This Side of the Pond

It’s always nice to hear that one of my compatriots has been enjoying a dish from my homeland, even when they didn’t know that was where it was from. I’d thought the clue was in the name, but even a feature so defining doesn’t work if you’ve never heard of the person it was intended to honor.

I speak of Beef Wellington, one of the more refined of Britain’s culinary exports. It’s a luxury dish that wraps a tenderloin in duxelles, parma ham and pastry and serves it with a Madeira sauce, and it’s every bit as delicious as it is time-consuming to make.

Now, the story goes that this dish was named for the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, the famed Anglo-Irish commander who brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars and later became Britain’s prime minister. While he occupied the latter role twice, he is far more famous for the former.

The Battle of Waterloo defined his legacy and earned him the well-deserved nickname of The Iron Duke. Napoleon had just about flattened continental Europe by 1815 and was seriously irritating the Brits.

Le Petit Coporal had actually abdicated in 1814 after Wellington destroyed his army in Spain, but returned to power just in time for the big showdown. Wellington immediately assumed command of the allied armies, which included the Germans, Dutch and Belgians, none of whom were big Napoleon fans.

The Battle of Waterloo on June 18 was the defining moment in the wars, ending 12 years of conflict and ushering in almost four decades of European peace. And if you know anything at all about the history of my home continent, you know that four decades is a very long time without a single one of us getting annoyed by a neighbor and throwing a hand grenade over the fence.

As for Wellington, he became known as one of Britain’s all-time greatest heroes. Upon his death in 1852, Queen Victoria described him as, “the greatest man this country ever produced”; if you ever visit London, you’ll find one of the statues in his honor outside the Royal Exchange.

Quite the sort of person who deserves his own entrée, I think you’ll agree. However, nobody is sure how Beef Wellington came to be.

There are numerous claims for its origin. Some say Wellington didn’t give two hoots about the food he was served and let his cook indulge his fancies, while others say he loved the dish so much that it was served at every dinner.

Some say it got the name because it resembles a Wellington boot (which is the original and still-used-in-Britain name for a rubber boot, and, you guessed it, is also named for the Iron Duke, who wore and popularized them in their original military riding boot form).

Others say it comes from central Africa and was discovered by Wellington when he served there – except he never did – and still others believe it’s actually a French dish, but we renamed it after the Napoleonic Wars because we were fed up with the French at the time.

It even seems that the person to first bring Beef Wellington to widespread fame was not a Brit at all – it was Julia Childs, who featured it on her show back in 1965. As Christmas will be upon us before we know it and Beef Wellington would make an excellent holiday treat, dare I say it, here’s the recipe favored by Britain’s grumpiest chef, Gordon Ramsay:

Brush a good quality beef fillet around 2 lbs 4 oz in size with a tablespoon of olive oil and season with black pepper, then roast it at 425 degrees F for around 15 minutes for medium rare or 20 minutes for medium. Allow to cool, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop 9 oz of chestnut mushrooms finely so they resemble breadcrumbs and fry them in 2 oz of butter on a medium heat with a large sprig of fresh thyme for around ten minutes, stirring often. Season and add 3.5 fl oz of dry white wine, then cook for ten minutes until all the wine has been absorbed and the mixture holds its shape when stirred. Allow to cool and discard the thyme.

Place two pieces of overlapped seran wrap on a chopping board and lay 12 slices of prosciutto on top, slightly overlapping in a double row. Spread half the mushroom mixture (called duxelles) over the prosciutto and sit the fillet on top.

Spread the remaining duxelles over the top of the fillet, then use the edges of the seran wrap to draw the prosciutto around it. Roll up tight and twist the ends like a candy wrap.

Place the fillet back in the fridge while you roll out about 6 oz of puff pastry to around 7 x 12 inches in size. Place it on a non-stick baking sheet and roll out another 12 oz of puff pastry to around 11 x 14 inches.

Unravel the fillet and sit it on the smaller piece of pastry. Beat two eggs with a teaspoon of water and brush the edges of the pastry and the top and sides of the fillet, then drape the larger piece on top and press it well into the sides; glaze all over with more egg yolk and use the back of a knife to mark the top with long diagonal lines, without cutting into the pastry.

Chill for 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours), then brush with a little more egg yolk and cook at 400 degrees until golden, 20-25 minutes for medium-rare or 30 minutes for medium. Stand for 10 minutes before serving in thick slices.

To make the madeira jus, heat a saucepan, then add 1.75 oz of butter. Once melted, add a chopped shallot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Deglaze with 2 fl oz of Madeira wine, then add 10 fl oz of concentrated beef stock (which is made by boiling a pint of stock until the volume has reduced by half) and cook the jus until the quantity has reduced by half.

There you have it: a dish fit not just for a duke, but for possibly the most famous duke of them all. We’ll never know if he ever actually ate it, but it’s fancy enough that I’m sure he’d still approve.