I think this is the most intense Wellington in existence.
INGREDIENTS:
Wellington:
2 pound (900g) beef tenderloin, ideally center cut
1 ½ cup (400g) short rib duxelle
6-8 slices, prosciutto
2 sourdough crepes
2 tablespoons fermented dijon mustard
1 ½ sheets puff pastry
Dry Aged Filet: (336 Hours)
2 pound (907g) beef tenderloin, ideally the center cut
Salt to taste
72 Hour Short Rib: (72 Hours)
1 pound (450g) boneless short rib
Salt to taste
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Fermented Dijon Mustard: (120 Hours)
½ cup (100g) yellow mustard seeds
300g water
6g fine sea salt
2 tablespoons (28g) apple cider vinegar with mother
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped, plus 2 garlic cloves for blending
Splash of worcestershire sauce
Fermented Mushroom Duxelle: (72 hours)
1500 g water
30g kosher salt
1 pound (450g) mushrooms, can be a mix or any mushroom of your choice
2 shallots, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (25g) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons (48g) whiskey
3 tablespoons (50g), short rib juice (optional)
2 sprigs, thyme
1 sprig rosemary
Salt to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Sourdough Crepes: (24 hours)
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 cup (90g) spinach, tightly packed
½ cup (140g) sourdough starter
¾ cup (90g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons (110g) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (240ml) milk
1 teaspoon (4g) fine sea salt
Puff Pastry: (30 Hours)
2.5 cups (320g) all purpose flour (5 cups, 640g)
3/4 cup (177g) cold water (1 ½ cups, 355g)
1 teaspoon (7g) fine sea salt (2 teaspoon, 14g)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoon (227g) unsalted cold butter (2 cups 4 tablespoon, 454g)
METHODS:
Dry Aged Filet:
Place one whole tenderloin PSMO (Peeled, Side Muscle On) onto a wire rack lined baking tray and put into a dry ager for 14 days. Ask your local butcher for a PSMO, they will know what you're asking for.
After 14 days, remove the tenderloin from the dry ager and transfer to a cutting board. Begin to trim by removing the muscle on roast. This is the thick end of the tenderloin where two muscles meet into one point.
Next the chain will need to be removed. The chain is the fatty muscle that runs along the side of the tenderloin.
Next, the tail will need to be trimmed. The tail is the thin end of the tenderloin opposite of the muscle on roast.
Lastly, to clean the tenderloin, trim any excess silver skin or fat on the surface of the tenderloin.
Now that the tenderloin is clean, cut out from the center of the loin to your desired size for the Wellington. This will be the chateaubriand.
Using butcher's twine, tie the steak to set up into an even, round shape. Season the steak with salt and let cure overnight in the refrigerator.
Once cured, reserve for Wellington assembly.
72 Hour Short Rib:
Begin by placing boneless short ribs onto a baking tray then into a freezer for 1-2 hours. The meat should be firm but not frozen all of the way through.
Once frozen, slice the short rib across the face on a meat slicer at a 5 or ¼ inch thick. If a meat slicer isn't available a chef knife can also be used.
Season short rib slices with salt and pepper generously, then place the slices into vacuum bags and seal using a foodsaver. Ensure there is no way for air to escape the packaged short rib.
Preheat a sous vide water bath to 69 degrees celsius. Once the water bath is hot, lower into the sous vide bath, cover the top of the bath with plastic wrap to keep the water from evaporating, and cook for 72 hours.
After 72 hours remove the short rib from the water bath and place in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
Fermented Dijon Mustard:
In a mortar and pestle lightly grind your mustard seeds until they begin to split open around 1-2 minutes.
In a cleaned and sanitized quart sized mason jar add water and salt and stir until the salt has dissolved completely.
Add mustard seeds, shallot, and garlic to the brine and cover the jar with cheesecloth.
Leave the jar to sit out at room temperature for 5 days, be sure to check everyday whether a white film is developing on your ferment. If white film is there be sure to remove. This white film is natural yeast in your environment and while not bad for your health will make your mustard taste very bitter if not removed.
After 5 days strain your seed, shallots, and garlic from the brine. Reserve leftover brine for use in the next step.
Transfer seeds, shallots, and garlic to a blender and blend on high until a smooth paste is formed. Add in apple cider vinegar and a splash of water to ensure the mustard blends properly. You want it to be thick but still easily spreadable.
Once a smooth puree has formed, add garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
Emulsify olive oil into mustard and pass through a fine mesh strainer and transfer to a cleaned glass jar and hold in the refrigerator.
Fermented Mushroom Duxelle:
Begin by adding water and salt to a fermentation vessel of your choice. Whisk until the salt is fully dissolved.
De-stem and clean Crimini mushrooms. Once cleaned add to brine in a fermentation vessel.
Use a weight to ensure the mushrooms are fully submerged in the water. Cover with cheesecloth and using a piece of butchers twine tie off the cheesecloth to ensure that it won't come off of the vessel. Let this sit at room temperature for 3 days.
Place mushrooms into a food processor and blend until mushrooms have broken down into fine pieces.
