Why do you chill Beef Wellington?!
Why do you chill Beef Wellington?
I have a recipe for individual beef wellington, it requires chilling of the beef after browning it for one hour, and then chilling it again after you wrap it in the pastry for one hour. Why is chilling required? What purpose does it serve?
Answers:
You need to chill because of the butter in the pastry sheets that you wrap it in. If they are well chilled the pastry will cook up light and flaky. The way it should for a great wellington
Also, you have to chill the beef after heating it because the steam would make your pastry fall apart when you wrap it.
Also to bake the pastry long enough to be done, room temp meat will be too done...a little tough but not much after all it is filet
It's because they don't want you to overcook the beef, it should be served on the rare side. I had to come back in for an edit. I read about the beef wellington in the joy of cooking to see which was the correct answer, they actually both are. They recommend, to prevent over cooked beef and undercooked soggy crust, to eliminate the first browining step and to wrap the meat directly into the pastry. They say that "this one step method promises moist, rosy centered beef surrounded by a crisp pastry crust".