Beef Wellington
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Beef Wellington

Gordon Ramsay's version of the classic steak dish - a show-stopping centrepiece on a special occasion

Difficulty and servings

For the keen cook

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 1 hr - 2 hrs

Freezable

Method

  1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Sit the 1kg beef fillet on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 mins for medium-rare or 20 mins for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 mins.
  2. While the beef is cooling, chop 250g chestnut (and wild, if you like) mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to do this, but make sure you pulse-chop the mushrooms so they don't become a slurry.
  3. Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and 50g butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with 1 large sprig fresh thyme, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture, pour over 100ml dry white wine and cook for about 10 mins until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom duxelle from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.
  4. Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay 12 slices prosciutto on the cling film, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread half the duxelles over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining duxelles over. Use the cling film's edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.
  5. Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll out a third of the 500g pack of puff pastry to a 18 x 30cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remainder of the 500g pack of puff pastry to about 28 x 36cm. Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit it in the centre of the smaller strip of pastry. Beat the 2 egg yolks with 1 tsp water and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides. Trim the joins to about a 4cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hrs.
  6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp - 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.
Try

Trim carefully

Lower the chances of the edges separating by giving yourself lots of room - and don't trim the pastry too close to the meat.

Gordon's tips

Brush the meat as well as the pastry with egg wash. This will make the top layer of pastry stick to the meat and stop it from rising and leaving a gap.

Use up leftover pastry

Any leftover pastry is fine to use for something else, even if covered in egg. Simply roll it into a ball and refrigerate until needed.

Sealing the pastry

Use the rounded end of a fork or spoon handle to seal the edges rather than the prongs of a fork - using the prongs will only pierce the pastry rather than joining it.

Keep it air-free

Drape over the top layer of pastry very carefully, smoothing it down with your hands as you go. You don't want any air trapped between the pastry and the meat.

763 kcalories, protein 50.0g, carbohydrate 32.0g, fat 48.0 g, saturated fat 20.0g, fibre 0.0g, salt 2.46 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2004.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Mike

    2007-11-22 15:45:32.37598

    Mike rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Try stretched out streaky bacon instead of Prosciutto.

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  • Binder photo IceMan

    2007-12-08 15:10:04.561924

    IceMan rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    hmm... wont the bacon wet the pastry??

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  • Binder photo Laura

    2007-12-19 11:54:33.031484

    Laura commented on this recipe

    This receipe is my show stopper for dinner party - it is quite time consuming but worth it. I always make it the day or even 2 days before (I just let the meat rest really well so it doesn't make the pastry go soggy) and its been perfect. The mushrooms are much nicer than using pate and I used pancetta instead of prosciutto which I found difficult to find. Some red cabbage or spinach goes with it really well.

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  • Binder photo TubyCat

    2007-12-27 02:15:56.731826

    TubyCat rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was one of the best things I have ever made in my whole life. It was a little hard as I am in the USA and had to convert everything. once I had it all converted it came out great and was very easy to make. I am not a trained cook, so if I found it easy I think anyone can make this. My Kids (1,10,6) all loved it.

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  • Binder photo Clippy

    2008-01-10 11:59:20.046145

    Clippy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really awesome recipe. Made it for Christmas dinner and it went down really well. It's full of flavour and looks great! It is definitely for the keener cook due to its time consumption, but on the whole it wasn't difficult to prepare or to cook.

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  • Binder photo Emily

    2008-01-16 18:13:14.23684

    Emily rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazing. I will definitely make this again.

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  • Binder photo Diane

    2008-01-27 11:57:13.442822

    Diane commented on this recipe

    I decided to cook this yesterday as a treat for my hard working Husband Bob. I added a small amount of pate to the mushroom mixture and as suggested by another keen cook wrapped the fillet in bacon. I cut down on the cooking times as we both like our beef rare. It was cooked to perfection and very tasty. When I next feel like showing off I will cook this for friends!!