In a medium saucepan, add butter, and set to medium heat; once hot, add shallots, and season with salt. Saute until softened, then deglaze the pan with whiskey.
Add mushrooms to the pan and cook mushrooms until they begin to soften, constantly stirring to evenly cook the mushrooms and keep them from sticking to the pan.
Once the mushrooms begin to soften add rosemary and thyme to the mixture and continue to cook the mushrooms until almost all of the moisture has left the pan.
Continue to cook the duxelle until almost all of the moisture has cooked out of the mushrooms. Stir in garlic at the end of the cook, then reserve in an airtight container for Wellington assembly.
Sourdough Crepe:
In a large mixing bowl, add flour, and salt. Whisk together to combine, then add sourdough starter, eggs, and milk. Whisk until thoroughly homogenous and smooth. Pass the batter through a chinois to ensure it is as smooth as possible.
Add batter and spinach to a blender and blend on high speed. Once smooth and green, pass through a fine mesh strainer.
Over medium heat, spray a 12” nonstick skillet with cooking oil, and once hot add ⅓ cup of your batter, swirling around to cook in one thin layer. Cook for 30 - 45 seconds, flip and cook for another 25 - 30 seconds. Repeat until you get at least 5 crepes.
Puff Pastry:
Take cold unsalted butter and cut it into cubes; sprinkling lightly with flour. Gently beat it together using a rolling pin until it comes together to form a solid mass. Fold it over using a bench scraper and continue this process until it is smooth and cohesive.
Place your butter on a sheet of wax paper and repeat the process like the dough; but shaping it to be a 4x4 inch square. Place in your fridge alongside your dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine fine sea salt with all-purpose flour and give it a whisk. Once that’s thoroughly incorporated, stream in cold water. Once a shaggy dough has formed, turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for 2-3 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
Roll the dough out into a perfect 7x7 inch square, place your dough on a sheet of wax paper. Fold the wax paper so that the edges make a 7x7 inch square. Roll out your dough using a rolling pin to fill in the edges. Place the dough in the fridge.
Take your dough and butter out of the fridge and lightly dust your work surface. Slightly roll out the points of your dough to elongate them; then place your butter square in the center positioned at a diagonal.
Fold the edges of the dough over the butter so that they all meet together, then gently pinch the edges together.
Roll your dough out into a long rectangle measuring 12 inches in length and 6 inches in width. Fold the top part of the rectangle ⅓ of the way down; then the bottom ⅓ to overlap the top fold.
Rotate your dough 90 degrees and roll it again into a rectangle 12x6 inches. Perform the same folding technique. Let your dough rest wrapped in the fridge if necessary.
Perform two more folds, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Take it out and perform two more folds again, for a total of 6 folds.
*See timing chart below*
Once you’ve done a total of 6 folds, let it rest for 1 hour before rolling your pastry out.
Example Folding Schedule:
10:00am - Make dough and butter block and refrigerate.
10:35am - Encase butter into dough roll and letter fold, turn 90 degrees and repeat roll and letter fold. Fridge for 30 minutes (2 folds done).
11:15 am - Repeat two more folds, letting the dough rest in the fridge if necessary (now at 4 folds). Once the folds are complete, rest in the fridge for 30 more minutes.
11:55 am - Perform 2 more folds totaling at 6 (you will likely need to rest the dough in the fridge after the 5th fold if it won't roll out).
12:30 am - Once all 6 folds are done, wrap your dough and rest in the fridge for 1-3 days then use in whatever recipe you're making.
ASSEMBLY:
Preheat oven to 475°F (245°C).
Place two pieces of plastic wrap on a work surface. They should be slightly overlapping each other.
Place 4 crepes down onto the plastic wrap ensuring they slightly overlap each other.
Lay 6-8 slices of prosciutto onto the crepe as evenly as possible, with minimal overlap, but ensuring they will stay together during the wrapping process.
Spread your duxelle evenly over only the area covered by the prosciutto.
Lay strips of short rib over the duxelle in a line. Make sure the short rib is slightly heated so that it is pliable.
In a very hot large cast iron pan sear all sides, about 2-3 minutes per side, over medium to high heat. Transfer to a wire rack lined and immediately brush with fermented mustard until completely and evenly coated.
Lay the tenderloin at the center of duxelle and prosciutto and trim the excess crepe on all sides. Leaving about ¾ of an inch of the sides. And two inches in the front and back.
Roll crepe around the tenderloin tightly, and using both hands pinch the ends of the plastic wrap and roll the tenderloin to tighten everything into a uniform shape. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to set.
Roll one sheet of puff pastry into a rectangle, 10x14” and ¼” thick. Unwrap your crepe wrapped tenderloin. and place it at the bottom.
Brush the edge of the rectangle with egg wash, consisting of 2 beaten egg yolks mixed with one tsp of water.
Roll it up and trim the edges lightly. Next, wrap it in plastic to close the edges and place it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Remove the pastry wrapped tenderloin from the plastic and brush with egg wash then sprinkle with flakey salt. Optionally add an additional latticed puff pastry on top and brush with egg wash again. Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Or until the puff pastry is golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
