America's Test Kitchen

Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Julia and Bridget make a showstopping beef Wellington, and Jack talks all about caviar.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

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-Beef Wellington.

Even the core components on their own are pretty remarkable.

You've got the chateaubriand, you've got the buttery mushroom duxelles, and of course, the flaky pastry.

But when combined into an elaborate decorative bundle, it's a gift for your dinner guests.

-[ Laughs ] -Well, Julia's here, and she's gonna show us how to make this masterpiece more approachable.

-Yeah, so we're gonna start with the main attraction.

This is beef tenderloin.

Now, this is a 3-pound trimmed piece.

And you want it from the chateaubriand, the center cut.

Now, there's kind of two center cuts that they don't tell you about.

You can either shake it down towards the thin end or you can shake it up towards the thicker end.

-Right.

-You want it towards the thicker end.

Some chefs call that a cannon cut.

You want to be 12 or 13 inches long, 4 to 4 and a half inches in diameter.

That just makes the perfect beef Wellington roll.

So we're gonna salt the beef.

And this is a tablespoon of kosher salt.

That salt, of course, seasons the meat, but it also helps make it good and tender.

We're gonna get it all over, and notice I have the meat on a nice piece of plastic wrap that just helps contain the mess.

And now I'm gonna wrap this up, and we're gonna put this in the fridge.

You want to let it sit in the fridge at least 12 hours for that salt to do its work.

But you can leave it in there up to three days in advance.

All right, it's time to focus on the pastry that covers the outside of everything.

Most modern recipes just use store-bought puff pastry.

-Right.

-But it doesn't ever work.

I've witnessed so many disasters.

The pastry, when you unfold it, it has creases and then it always breaks off the Wellington.

So we're getting rid of the store-bought puff, and we're gonna make our own pte brise, which is basically a fancy French pie crust.

-All right.

-And it's easy.

So here I have some bread flour.

Bread flour -- higher protein content, a little more structure in the dough.

This is 3 1/4 cups of bread flour.

To this, we're gonna add 22 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

Now, I cut this butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and it's nicely chilled.

And we're gonna add a little salt -- just a teaspoon of table salt.

And I've got the paddle here.

We're gonna let this go on medium-low speed until the mixture looks crumbly and the butter pieces are no larger than a pea.

And that takes about 5 minutes.

Now I'm gonna add the ice water.

This is 1/2 a cup plus a tablespoon of cold ice water.

With the mixer running, I'm just gonna slowly add it.

Now I'm gonna turn the mixer up to medium and let it go until the dough really comes together around the paddle.

It takes anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.

-Okay.

-Ah, there she goes.

Come together as a dough right around the paddle, which is just what we want.

I'm gonna take the dough off the paddle.

So now I'm gonna divide this dough into two pieces.

I'm gonna cut off about a quarter of it.

That looks good.

I'm gonna give this to you.

I'm gonna put it on a piece of plastic here.

-All right.

-That little piece we're gonna roll out and make some decorative bits for the top of the Wellington.

-Ohh.

-This big monster over here, though, this is gonna be the big piece of dough that we wrap the meat up in.

-Gotcha.

-So if you could just press it up into about a 6-inch square.

-Okay.

-I'll do the same with this one, about a 6-inch square.

So these are going into the fridge, obviously.

They need to chill for at least 8 hours before we roll them out.

But you can do this up to two days ahead.

-Another make-ahead moment.

-Mm-hmm.

All right, Bridget.

That is done.

It's time to make the mushroom duxelles, which is that earthy layer that lies around the whole Wellington.

And the duxelles almost has a texture like a pat.

It really sticks to the meat.

-Right.

-So to make it, we're gonna start with eight shallots.

I just cut them coarsely.

We're also gonna add four garlic cloves.

We're gonna process this about 30 seconds.

We want it nice and finely minced.

I might have to go in there once or twice to scrape down the sides.

That is perfect.

Nice and finely minced.

So let's get this all out of this food processor, because we're gonna use the processor to also chop up the mushrooms.

