Debug

[0 - 2] - Beef wellington is like an arts and crafts project

[2 - 5] that you get to eat. (beeps)

[5 - 6] Beef wellington is like a riddle wrapped

[6 - 9] in a mystery inside an enigma that is

[9 - 11] then also wrapped in prosciutto,

[11 - 14] duxelles, sometimes fois gras, buttery pastry

[14 - 17] and that's roasted. (beeps)

[17 - 19] Beef wellington is maybe, but probably not connected

[19 - 23] to Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington. (beeps)

[23 - 24] Okay, why am I trying so hard?

[24 - 27] Look, beef wellington is the ultimate holiday roast.

[27 - 28] It shows your guests,

[28 - 31] you care a whole heck of a lot about them. It's delicious. It's expensive.

[31 - 33] It's a little bit complicated

[33 - 38] and it is the subject of our video today. (upbeat music)

[39 - 40] Today, we're gonna dig in deep

[40 - 42] on Cook's Illustrated Associated Editor,

[42 - 45] Steve Don's recipe for beef wellington.

[45 - 47] If you've always wanted to make beef wellington,

[47 - 48] but have been afraid to do so,

[48 - 50] this recipe is for you.

[50 - 51] And if you chase perfection in the same way

[51 - 54] that you chase beefy buttery, goodness,

[54 - 55] this recipe is also for you.

[55 - 58] There are quite a few components to a good beef wellington,

[58 - 59] and I'm really ready to get cooking.

[59 - 61] So let's head straight to the kitchen.

[61 - 62] We're gonna work from the inside out.

[62 - 64] And that means we start with the beef.

[64 - 66] For wellington, that nearly always means tenderloin.

[66 - 68] One of the priciest cow cuts you can get.

[68 - 70] As a muscle that sits along the spine.

[70 - 73] Wait a minute, I can show this to you.

[73 - 76] Tenderloin sits along here and it doesn't get much use.

[76 - 79] And that translates to a buttery soft texture.

[79 - 81] On the flip side, it's not that flavorful.

[81 - 84] Flavorful meat, where we're going,

[84 - 86] we don't need flavorful meat.

[86 - 87] Sorry, that's not the actual quote.

[87 - 90] And it's honestly not exactly what I mean either.

[90 - 91] Obviously we want flavorful beef,

[91 - 94] but wellington layers on so much complexity and flavor.

[94 - 96] And it's not really a deficit here.

[96 - 98] with a welly, we can have the tenderness

[98 - 99] of Tenderloin and loads of flavor,

[99 - 102] but it ain't gonna be cheap.

[102 - 103] Not only are we going with the tenderloin,

[103 - 105] but we're going with the center cut portion of it.

[105 - 107] This is a two pound center cut beef tenderloin,

[107 - 109] also known as a chateaubriand.

[109 - 111] This is important because it's even shaped

[111 - 113] with no tapered ends leads to even cooking.

[113 - 116] Our first step is to salt it all over with kosher salt,

[116 - 118] wrap it up and then let it chill in the fridge

[118 - 121] for at least 12 hours and up to three days.

[121 - 122] Why salt for so long?

[122 - 126] Because salt is slow. Very slow.

[126 - 127] Salt moves slowly through meat.

[127 - 128] So the longer we give it,

[128 - 130] the more evenly seasoned the beef is gonna be.

[130 - 132] The chloride ions that make up the chloride portion

[132 - 135] of sodium chloride will also help me hold

[135 - 136] onto more moisture as it cooks.

[136 - 139] Seasoning and juiciness, yes, please.

[139 - 143] Now just like ogres and onions, a welly has layers.

[143 - 144] Man, that's like really like,

[144 - 147] out of date movie quote day around here, huh? Sorry.

[147 - 149] The first layer after the beef,

[149 - 151] a thin skim coat of Dijon mustard

[151 - 153] for a little bit of flavor and sharpness.

