Best of the best: How to make the ultimate beef wellington

Want to show off your cookery skills? Nothing exudes culinary confidence or tabletop wow-factor quite like a beef wellington. A seriously swanky piece of beef fillet gets wrapped in layers of mushrooms, pancake, pâté and pastry, then baked until golden on the outside and blushing pink within. It’s British cooking at its most refined – and deserves a round of applause when served.

Wellington can, however, fill cooks with fear. Fillet comes at a cost, and encasing it in pastry means you won’t know if it’s cooked to your liking until it’s carved. Yet it’s easier to make than it sounds and, if you follow the guidance below, it’ll come out perfectly every time.

Get the beef fillet right

A great beef wellington is measured by the pinkness of the beef within. If it’s a little too rare when you cut the first slice, it’s not the end of the world – you can close it back up and return it to the oven for a few more minutes. Overcook it, though, and there’s nothing you can do. My five steps to wellington success will ensure your centrepiece is bang on the money…

1 Sourcing it

A whole fillet of beef tapers off at one end, so ask your butcher for a centre piece to get even thickness throughout. It goes without saying that high welfare, aged beef will always taste better.

2 Seasoning well

Season the meat very well with salt and pepper as it’s a large, dense hunk of protein.

3 A good sear

Searing the beef to brown it nicely in a smoking hot cast iron pan gives it a proper meaty, savoury flavour, but only do so for a few minutes. You need to keep the meat raw in the centre, otherwise it’ll overcook in the oven later.

4 Cooling and chilling

Your seared beef needs to come back down to room temperature before you wrap it but no cooler. If your meat is fridge-cold when it goes in the oven, the pastry will burn before the centre cooks. The pastry is the opposite – it needs to be chilled at the start to get a crisp, flaky finish. The key is to make the wellington with room temperature beef, then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes – long enough to chill the pastry without chilling the meat.

5 Resting

A good rest is vital. If you slice the wellington too soon, the juices will spill out, turning the pastry soggy. I found 12 minutes was ample, but it will stay hot for 20 minutes.

Nailing the rest of your beef wellington

There are three more elements that make the wellington special:

1 Delightful duxelles

Wellington borrows from the French: as well as a layer of rich chicken liver parfait, there’s the duxelles, a 17th-century creation of mushrooms, shallots and thyme, providing earthy flavour. I add soy sauce and black olives for extra saltiness and an umami boost.

2 Prime pancake

A thin crepe is integral to securing the duxelles in place, locking in moisture and acting as a buffer to prevent the beef from overcooking. It’s hard to get a good seal using traditional round pancakes, so I’ve used a large rectangular one. Adding spinach and basil brings herby freshness and enhances the vibrancy of the pink beef within.

3 Pastry perfection

Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest making your own puff pastry! Shop bought is fine; just ensure it’s cold when rolling it and before it goes in the oven. A thorough egg wash ensures a glossy, golden finish. Beating the egg with a pinch of salt and leaving it for at least 10 minutes (or up to 24 hours in the fridge) breaks down the proteins in the egg, making it runnier and easier to apply evenly.

Ready to cook? Here’s the best-of-the-best beef wellington recipe. Plus, browse the complete best-of-the-best collection, including fish pie, chicken kyiv and Christmas pudding.