-Thank goodness.

-Yeah.

This is 2 pounds of cremini mushrooms.

Now, I'm just gonna trim off the stems here.

You don't trim off the whole stem, just the little dried-out, woody part on the very bottom.

Now we're gonna cut them into quarters.

You can't dump all of the mushrooms in at one time.

So we're gonna work in two batches, about a pound per batch.

Pulse this about ten pulses.

You want these to be very small pieces about the size of couscous.

Again, going in there, scraping down as needed.

-Oh, it smells so good in here.

-Oh, it does, doesn't it?

It's nice and finally diced, but hasn't turned to mush.

-Right.

-Time to cook this all down.

We're gonna start with a stick of unsalted butter.

This is in a 12-inch nonstick skillet, medium low heat.

First, we're gonna saute the garlic and shallot mixture.

-Right.

-We just want them to soften, and that takes anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes.

-Okay.

-All right, these shallots are nice and softened.

Time to add the mushrooms.

Also gonna add some pepper and salt.

This is 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Now we're gonna continue to cook this over medium low heat about 45 minutes.

Gonna stick around.

We're gonna stir occasionally, but they really will reduce their volume, you know, start to hear them sizzle a bit in the fat.

-Nice.

-All right, Bridget, it's been 45 minutes, and the mushrooms have released their juices, and it's evaporated, and you can hear them sizzling.

-I can hear the sizzle.

-So you can see it almost has the texture of pat That's good.

It's gonna stick to the meat.

-Right.

-Now I'm gonna add a tablespoon of Madeira.

You can use dry sherry here if you want.

Just adds a little zing to the duxelles.

We're just gonna cook this out for a minute or two.

All right.

Off the heat we go.

-Mmm!

-Yeah, we're gonna add 2 teaspoons of freshly minced thyme.

We're adding it at the end because we really want to preserve its fresh flavor.

That looks good.

Gonna transfer it to this cute, little rimmed baking sheet.

All right, just gonna spread it out and let it cool a little bit while we focus on the beef, and this, by the way, can be made up to three days in advance.

-Very handy.

-Yeah.

All right.

Here is the lovely tenderloin.

You can see it's changed color.

It's been salted.

Pat it dry.

Now we're gonna season it with pepper.

This is a teaspoon of ground black pepper.

I'm doing it right on this rimmed baking sheet, again, just to help control the mess.

We're gonna add a little bit of mustard.

This is a tablespoon of Dijon and it adds a lovely, earthy kind of bright flavor.

We're just gonna brush it on all sides of the tenderloin.

All right, perfect.

Now it's time to start the assembly.

-Okay.

-All right, bringing our tenderloin over here and set it aside.

So here I have a magnificent piece of plastic wrap on the table.

It is 30 inches wide.

Gives us plenty of room to assemble this in a nice, tidy way.

First, we're gonna lay down some prosciutto.

We have 12 slices of prosciutto.

I actually never had Wellington with prosciutto until this recipe blew my mind.

-It has that salty, umami thing going once again.

You already have the mushrooms.

-It adds as a really nice, cured-pork flavor.

All right, so I'm gonna make a little raft of prosciutto, overlapping it a little in the center.

We're gonna make a prosciutto raft about 14 inches by 15 inches -- thereabouts.

Oh, perfect.

Okay, now we're gonna put the duxelles right on top of this prosciutto.

It's cooled off a little bit, which is great.

We're gonna spread it out to an even layer, but I just like to get it started by letting it fall all over the prosciutto.

Thank you.

-You bet.

-Just gonna spread it evenly over the prosciutto, leaving a 1-inch border all around the edge.

Nice, even layer of duxelles, a nice border on the outside of about an inch.

Time for the roast.

Here is our beef tenderloin.

Gonna place it about a third up.

-Okay.

-Now the plastic wrap comes in handy.

-All right.

-So, using the plastic wrap, we're gonna lay the prosciutto up onto the side of the roast.

-Nice.

-Mm-hmm.

Nice and tight.

