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 50g, carbohydrate 32g, fat 48 g, saturated fat 20g, fibre 0g, salt 2.46 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2004.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 41-60

  • Binder photo Middle Donalnd

    06 March 2009

    Middle Donalnd rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made it last night. It's not that difficult at all but there is quite a bit of work and chilling time required. It's for sure for a more special ocassion given the extra taste of ham. I made another beef wellington before and it was just as tasty if not as rich with the mushroom and shallot, no white wine and no need for ham. It's also good. I think the ham somehow overpowers the taste of the beef.

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  • Binder photo HelsBels

    23 March 2009

    HelsBels rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this for Mother's Day and it was delicious! Really impressed with the recipe! When I cut into the final wellington there was quite a bit of juice! I guess form the meat and bacon but it was really tasty so I used it like a sauce for the veg.

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  • Binder photo Party

    29 March 2009

    Party commented on this recipe

    Made this recipe tonight, the only problem I had with it was the meat cooking time. It wasn't long enough and made it to raw, but put the beef back in for another 30 minutes and this made it a bit tough. will cover next time I try this, looked at the original recipe and this one seems much better especially the mushroom cooking process. Will make again, very easy even though it was my first attempt

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  • Binder photo stamos

    22 April 2009

    stamos rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    excellent. aclassic british

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  • Binder photo wilko

    15 May 2009

    wilko commented on this recipe

    I made individual wellingtons by combining this recipe with the other recipe from this site and it worked perfectly.....my fiance said it was my best dinner so far ;) t

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  • Binder photo chocolate-rose

    14 June 2009

    chocolate-rose commented on this recipe

    Lovely :-D I made it individually though, so what I did was seared the fillets, or sort of half cooked them I suppose, according to the preferences of everyone - so not much for me, a bit longer for the others. Then wrapped them up and all that, and put in the oven at 200'C for about... 15 minutes I think? Delish - but quite heavy and seriously calorific! Doing it individually you get a *lot* more puff pastry, which is yum - but not for dieters.

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  • Binder photo Yappy

    16 June 2009

    Yappy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Mmmmmm, mmmmmmm, mmmmmmm!!! I�m hardly what you'd call a seasoned chef, and although this was a bit fiddly, it wasn�t difficult and the end result was amazing - it tasted absolutely gorgeous, the meat was nicely pink throughout, and it looked impressive. I must admit though, my boyfriend doesn�t like mushrooms so we substituted the mushroom duxelle for a chicken liver pate, worked a treat.

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  • Binder photo Cats

    17 June 2009

    Cats commented on this recipe

    Meant to leave a comment after Easter. I made this for Easter dinner for my flamily and it went down an absolute treat. Made grave from the meat juices from sealing it and it workded fine. We all like our meat on the well done side so I sealed it for a little longer than required to help it along I can't wait to do this again although the fillet for 12 people worked out quite expensive but I must say well work it.

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  • Binder photo Rachel

    01 July 2009

    Rachel rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was a delicious meal made by my daughter (12) but my family like there meat well done and as there was no guidance came out a bit pink and the meat cam out a bit tough. However the second time she made it she marnaided the meat with a little bit of coca cola as it tenderizes the meat why not try it?

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  • Binder photo adykell

    12 July 2009

    adykell commented on this recipe

    Fantastic recipe and it turned out as it should. The prosciutto along with the mushrooms really adds a depth of flavour to the dish. Well worth the time and effort in preparation as it pays off in the end. Everybody loved it!!

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  • Binder photo Kazza

    01 August 2009

    Kazza commented on this recipe

    I made this for friends, they absolutely loved it. Fab recipe, easy to follow and easy to make. One to keep! Have ago!

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  • Binder photo lauren_v_j

    07 September 2009

    lauren_v_j rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I tried this recipe, it looked amazing but the fillet of beef was very tough, I think this was probably just because I used a poor quality fillet. I recommend using a very good fillet if you are to attempt this recipe.

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  • Binder photo Mightyknife_cook

    14 September 2009

    Mightyknife_cook rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely fantastic!

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  • Binder photo Haggis

    16 September 2009

    Haggis rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    What an amazing dish for a special occasion.

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  • Binder photo conker

    29 September 2009

    conker commented on this recipe

    I wanted to make lamb wellington using lamb fillet for a dinner party but couldn't find any decent recipes. So, I used this one and 3 lamb fillets (just over 1kg of meat) for a party of 11. Using lamb was expensive but it tasted gorgeous - everyone loved it! I doubled up on the duxelle ingredients because I had 3 fillets to cover but kept to all the same weights and measures in this recipe. I especially liked the use of proscuitto to seal in the duxelle as I've made beef wellington before where pancakes were used which made it really heavy.

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  • Binder photo honeybee

    05 October 2009

    honeybee rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Was a bit shocked when I saw beef fillet was £36/kilo, but butcher assured me it was high quality hung for 28days beef and that there was no point in compromising on quality. Tried a 300g version and it was a stunner. Just enough for a big meal for 2 of us! Will do the full version for Christmas. Used Parma ham as I couldn't get proscuitto (and am not sure of the difference).

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  • Binder photo Bethany

    07 October 2009

    Bethany rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is absolutely delicious!! I made this for an anniversary dinner and was a bit nervous but it was easier than I thought it was going to be & everybody loved it! It is a very good dinner party dish because most of it can be prepared beforehand. Excellent!

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  • Binder photo Bethany

    07 October 2009

    Bethany commented on this recipe

    This is absolutely delicious!! I made this for an anniversary dinner and was a bit nervous but it was easier than I thought it was going to be & everybody loved it! It is a very good dinner party dish because most of it can be prepared beforehand. Excellent!

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  • Binder photo happycook

    22 November 2009

    happycook rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was absolutely fantastic! Made to recipie, well worth the fillet beef, was doing as a special treat for my other half so used 350g of fillet beef, and used 1 third of other ingredients. Seared beef on all sides to keep the shape in a roasting hot frying pan and then left it in the oven for 30-35 minutes for just pink moist beef, served with mashed potatoes with spring onion and swede/carrot mash, and gravy. Gorgeous! Absolutely fantastic! Only thing is I didnt cut the mushrooms small enough, so looked kinda funny so will pulse next time (and according to my other half there has TO BE A NEXT TIME!) Turned out well, finnicky but if you follow the instructions pretty straight forward.

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  • Binder photo LoobyC

    06 December 2009

    LoobyC commented on this recipe

    An amazingly easy recipe, loved by all the family. The only problem was keeping it all together as I carved and then keeping everyone off it long enough to get to the table!!! Fab stuff Gordon!

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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 50g, carbohydrate 32g, fat 48 g, saturated fat 20g, fibre 0g, salt 2.46 g

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