The Reason Beef Tenderloin Is The Ideal Cut For Your Classic Wellington
Classic beef Wellington is a recipe designed to wow the guests at your table with flavor and presentation. It consists of a tender beef roast wrapped in crisp puff pastry and stuffed with chopped mushrooms and prosciutto. This time-consuming preparation is not your average weeknight meal; it's a splurge that calls for the best-quality ingredients. It's tempting to cut corners and pick up a less expensive beef roast because that tenderloin is the most costly of all the components, but that would be a critical mistake.
Log-shaped beef tenderloin is not only very tender, it's also super lean and has no gristle or tough tendons. That's a match made in heaven for preparing a Wellington — the cylinder-shaped cut is easy to roll up in puff pastry without odd angles to account for. That consistent thickness means the whole roast will cook evenly too. The lean quality of beef tenderloin means there won't be fat rendering out to ruin the puff pastry or seep onto the plate. Maybe the most important reason to choose the cut is that the tender meat is easy to slice for serving and eating. Your guests don't need to deal with unsightly or awkward inedible bits; each bite of this beef is a pleasure to eat.
Read more: Your Guide To The Different Cuts Of Steak
Beef Wellington Is A Master Class In Preparing Tenderloin
Among the many steps you'll want to master to make beef Wellington, one of the most important is learning to cook the expensive tenderloin correctly. Ideally, tenderloin should not be cooked past medium because the lean meat will be dry and tough when overcooked. Properly roasted, the beef has a rosy pink interior that stays moist — an impressive look when you slice the Wellington. The key is to only sear the raw tenderloin long enough to develop a flavorful crust before wrapping it in the mushroom and puff pastry. The remainder of the cooking happens while the Wellington roasts in the oven. You'll find the meat perfectly cooked when the puff pastry is golden brown and crispy.
There's a reason that filet mignon ranks so high in popularity among all beef steaks: Those steaks are cut from the same tender and delicious beef tenderloin used for classic Wellington. No other roast would give you the same impressive result as tenderloin, showcasing the ideal cut of beef for this timeless preparation.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
