This recipe for beef tenderloin in puff pastry was adapted from one in Das grosse Buch vom Fleisch (Teubner), 2015 edition, and is an elevated twist on the original Beef Wellington, using tournedos and forcemeat.
Tournedos are thick, round medallions cut from the centre of the beef tenderloin. Forcemeat (or farce in French) is a mixture of ground, finely chopped, or puréed meat or fish combined with fat and seasonings. It is used as a base for sausages, pâtés, terrines, galantines, and similar preparations.
The recipe for the basic forcemeat was adapted from Alan Bergo, an American chef and culinary educator who has built a unique career around foraging wild ingredients and cooking with them. The pâté spice was adapted from DasKochrezept.de.
A lot of time and love went into making this dish, but it’s worth all the effort when sharing it with people you care about. We served this as one of eight courses during a New Year’s Eve gastronomic feast with friends, with a 2017 vintage of Château Phélan Ségur (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend). Earlier in the evening, we had also served Elegant Smoked Salmon and Avocado Roll Appetizers.
Ingredients for the pâté spice
- Pinch of white pepper, crushed
- Pinch of black pepper, crushed
- Pinch of dried nutmeg
- Pinch of green peppercorns
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of cornstarch
- Pinch of dried tarragon
Ingredients for the basic forcemeat
- 200 g veal (schnitzel veal is ideal, as it has no fat or sinew), cut into cubes
1 white Brötchen (bun, or 30 g white bread), crust removed - Whole milk
- 250 g Schmand with 20% fat (German close equivalent of crème fraiche); alternatively, cream, as in the recipe from Alan Bergo
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- Pinch of white pepper
- Pinch of nutmeg
Ingredients for the fillets (Preparation time: 1 hr.)
- 8 tournedos of beef fillet, 110 g each
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 Tbsp beef tallow
- 100 g fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 2 shallots, finely diced (Shallots range in size from as small as a large clove of garlic to as big as a medium onion. I used two fairly large ones I had on hand, estimated at 60 g.)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- Grated nutmeg
- 80 ml port (or Madeira)
- 2 cl (20 ml) brandy (or cognac)
- 150 g of duck Le Bloc De Foie Gras (I used this one Comtesse du Barry)
- Pâté spice
- 100 g veal forcemeat
- 1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 8 frozen puff pastry squares, each 1/3 of a sheet, approximately 13 cm × 30 cm
- 1 egg
- 500 ml beef or veal stock, reduced to half
- 30–40 g cold butter, cut into pieces
- Chopped parsley, for garnish
Instructions for the basic forcemeat
- Chop the meat you are using, and chill it well; I placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes—the colder the better.
- Place the bread in a bowl and cover with whole milk.
- When the meat is well chilled, place it in the bowl of a food processor and purée. Then add the bread soaked in milk, squeezing out the excess liquid.
- Once the mixture starts to come together and looks like a paste, switch the food processor to continuous cycle and gradually add the Schmand until the mixture is fluffy, light in colour, and no chunks of meat remain. You may need to scrape down the sides of the processor to incorporate all the meat. Add the spices and purée one last time.
- Cook a small piece to test the flavour, adjust as needed, then refrigerate in an airtight container. I formed the leftover mixture into burger patties.
Instructions for the fillets:
- Pat the tournedos dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of tallow in a pan and sear the tournedos vigorously on both sides until well coloured. They should have the texture indicating they are just pink in the middle, not rare. Remove from the pan and place on a rack to let the juices drain, then dry them and chill.
- Add 1 Tbsp of butter to the pan and add the shallots. Chop the mushrooms and add them to the pan once the shallots have softened. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg, then sauté for another 5 minutes. Deglaze with 40 ml of the port and brandy, allowing the liquid to evaporate completely. Once the liquid has evaporated, set aside and chill.
- Once chilled, combine the mushroom mixture with 120 g of the veal forcemeat and chopped parsley.
- Evenly coat each tournedos with the mixture and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. Because I was doing this the day before, I was hesitant to wrap them in the pastry at this stage, as I thought they might get soggy. If you are preparing them just before baking, place the covered tournedos directly on a cut sheet of pastry.
- After placing each coated tournedo on the plastic wrap, smear a generous portion of the duck paté on the top, fold the plastic wrap over to seal them, and refrigerate.
