failure, the butter hasn't been properly spread properly and just sits as dollops all over the place, it's actually awful....
Great video, Adam! I've been looking forward to this one. I want to share my experience with making Wellingtons.
I decided to make Wellingtons for my family holiday gatherings last year, and spent the preceding months doing various practice variants. For me, the trick was to make Pork Wellingtons rather than Beef, and it ended up being not that much more work compared to other family-scale dishes (other than deliberately-optimized recipes like stews and casseroles).
For context, my family dinners are buffet-style, where a bunch of food is laid out on chafing dishes, and everyone serves themselves. Therefore, I aimed to make mini-Wellingtons, as close to single-serving as I could get them. Something someone could just pick up and put whole on their plate, without having to cut it.
I start the duxelles in a food processor-mushrooms, shallots, and garlic, whizzed into a puree. I have family members that don't like the texture of mushrooms, but by the time it's cooked down into a paste, all they get is the meaty flavor without the mushroomy texture, in my experience, so they don't even realize there's mushroom. As far as cooking the duxelles, I only add butter at the very end, after most of the water has been boiled off. That way the buttery flavor is still perceptible.
Instead of prosciutto or Parma ham on the inside of the Wellington, I bring back the beef with slices of roast beef. The original Wellington has two meats, too, so I think it works. And together with the beef to pork tenderloin swap, this brings the cost of the recipe way down. Speaking of, you can make two or three mini-Wellingtons out of a single pork tenderloin, in my experience, and the pork tenderloins I usually see don't require any butchery-just cut them to size.
The construction of the mini-Wellingtons resembles tradition. Lay down shingles of sliced meat (roast beef) on plastic wrap, spread a thin layer of duxelles, paint the (pork) tenderloin with mustard, and roll it all up. In my case, I used store-bought puff pastry, and cut out pieces to size as needed to wrap my mini-Wellingtons, with extra pieces for lattice decorations. Go that extra mile for the holidays, and all that.
It bears repeating that making a batch of mini Pork Wellingtons is a non-trivial amount of work, but as someone who made this very recipe one or twice a month for six months leading up to the holidays, I can confidently say that it could be scaled down to a more reasonable weeknight affair, and it's much easier on the wallet than a traditional Beef Wellington.
Thanks for sharing this experience of yours. I've always been daunted by beef wellington because of cost. But between this video and your comment I realize that I can apply some of the techniques without doing the full beef thing. I'll keep that in mind for some fancy occasion next year.
@@FutureCommentary1 You're welcome! I hope you're able to find something that works for you.
OMG an alternative for those who doesn't like mushrooms. Thank you so much, it's the really first time I see it that way!
I mean the only reason I can think of that someone would dislike mushrooms yet eat meat (as in they taste pretty similar) is texture. Which I would think wouldn't be too much of an issue in a Welly as you're already supposed to chop the mushrooms up hella fine so going even finer wouldn't be too much of an issue
Great tip to not worry about the meat temp is to sous vide the meat the night before. Then all you have to worry about is how done the pastry is. I cooked the meat to just under medium rare and it is always perfect!
If you just go by how done the pastry is its still possible to overheat the meat. I'd still use a thermometer even if I'd precooked it
@@debrucey I have done 10 of them in 3 years. Never had that problem
@@sqweeeeeeeps8789 good for you
if you want to make a wellington that is softer and easier to cut, I recommend salmon wellington. The store I work for used to have in store cooking demonstrations, and that's one of the recipes I made when that was my job.
My issue with beef Wellington is that it *is* the sum of its parts. It’s not more or less than. It is beef tenderloin with puff pastry and an added flavor of the duxelle prosciutto. It is what it is unapologetically and the entire time I wish I was just having a nice tenderloin and some fresh bread.
Well said.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. If you make it right it most emphatically IS more than the sum of it's parts. It might not be your thing, (and that's perfectly OK) but the whole point of combining ingredients together is to make them more than the sum of their parts, otherwise what's the point? Beef Wellington is *very* tricky. You need the pastry to be light and crisp and flaky, the beef needs to be rare (45C in the centre) the stuffing needs to soak up enough liquid and complement the meat, it all needs to stick together so that when you slice into it it's one thing and not several layers that fall apart as soon as they catch a sniff of a knife. When you get it right it's really really good, but if you miss, it's a fillet steak in a mediocre vol au vent.
You know, I’m still planning on making Wellington for Christmas. Why? Because I’m curious that’s why. And that’s a good enough reason for me. Thanks for the recipe Adam :-)
I'm making one because my local Aldi was out of prime rib.
i did wellington one christmas and it was phenomenal. the one adam does here is sorta stripped back, i would recommend going the whole 9 yards with it. You've already expended all that effort making puff and trimming meat so you might as well wrap it in a chive crepe, prosciutto, and duxelles.
the order from the inside out is meat, mustard, duxelles, prosciutto, crepe, puff
Good luck - I'd recommend not leaving out the parma ham layer between the mushrooms and the pastry - without it you you're at risk of the juices from the meat or the moistrure from the mushrooms turning the pastry into a soggy mess.