[153 - 156] Then we get to the prosciutto and duxelles.

[156 - 158] Prosciutto will clearly add a salty umami porkiness

[158 - 160] but it's also really functional.

[160 - 161] It provides a tasty barrier between the moisture

[162 - 163] and the meat and the crust.

[163 - 164] It also helps with assembly.

[164 - 166] Prosciutto's a pretty helpful guy.

[166 - 168] We'll lay out our prosciutto into a rectangle

[168 - 170] and then spread our beautiful duxelles all over the top.

[170 - 172] Now duxelles is a miracle food.

[172 - 174] Mushrooms are incredible on their own,

[174 - 176] but when you finally chop them and then cook them now

[176 - 179] with shallot and garlic and time and Madeira,

[179 - 181] they become luxurious and so rich,

[181 - 183] it's key that you cook it until nice and dry

[183 - 186] because moisture is the enemy of a nice crispy crust.

[186 - 190] Then we add our beef and roll it up. Beautiful.

[190 - 192] Finally, it's time for our dough.

[192 - 194] The classic wellington rep is puff pastry,

[194 - 196] which features hundreds of flaky layers

[196 - 197] and a nice buttery flavor.

[197 - 199] Puff pastry is great stuff,

[199 - 201] but only when it is fully puffed and light as air.

[201 - 203] The puff pastry on the underside of a wellington

[203 - 205] is often compressed by the roast itself,

[205 - 208] turning it from light and airy into tough and leathery.

[208 - 210] It's also a little bit fussy to work with.

[210 - 213] We are going to use a pâte brisée instead.

[213 - 214] This is gonna be much easier to work with.

[215 - 217] It is incredibly flavorful because it is packed with butter

[217 - 220] and it's gonna turn it golden and brown and crisp.

[220 - 223] And this crust will be lovely around the entire cylinder.

[223 - 226] Oh, and it will be much easier to slice and serve

[226 - 227] and wait, did I mention that you could

[227 - 229] do a beautiful decorative finish on it like this?

[229 - 231] Man, so much to love.

[231 - 232] Now it is time to bake.

[232 - 233] Now, unfortunately this is where a lot

[233 - 236] of good beef wellingtons turn into bad beef wellingtons.

[236 - 241] Bad beef wellington, get off the counter! Get down! (sighs)

[241 - 243] You've purchased one of the most expensive cuts of beef.

[243 - 245] You separately prepared all these different components

[245 - 248] and carefully assembled them into one package

[248 - 249] and you're popping it into the oven.

[249 - 253] And then you end up with over cooked beef.

[253 - 255] (sad horns play)

[255 - 257] This is a really common problem for beef wellington

[257 - 260] because you're trying to achieve two very different goals

[260 - 261] during the roasting process.

[261 - 264] One, you want deeply brown, crisp crust,

[264 - 267] and two, you want medium rare beef from edge to edge.

[267 - 269] The first requires high heat

[269 - 271] and the second requires low heat.

[271 - 273] So how did Steve solve this problem?

[273 - 275] He relied on the science of carry over cooking.

[275 - 277] Carry over cooking refers to the transfer of heat

[277 - 280] from the outside of say a roast to the inside

[280 - 282] once you've removed it from the cooking environment.

[282 - 285] You smart cooks account for this all of the time,

[285 - 286] whether you're pulling a steak from the grill

[286 - 288] before it hits medium rare

[288 - 291] or a chicken from the oven before it hits 165.

[291 - 294] Most of the time over cooking adds up to five or 10 degrees.

[294 - 296] So it's easy to think of it as small change,

[296 - 298] but here's the thing carry over cooking

[298 - 300] is not one size fits all.

[300 - 302] It's impacted by a number of variables.

[302 - 304] One of which is the difference between the temperature

[304 - 306] of the cooking environment and the food itself.

[306 - 307] You have more carry over cooking

[307 - 309] if you're using a hotter oven

[309 - 310] than if you were using a cooler oven.