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  • Binder photo Diane

    2008-01-27 11:58:30.885849

    Diane rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo anna

    2008-02-07 09:47:08.507513

    anna commented on this recipe

    Has anyone made this as individual beef wellingtons. I would be interested to hear your cooking times?

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  • Binder photo susanweldon

    2008-02-16 20:09:29.885149

    susanweldon commented on this recipe

    I put a little finely chopped onion in the duxelles - mmmmm! susan

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  • Binder photo Yappy

    2008-02-28 09:36:05.354748

    Yappy commented on this recipe

    HELP!!!! My new man hates mushrooms but he loves beef wellington. So far all of the recipes I've looked at call for a mushroom duxelle, do you think I could just use a nice pate instead? Any advice greatly received!!! Thank you!

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  • Binder photo Natasha4995

    2008-04-03 17:09:44.433103

    Natasha4995 commented on this recipe

    Can I just say.. wow!!!! It's fool proof. It takes a while to do but the effort is well rewarded when your hubby calls you a goddess for it! And he's the keen cook.. not me!!! Highly reccommeded to impress!

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  • Binder photo Natasha4995

    2008-04-03 17:11:19.410973

    Natasha4995 rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Emma Howell

    2008-04-09 21:03:52.527495

    Emma Howell rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for my boyfriend and he is the fussiest person you will meet but he loved it and so did i, gorgeous. will def be malking this one again.

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  • Binder photo katrina

    2008-04-19 16:18:08.959421

    katrina commented on this recipe

    Fabulous a triumph my dinner party guest loved it

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  • Binder photo Claire Richardson

    2008-04-21 14:42:42.48711

    Claire Richardson commented on this recipe

    This certainly was a show stopper but there where a few things i couldn't quite understand in the method, for instance why you needed two rows of the ham? and it's not clear on which direction things should be in, horizontal or diagonal? - again this applies to the ham slices and the cling film, sounds petty but i wasted a lot of time fusing over these details to get it right!! I thought there was too much ham, i only used 10 slices and i think eight would have been plenty. But it was delicious though and I will make this again but will be making it a little easier for myself next time!

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  • Binder photo Gigi

    2008-05-08 21:26:34.48335

    Gigi commented on this recipe

    Obviously it isnt fool proof or should I say idiot proof - I cooked the meat 1kg for 30 mins then wrapped it in pastry as per recipe and finally cooked it for 25 mins wanting it to be rare - unfortunately it was raw! Oven cooks cakes okay so seems temp ok what did I do wrong? It looked the part - I was just beginning to feel smug when I served it but then horror of horrors!!!!

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  • Binder photo rochelle

    2008-06-04 20:57:53.043344

    rochelle rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Everyone loves this and looks really impressive when cut! I cook the meat for longer though so it isn't too rare.

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  • Binder photo Jacksmith

    2008-08-02 01:45:39.86841

    Jacksmith commented on this recipe

    We are two 16yr old boys from Christchurch, New Zealand and we love this recipe it is very time consuming but relatively easy to make. big up to Gordon for this one

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  • Binder photo powdery cheese

    2008-08-19 21:59:58.289699

    powdery cheese commented on this recipe

    amazing

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Difficulty and servings

For the keen cook

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Cook time

Cook 1 hr - 2 hrs

Freezable

Ingredients

  • a good beef fillet (preferably Aberdeen Angus) of around 1kg/2lb 4oz
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 250g/ 9oz chestnut mushroom , include some wild ones if you like
  • 50g/ 2oz butter
  • 1 large sprig fresh thyme
  • 100ml/ 3.5 fl oz dry white wine
  • 12 slices prosciutto
  • 500g/1lb 2oz pack puff pastry , thawed if frozen
  • a little flour , for dusting
  • 2 egg yolks beaten with 1 tsp water
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763 kcalories, protein 50.0g, carbohydrate 32.0g, fat 48.0 g, saturated fat 20.0g, fibre 0.0g, salt 2.46 g

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