@@kameronpeterson3601 well the thing is… I’m not making puff pastry. I’m a sad human who is gluten intolerant (and so is most of my family) so I’m buying some gluten free puff pastry. Hopefully it turns out, but the rest? Yes I’m planning on going the whole 9 yards.
@@thecoastergnome8603 th-cam.com/video/Cyskqnp1j64/w-d-xo.html This recipe is tons better than Adam's, easier too. I'm honestly a little disappointed with Adam's lack of effort here, he usually makes amazing things in these videos.
I used sous-vide to make Beef Wellington for New Year's once. Cooking the meat sous-vide beforehand and then storing it in the fridge worked really well. Made things more convenient the day of, because then it was only a matter of enveloping the meat in the duxelles and pastry and throwing it in the oven until the pastry looked nice.
made one for the first time the other year. time consuming but not necessarily difficult if you aren't picky over precise doneness. imo the duxelle was crucial to the overall flavour. would do again on a smaller scale or deconstructed to get the flavours without the fuss.
Love how this guy downplays his entire recipe before showing it, he's totally honest and that makes it good
I'm ready for the Gordon Ramsay v. Adam Ragusea wellington battle - the banter would be hilarious
One is actually making Beef Wellington with the proper ingredients. No mushroom and no ham = not beef Wellington, just something similar
That green stuff instead of mushrooms is rough, definitely need thin sliced Serrano too.
Coating the beef in strong mustard before you wrap is a must. Great pastry tips. Thanks
Perfect timing! I wanted to try making a Wellington for Christmas just for fun. Might try using a pork loin which is much cheaper than beef (which I also learned about from you!) Thanks Adam!
Pork loin will probably taste better too
Joshua Weissman has Pork Wellington recipe that has apple in it which looks perfect for Christmas
Chef john of foodwishes has recipes for an individual beef wellingtons that uses a fillet minion steak instead of a whole tenderloin and a "cheeseburger wellington" which is what it sounds like. I've also seen recipies for pork tenderloin wellington. There are a lot of good options if you want to play around with the wellington concept without breaking the bank.
Trader joe's used to sell one. Don't normally like their meat but the pork tenderloin was good.
I always thought the idea of Wellingtons was dumb. Then my cousin-in-law made mini ones. The combo of flavors with the mushroom and ham and gravy, and textures, with the soft meat and crumbly pastry...I'm a convert. They're amazing.
Me watching this knowing that I’m never going to make this be like
One day someone might kidnap you and force you to make it at gunpoint!
We made beef wellington properly a few years back for a dinner party. It went down really well. Loved it so much, though its pretty expensive to get the cut of meat from the butchers.
Bro, if you're not going to make a Wellington, don't pass off a completely different dish as a Wellington. Great piece of meat, just make a nice and roasted Cote de Beouf.
With due respect this is not a good recipe.
You need the ham or pancake for a start. This not only keeps the moisture inside of the meat, but also adds fat to an otherwise lean meat, it also aids the rolling. The mustard should be applied to the just-seared meat, and you need to cook the moisture out of the mushroom (or in your case spinach) filling.
Your wellington "fell apart" from having too much water content in your filling, and not being wrapped tight enough. Being wrapped more tightly would be produce the characteristic cylindrical shape.
The water content of your filling and thickness of your pastry is why it didn't brown and crisp as well as it should have.
Not sure how you can claim to dislike Wellington if you’re using a spinach duxelle with no prosciutto. Those are 2 key elements that elevate the dish. But if you’ve had traditional Wellington and still dislike it then I understand.
Btw the “chain” meat is the og cheesesteak meat iirc. Great stuff
Literally just made one for the first time and it was magnificent. Definitely worth it to make on special occasions
That is the most rudimentary dough I have ever seen.
I'm not a professional pastry chef by the stretch of anyone's imagination but even I know that you need to incorporate your butter and flour better. I suggest using a handheld pastry blender; it cuts the butter cubes into ever-smaller fragments which are then coated with flour, which is what creates the crispiness of the pastry.
Rolling it out and laminating it over and over is what creates the flakiness, because you're trapping those little fragments of butter and flour between other fragments of butter and flour.
Not interested in making a Wellington but I'm terrible at making sauces and learned quite a lot. Thanks Adam! 👍🏼
The last few years I've made Salmon en Croute as a riff on a wellington, since I'm not paying $30/lb for an almost tasteless cut of meat. Absolutely delicious, and able to made as individual portions without a lot of extra work. Store-bought puff pastry works just fine in that application, since the whole piece is going right on a plate.