- The next day, place them in the freezer for about 40 minutes, then wrap them in the pastry. This makes the plastic easy to remove without all the coating and duck pâté coming off. This worked perfectly, and if they were a bit frozen inside, that was fine because, in our case, we would not be baking them for another three or four hours.
- Place each coated tournedos onto a puff pastry rectangle about 3 cm from one edge. Brush the edges around the tournedos with egg white, fold the pastry over the top, and press the edges firmly together with a fork to seal. Cut off the jagged edges to make a nicely rounded, finished parcel.
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Whisk the egg yolk with a bit of water, then brush the pastry parcels evenly. Bake in the hot oven for about 12 minutes, until the pastry begins to brown, then allow to rest for 10 minutes at 80 °C.
- Meanwhile, gently heat the veal jus with the remaining port. Whisk in the cold butter piece by piece to bind the sauce.
- Arrange the tournedos on warmed plates and garnish with parsley. You can either spoon the sauce over the tournedos or serve it separately in small cups, as we did. Serve immediately.
Elevated Beef Tenderloin in Puff Pastry with Forcemeat
An elevated twist on the original Beef Wellington, using tournedos (beef tenderloin) and forcemeat in puff pastry.
Ingredients
Method
For the basic forcemeat
- Cube the meat you are using, and chill it well; I placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes—the colder the better, but not frozen solid.
- Place the bread in a bowl and cover with whole milk.
- When the meat is well chilled, place it in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until puréed. Then add the bread soaked in milk after squeezing out the excess milk. Pulse again to combine the bread.
- Once the mixture starts to come together and looks like a paste, add the Schmand and purée on continuous cycle until the mixture is fluffy, light in colour, and no chunks of meat remain. You may need to scrape down the sides of the processor to incorporate all the meat. Add the spices and purée one last time.
- Cook a small piece to test the flavour, adjust as needed, then refrigerate in an airtight container. Since you only need 120g of the farce for the recipe, I formed the leftover mixture into burger patties by baking it in greased shallow ramkins.
For the tournedos
- Pat the tournedos dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of tallow in a pan and sear the tournedos vigorously on both sides until well coloured. They should have the texture indicating they are just pink in the middle, not rare. Remove from the pan and place on a rack to let the juices drain, then dry them and chill.
- Add 1 Tbsp of butter to the pan and add the chopped shallots. Chop the mushrooms and add them to the pan once the shallots have softened. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg and sauté for another five minutes. Deglaze with 40 ml of the port and the 20ml of brandy and continue heating, allowing the liquid to evaporate completely. Once the liquid has evaporated, set aside and chill.
- Once chilled, combine the mushroom mixture with 120 g of the veal forcemeat and chopped parsley.
- Evenly coat each tournedos with the mixture and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. This is a bit messy, so plastic gloves may be helpful. Because I was doing this the day before, I was hesitant to wrap them in the pastry at this stage, as I thought they might get soggy. If you are preparing them just before baking, place the covered tournedos directly on a cut sheet of pastry.
- After placing each coated tournedo on the plastic wrap, smear a generous portion of the duck paté on the top, fold the plastic wrap over to seal them, and refrigerate.
- The next day, place them in the freezer for about 40 minutes. This makes the plastic easy to remove without all of the coating and duck pâté coming off. This worked perfectly, and if they were a bit frozen inside, that was fine because, in our case, we would not be baking them for another three or four hours.
- Place each coated tournedo onto a puff pastry rectangle about 3 cm from one edge. Brush the edges around the tournedos with egg white, fold the pastry over the top, pressing it gently against the sides of the tournedo as well. Then press the edges firmly together with a fork to seal. Cut off the jagged edges to make a nicely rounded, finished parcel.
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Whisk the egg yolk with a bit of water, then brush the pastry parcels evenly. Bake in the hot oven for about 15 minutes, until the pastry begins to brown, then allow to rest for 10 minutes at 80 °C.
- Meanwhile, gently heat the veal jus with the remaining port. Whisk in the cold butter piece by piece to bind the sauce right before serving.
- Arrange the tournedos on warmed plates and garnish with parsley. You can either spoon the sauce over the tournedos or serve it separately in small cups, as we did. Serve immediately.