[310 - 312] Size also matters.

[313 - 316] We will tend to see more carry over cooking in a roast

[316 - 318] than we would in something smaller, like a steak.

[318 - 320] Now let's go through the checklist for our welly.

[320 - 322] A really hot oven so we can brown and crisp

[322 - 323] that crust, check.

[323 - 325] A thick roast made even thicker with layers of duxelles

[325 - 327] and pastry, check.

[327 - 329] And buckle up kids 'cause you're about to witness

[329 - 331] some next level carry over cooking.

[331 - 332] We're gonna roast this beauty

[332 - 335] in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven until

[335 - 336] our probe thermometer inserted

[336 - 338] into the center hits 85 degrees,

[338 - 340] basically a warm summer day.

[340 - 342] And that's gonna take between 40 and 55 minutes.

[342 - 344] Now comes the fun part.

[344 - 345] Grab a drink, maybe some snacks.

[345 - 346] Grab a friend.

[346 - 350] If you have one. And sit back and enjoy the carry-over show.

[350 - 352] We've got 95 degrees.

[352 - 353] Can I get a hundred?

[353 - 358] We've got a hundred, oop! Still going. That's 110.

[358 - 359] Now we're up to 125.

[359 - 360] Will it ever end?

[360 - 362] When will it end?

[362 - 366] And finally 130 degrees. (crowd applauds)

[366 - 368] A perfect medium rare.

[368 - 368] All right, raise your hand

[368 - 371] if you know how long that carry over cooking took.

[372 - 374] No one, seriously, no one knows?

[374 - 376] Alright, it was 45 minutes.

[376 - 377] That's all right.

[377 - 378] Do you know what that means?

[378 - 380] We did half our cooking in the oven

[380 - 383] and then the other half entirely on the counter.

[384 - 384] If you don't believe me,

[384 - 387] we even have a delicious graph to show what happened.

[387 - 388] I hope everyone will please join me

[388 - 392] in a slow clap for Steve. (claps)

[396 - 398] Am I doing, what am I clapping for numbers?

[398 - 400] What are you doing? Stop clapping.

[400 - 401] This is just numbers.

[401 - 403] It doesn't mean anything unless the food is good.

[403 - 405] Let's spice this welly open and see for ourselves.

[405 - 408] Just look at that gorgeous expanse

[408 - 410] of perfect medium rare beef.

[410 - 413] That cushion of savory duxelles

[413 - 416] like golden brown shatteringly, crisp pastry.

[416 - 418] I'm gonna spoon a little of this green peppercorn sauce

[418 - 422] right onto the plate and cut a bite. (violin music) Hmm, wow.

[422 - 424] Okay, this is definitely much better

[424 - 425] than looking at a graph.

[425 - 427] This is perfection.

[427 - 429] This is definitely without a doubt,

[429 - 434] how to eat beef wellington. (triumphant music)

[435 - 437] Thank you all so much for watching.

[437 - 440] This is actually the last episode of season four,

[440 - 441] which would be really sad except for the fact

[441 - 443] that season five starts up right away.

[443 - 445] So you will see me really, really soon.

[445 - 447] I would love to know what you're planning

[447 - 448] on making for the holidays.

[448 - 449] If you're gonna make the welly,

[449 - 451] let me know if you're not gonna make the welly.

[451 - 452] Let me know why not.

[452 - 454] A big thanks to Steve for his recipe.

[454 - 456] While you're down there, leaving comments,

[456 - 457] all that kind of stuff,

[457 - 458] give me some ideas for season five.

[458 - 459] If there's stuff you wanna see me do,

[459 - 461] I would love to know it.

[461 - 463] Always looking for new ideas and while you're down there

[463 - 465] also hit subscribe, hit like.

[465 - 466] I hope you have wonderful holidays

[466 - 469] and I will see you very soon. (upbeat music)