I NEED a series of Adam doing overly complex dishes, but with this "can't be bothered to be that fancy" kind of style. I found this extremely helpful, and a whole lot of fun to watch. Same with the chili recipe with Adam shouting "No" every minute or two. More of these Adam please! I honestly did not know I needed this style of cooking video in my life as much as I clearly do now that you're making them. Hopefully doing a few of these wouldn't kill the "more relaxed" Adam's schedule.
I know you have done one video and how it’s not for you but I have to say that this is the single best recipe to use venison the back straps are the perfect size for this and always a hit a Christmas with chef Jean Pierre’s mushroom cream sauce
Thank you! My family and I love to watch your videos! Merry Christmas!
Re: Opening a can of tomato paste:
There's a brand, Mutti, comes in a cardboard box in the shop and the paste itself is in basically a toothpaste tube. The only tomato paste exposed is the diameter of the nozzle, it takes forever to spoil, can measure easily, doesn't oxidize metal into the paste, and tbh I just keep it in the fridge, has lasted months.
If you use it often but never in a standard tin's volume, it's the way to go in my opinion!
This is the standard format in every European country I’ve lived in or visited.
This is how it should be done everywhere imo! The tube is lighter so easier shipping and shopping, less spoilage, and convenient measuring. Glad to hear that it's at least popular in other countries! I've switched to the format entirely here, but cans are default here in Canada.
How did the veggie filling turn out? While I think it would be fun to try making something like a Beef Wellington someday, I likewise do not like mushroom, so it'd be good to know if you wound up having any notes about the veggie alternative 👍🏻
Though something like this would be pretty fancy, nothing beats a big and delicious ham for christmas.
You lost me on the mushroom sub out for greens. It is a very very special event to make a Wellington. It takes forever to make, but this is a wonderful dish to experience.
Nice to see the trimmings (and the plastic wrap) getting some additional use out of them.
Imho some parts of the cooking (i.e. cutting vegetables) seem a bit wasteful at times so this makes for a welcome difference.
Hey guys, Geoff Keighley here, game award for the worst wellington goes to…Adam Ragusea! Congratulations!
finally, an adam ragusea receipe i have no desire to ever make
There are two reasons for a Ragusea recipe. One is to genuinely gain the skills and knowledge to prepare a meal. The other is entertainment. This one is entertainment. There's nothing wrong with food entertainment, especially when it's not just vapid and silly. There's still plenty to learn here even if you never make a Wellington in your life, which I will not.
@@danielnyo513 I'd love to see yours.
@@JETZcorp what a great response mate
Adam I appreciate your willingness to make stuff like this so we don't have to.
Merry Christmas Adam!
My sister made beef Wellington once, and I thought it was amazing.
Wonderful holiday content. I love a good cut of beef at Christmas. For me the holidays are truly about food. Thanks for this.
I'm a big fan of beef wellington. So I think everyone should give it a try at least once!
I love how you ignore the need of specific things tho! And replace the mushrooms with greens. I'll def give it a try some time.
Keep it up! Subscribed!
For the puff pastry, do you think it's worth replacing some of the water with white wine, like you did for your chicken pot pie crust? Since less water means less gluten development
No it's now a good idea and what's Adam is making here is no puff pastry.
wow, it was fascinating watching the butter squares slowly disappear as you do a taffy to the layers (or in the metallurgy world, maybe doing a damascus)
So, you could make a giant sausage mix in there and it'd be easier? Like a quiche, or those vegan mushroom and nut fillings? Hard to overcook that.
It'd still look fancy and Christmassy
Issue with that could be that sausage has to be thoroughly cooked and your pastry might burn. Or the outside of the sausage would be cooked to hell while the inside would be just done
Maybe with beef sausage, not pork because o fpossible undercooking. And then there's the fat content....
Sorted Food have a video where Ben did a budget Wellington using sausage meat. It seemed quite good...
If you want to see someone with this sort of idea check out the sorted food beef wellington video :)
In the UK, this would be called a 'giant sausage roll', lol. Beef Wellington is just a meat pie, really, of which there are many better versions. It still looks delish though. The pastry scoring makes it look special, like a French 'Pithivier.'
I made a Wellington for Christmas last year and wholeheartedly agree: It's great, don't get me wrong, but I could also just gut the same cut of beef into steaks, make the same sauce and add something nice on the side. Basically the same but a lot less work.
Might not be worth the effort? But would love a slice right now!! 😂 My Mum used to grate the butter to make rough puff pastry.
Merry Christmas, Adam and family. I'm so glad I discovered you this year!