And then you can continue to roll the roast till the prosciutto's on the outside.

-Look at that.

-Yes!

That's a perfect casing.

-And then when you get to the end, you can kind of wrap the prosciutto up around the end.

And I'm gonna slide this towards me.

-Yes.

-All right, now we're gonna roll the plastic up around the roast.

And now the fun part.

It's like making sausage.

We're just gonna keep rolling the roast and tightening the ends.

And so you get a nice, tidy, even roast.

So this needs to go into the fridge to firm up for at least 30 minutes.

You can do this up to two days ahead.

-Very smart.

Fun fact -- during a brief period in the 19th century, the United States was actually the world's leading producer of caviar, something we associate more with Russia these days.

Well, Jack's here to tell us all about caviar, and I couldn't believe that you were telling me that we actually were serving caviar in bars.

-Yeah, it was like peanuts 'cause it was salty.

It would make you drink more.

That's how cheap caviar was.

-That's the time when money just flowed, and the streets were paved with gold, and a lot of opportunity, son.

-Yeah, so things have changed.

There was a decline in the industry in the United States, and now it's coming back.

So we sampled 9 caviars and Roes.

-All right.

I brought four of them here for you to taste.

-Okay.

-Some of these are wild caught, some our farm raised, and some are ranched, where they raised the fish, let it go out into a "controlled" wild environment, and then catch it.

Everything here are fish eggs.

-Mm-hmm.

-The difference between caviar and roe is caviar technically should come from a variety of sturgeon.

Roe is fish eggs from any other fish.

You will sometimes see things labeled "salmon caviar."

They're allowed to do that as long as they put the name of the fish there, but it's really roe.

Now, all caviar and roe is salted.

Roe is immediately sold or flash frozen.

Caviar is aged.

It can be aged for weeks, sometimes up to a year, which develops a lot of the complexity.

It's also one of the reasons why caviar is so expensive, because it has to be precisely monitored at a certain temperature, and obviously storing anything for a long period of time makes it that much more expensive.

-Right.

And actually, if you buy caviar, it needs to go into the coldest spot in your refrigerator with an ice pack under it.

-Right.

It likes to be somewhere in the high 20s or low 30s.

And once you open that tin, you better eat it all.

-Right.

-So you're digging in here.

There's a variety of things that are both roe and caviar on the table at a range of prices.

And we did a lot of this by mail order 'cause that's actually a nice way to buy this.

It was $5 an ounce, up to $150 an ounce.

By doing mail order, you know what you're getting.

You also are getting it super fresh.

Always pay for the overnight shipping, and don't order at the end of the week 'cause sometimes -- well, things will get stuck in delivery, right?

-Right.

Right.

I'm just enjoying these.

I'm actually really enjoying having all of them together.

And these two I'm intrigued by because obviously they look similar, but this one has a little bit more of a -- like, a kombu thing going on or, like, a -- a nori.

I know that salmon because it just pops -- like a huge pop in your mouth, very, very light.

-Yeah, and there's no great surprise here.

It's actually the least expensive here on the table, probably $8 or $10 an ounce.

It tastes like salmon.

It's fatty.

It's buttery.

It's rich.

It has an amazing texture.

-Now, I want to go over here to the little yellow one, because I'm not entirely sure that I've enjoyed this before.

Yeah, this is trout roe.

-Oh!

-It's a little bit more expensive than the salmon roe.

It's a little bit leaner, I think, but it's bright.

It's lovely.

It has -- the texture's amazing of that.

-Great.

-So between the two, one of these could be caviar.

-Ooh!

I've got to put some test.

[ Both laugh ] Yes, one of them is caviar, and one of them is roe, and so why don't you just sort of hazard a guess?

-I'm gonna go -- that is caviar.

-Yes, you are right, as always.

-Yay!

-So this is Osetra.

It's maybe $40 to $90 an ounce.

-It's gorgeous.

-And this one -- your taste buds are so great.

So this is paddlefish roe.

This is from Ohio.

You said "kombu."

