# Beef Wellington - Individual serving or Whole Filet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499 "2014-05-28T20:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/21 "2014-05-30T04:06:44Z")
I’m all for stepping high and wide in French, but the words you are looking for are _champignons de bois_. Unless you mean like “attack of the 40-foot savage killer mushrooms.” Also, really: morels for a duxelles? silly misuse of a beautiful and unique food. Remember, you can, and are expected to, use “trimmings” of mushrooms–stems, all the detritus from those beautiful flutings you have scattered here and there, etc. It won’t do diddly for taste, _especially_ in all that hooh-ha. Even if you want to funk it up a little with some shiitake – use one or two Chinese dried ones – and don’t even waste the dried (I presume–right?) porcini. It’s not like in for a penny, in for a pound, and you might as well blow some more on “the best” of each constituent in the dish. Also, have you given any thought to larding the venison? I would think it would be perfect. (Indeed, in the past it would have been unheard of to serve beef filet without it having been larded.) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/22 "2014-05-30T04:40:19Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > Really Diego? They will eat Balut but not rare beef? Wow. Most won’t even eat raw oysters. They’re blanched for 10 seconds in boiling water. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/23 "2014-05-30T08:05:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Also, have you given any thought to larding the venison? I would think it would be perfect. (Indeed, in the past it would have been unheard of to serve beef filet without it having been larded.) Little tip here - better than mucking about with a larding needle, rather cut some strips of very fatty bacon into 2-inch x 1/2 inch rectangles, then diagonally across into triangles (so you have 2x1/2 inch bacon triangles) and freeze those until hard. Then poke holes into your fillet, towards the center, with a skewer/thin-bladed knife, and drive those bacon “nails” into the holes. Then sear and treat as usual. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/24 "2014-05-30T08:31:33Z")
I made it recently - though as I have a sous vide, I cut the roast into individual servings and SV’ed them until rare, mrAru made the shroom mix [while I can, the smell makes me nauseated and I need to wear gloves to handle the shrooms, so it is just easier to delegate the task to him.] With the servings done very rare, once wrapped in puff pastry with the shroom mixture as added insulation, the quick bake to puff the pastry did not inordinately overdo the beef. Went wonderfully with the tiny boston butter lettuce mini-heads spread out with homemade garlic croutons and fine dice of tomato, celery, carrot and cuke with dressing on the side. [I made mine with carmelized onions and when I made the pate I did it without the shrooms, nobody noticed.] ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/25 "2014-05-30T08:44:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m all for stepping high and wide in French, but the words you are looking for are _champignons de bois_. Unless you mean like “attack of the 40-foot savage killer mushrooms.” Well, if you’re going to go there, it’s _champignons des bois_, unless you’re talking about wooden mushrooms. Also, _champignons sauvages_ is _[parfaitement acceptable](http://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_boeuf-en-croute-aux-champignons-sauvages_57898.aspx)_. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/26 "2014-05-30T14:21:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m all for stepping high and wide in French, but the words you are looking for are _champignons de bois_. Unless you mean like “attack of the 40-foot savage killer mushrooms.” > > Also, really: morels for a duxelles? silly misuse of a beautiful and unique food. Remember, you can, and are expected to, use “trimmings” of mushrooms–stems, all the detritus from those beautiful flutings you have scattered here and there, etc. > > It won’t do diddly for taste, _especially_ in all that hooh-ha. Even if you want to funk it up a little with some shiitake – use one or two Chinese dried ones – and don’t even waste the dried (I presume–right?) porcini. > > It’s not like in for a penny, in for a pound, and you might as well blow some more on “the best” of each constituent in the dish. > > Also, have you given any thought to larding the venison? I would think it would be perfect. (Indeed, in the past it would have been unheard of to serve beef filet without it having been larded.) I’m blessed with a surfeit of wild mushrooms, it’s been a good year for foraging. I just picked another 3/4 pound of morels last night, along with over 2 pounds of pheasant’s backs, and there are still oyster mushrooms in the fridge from earlier this year. I’m not worried about wasting morels. Larding is an interesting idea. Your earlier link included wrapping in prosciutto, I like that idea, ever larded with prosciutto? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/27 "2014-05-30T14:23:58Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > I’ll refrain from answering, having never eaten or prepared Beef Wellington. However, I might have a suggestion for [dessert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezn9Lrdc9ZQ). > > 😉 🙂 I haven’t checked your link, but I’m making an educated guess - Napoleons? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/28 "2014-05-30T14:39:26Z")
I think the best advice I ever heard for Beef Wellington was fron the [Two Fat Ladies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Fat_Ladies) > [@](#): > > Cook in the oven for twenty five minutes if you like medium rare. If you don’t like medium rare, make something else ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/29 "2014-05-30T15:58:53Z")
French stuff: yeah, typo, but I do believe it is far more usual to use “bois.” (I did a quick hand n-Gram of a google…🙂 ). I’ve seen “sauvage” only with “canard,” and of course some places where English would insist on it, like “wild boar,” French doesn’t, because the have the different single word with the meaning. The sous vide is brilliant, and I can think–now that you mention it–of few instances where the entire concept is so perfectly appropriate. (Cf. boiled eggs…) It makes perfect sense, if you think of Beef Wellington like the way you do a glorified Lyons pig-in-blanket, but in reverse: the sausage must be be cooked before it and the brioche dough wrapper are put in the oven, because it never would be cooked in the brief time for the brioche to bake. Like, that, in reverse. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/30 "2014-05-30T16:04:17Z")
Dessert: …This is the pettiest of the lipoleums, Toffeethief, that spy on the Willingdone from his big white harse, the Capeinhope… From a famous set piece in _Finnegans Wake._ ETA: ixnay on my thought of shiitake, even a little, although it’s moot because you’re busting with morels. Just too much, wrong. Maybe tiny portobello. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/31 "2014-06-02T14:04:47Z")
Hey **Leo** , consider this my _mea culpa_. You were absolutely right on the morels, they were pretty much buried under the rest of the flavors. The dish turned out better than I could have hoped, it was fantastic and I followed the Food Lab recipe as closely as I could, so thanks again for that link. The only time I tasted the morels was when I sampled the end piece that I sliced of before serving, and that was mostly just puff pastry and duxelles. As far as wine, we ended up pairing it with a Sangiovese from Rutherford Grove, it was outstanding. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/32 "2014-06-02T16:29:15Z")
What am I, chopped liver? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/33 "2014-06-02T21:41:28Z")
Oops, sorry **Mr. D** you were also correct! ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/34 "2014-06-03T02:35:41Z")
I’m too late for the thread (sigh)…but when I’ve made Beef Wellington, I’ve done individual servings. I use 5 oz filets that come pre-wrapped in bacon. Sear on top and bottom. Prepare mushrooms…pack up the tasty pieces in some pastry. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/35 "2014-06-03T15:22:53Z")
Glad you had fun, it turned out fine, and you learned new stuff. Can’t ask for anything more. Guy shoots deer and eats part of it same day. Huh. I presume you know Hank Shaw’s [Hunter-Angler-Gardner-Cook?](http://honest-food.net/) Also, it seems to me **MikeG** also is not chopped liver on the mushroom buffet. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499/36 "2014-06-04T14:37:04Z")
Good to hear! Nice choice on the wine as well! I feel bad that I couldn’t drive out…😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beef-wellington-individual-serving-or-whole-filet/689499.md?page=1)