I highly respect your channel and your cooking skills, but you offended this amazing dish greatly. If you cooked it properly, there is no doubt you would love it as much as so many people throughout the world. Also- my very large extended family hates mushrooms as well. But a good Duxelle proved them all wrong- cooked properly, there is no moisture in the mushrooms (hence no slime), and you have pure umami. Amazing dish!!
My family loves a variation of this with salmon instead of beef. I believe it’s called a salmon encrut, and it’s accompanied by hollandaise and peas. Since we use store bought puff pastries the hardest part is actually the hollandaise. - won’t be trying this for many reasons listed but thanks Adam!
Reminds me a bit of a (I think) Russian dish, that is basically that but with an added layer of rice to soak up any juices
I think the value of a beef wellington is the presentation, and how the components pair together in a textural and flavorful way. I highly recommend doing a deconstructed Wellington instead: traditional beef roast, with roast mushroom duxelle and puff pastry as a stand-in for Yorkshire Puddings
Kitchen is an interesting place. Sometimes you use it to prepare something just to enjoy the end result, like a cup of coffee. In most cases we use it to make food, just so we get nutrients. But we also can have fun while cooking something new, get new skills and everything. Almost like an art, enjoying the process of doing something beautiful. And at the end we can eat delicious (hopefully), cool looking food. Also it can be useful to show someone else your chief skills, or just to impress them.
bro did not sound exited making this video 💀
So glad you mentioned the probe thermometer. I just got one this year for grilling and thought the same thing for making these. Done it without in years past and it was horrifically difficult to get right.
I always wondered what do you do with the test runs of the dish, do you just force feed the family? do you give it to a neighbor?
Personally I'm not rich enough to test run whole ass tenderloins
@@rykehuss3435 Same, but you get to eat your mistakes. It's so good it can't be that bad. ;)
I think he's said on the podcast that he gives out test runs and extras to neighbors and friends, unless it's just waste or very time-sensitive to eat in which case, it gets tossed.
He's talked about it in an Ask Adam video. Don't remember which one. Must be at least a year or two old, I'd say. Maybe you can look for it.
But the tl;dw is that sometimes he does toss things (especially the things that don't turn out as they should), but he thinks (and I agree with him on that, it's just logical) that it's better when he makes four attempts at cooking something of which the first three are inedible to then show online how he did it the fourth time, instead of sharing his first and only attempt that resulted in a not good enough product for 1000 of his viewers to then cook it like that themselves and tossing that before they all manage to produce a good result on their respective fourth attempts.
In this particular recipe he said on the podcast the only run with a whole roast was the filmed one. His test runs used the off-cuts we saw at the start when he was butchering.
My Mom makes a bunch of bite sized ones for Christmas every year. They're sooo good.
I hope you will watch Chef James Makinson's reaction to your video. Don't make your life and cooking so much more difficult for no reason :(
It is a lot of work, but I personally love making it for every now and again and think it's worth the work for really special occasions, but I can see why others wouldn't want to make it. I will gladly borrow the rough puff pastry idea though for the next time so I don't have to buy frozen pastry. Greatly appreciate the recipe even if you're not a fan of the dish.
As a chef I'm like yeah... stick to tradition.
Tradition sucks
@@bluekirbyrocks i agree but you gotta admit, adam skipped half of wellington part
@@bluekirbyrocks it doesn't suck. Adam's butchery does suck though.
My grandmother used to stuff the filling in a cored out pineapple. It was really good.
"This is a terrible dish and not worth the effort"
"Also I replaced the mushroom duxelle with spinach and panko, and then left out the crepes and ham..."
My family has done a Pork Wellington for the past 2 decades at least. And we use one of those rolled pie crusts instead of puff pastries. I also use prosciutto instead of a paste to keep the dough from getting soggy from the pork juices.
I only say these cause you are right. Puff pastry is a lot of work and not worth it. This method cuts so much work out and is still absolutely delicious
Says you shouldn't make beef wellington because it's a ton of work, then proceeds to make puff pastry from scratch...
For real tho, beef wellington really isn't that hard to make and it's absolutely delicious. It is VERY expensive though, but to me it's a once-a-year kind of dish so I don't mind.
Because this is his job so he might as well go all out for the one time that he makes this
You know, I'll never forget the time when I invited the staff of a restaurant I worked at over for a post holiday party. I made 4 wellingtons. The head Chef (he's won a few food network show competitions) pulled me aside and said "Man, you really f**kn' nailed this." That, to me, was one of the best compliments I've ever had about my cooking. He's a modest guy. Great guy.
It is a classic because of the Wow factor AND because you can prepare it in advance and just pop it into the oven on the night, when it does not take too long and does not require any attention/time in the kitchen. Compared to roasting a turkey/duck/capon that is a major advantage….
Your wife doesn't like mushrooms?! You're a more patient man than I 😃
I agree Wellington is quite expensive, that is why you get someone else to pay for the ingredients 😊