-Mm-hmm.. -And our taster said "kelp-like," because there's a lot of plankton in the diet for the paddlefish.

You totally picked up on that.

It has a little bit of that vegetal seaweed mineralness... -Mineral.

Yeah.

-...that I would say the caviar is more buttery and nutty.

-You can't go wrong with any of these, and you really can't go wrong with all of them.

-Yeah.

So it is time for me to get some?

-I think so.

I think so.

All right, so Jack's gonna feast on the caviar.

And if you want to learn more about roe and caviar, we've got lots of great information on our website.

-All right, Time to roll out the dough.

I have a piece for you to roll out.

You recognize this?

-Yeah, I do.

You're gonna want to put a little flour on the board underneath the dough.

-Okay.

-Obviously, I let it sit out a little bit to soften, so it'll be easier to roll out.

I need you to roll that out to a rectangle that's about 7 inches wide and 16 inches long.

-16 by 7.

You got it.

-I'm gonna roll this out to a much bigger piece -- 16 by 18 -- 'cause this is what I'm gonna wrap the meat up in.

I have over there a rimmed baking sheet with some parchment on it.

You can just pick up that dough however you want to transfer the dough.

All right.

And I have a baking sheet over here, too.

And ta-da!

Thank you for your help.

Anytime.

-These are gonna go in the fridge and firm up for 15 minutes.

-Okay.

-All right, Bridget, it is time to wrap the meat with pastry.

So here is that big piece of pastry that I rolled out and chilled.

-Great.

-And I'm gonna brush it with egg wash, which is a lovely glue.

It'll help keep the pastry really attached to the meat.

And this is a whole egg and one yolk that I whisked together.

We're gonna brush the entire dough with it.

Nice and sticky.

Oh, that is perfect.

We're gonna set this aside.

We're gonna need it again later.

-Gotcha.

-And here is that piece of beef that's all rolled up.

Time to unroll it.

Now I'm gonna put it right on to the dough about 2 inches up from the bottom.

And you can see it's nice and firm.

You can really put it right in the middle where you want it.

Now you want to put the meat so that when you wrap the dough up that first side, it comes right on top of the center piece of meat.

-Okay.

-And we're gonna continue to roll, and you want it to overlap by about an inch.

You might have some extra pastry dough.

-That's all right.

-Better safe than sorry.

I'm gonna roll it seam side up.

We're just gonna pinch this seam closed.

Not pinching it as much as I'm smearing.

Really getting that edge to stick together.

-Sealing it.

-Yeah, sealing it.

All right, Now, this is the cool part.

We're gonna roll seam side down.

This is what we're gonna do for the edges.

Pretend you're doing a present, wrap it in on the sides and then press it down like that.

-Oh.

-And if you can hand me that rolling pin... -This?

-Yes.

I'm just gonna roll it a bit thinner.

Gonna trim it so it's about 2 inches, and we're just gonna tuck it under.

-Oh, that's easy.

-Yeah, so it's nice and tidy.

Trim it.

Tuck it under.

We're gonna put this in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

That way, we can cut decorative bits for doing on top.

You could do this a day ahead.

You simply need to wrap it.

-Okay, great.

-A greased baking sheet.

This is what we're gonna roast it on.

I'm gonna put this in the fridge and grab that piece you rolled out.

-Okay, great.

-All right, now, for your dough, the decorative pieces.

And we're just gonna make some thin strips of dough.

The ruler makes it really easy to make nice, even strips.

-Lovely.

-All right, that's perfect.

I'm gonna fetch that roast from the refrigerator.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Here is the chilled roast.

It's been in there 15 minutes.

-Yes.

-I'm just gonna brush it with a little bit more of this egg wash.

Helps the decoration stick to the top, but it also makes a nice, glossy sheen on the crust.

All right, now we're just gonna drape these over the roast, on a little diagonal.

All right.

That is perfect.

-That is perfect.

-Okay, now I'm just gonna trim these tails, and then I'm just gonna use this bench scraper just to help me ease them underneath the roast.

-Lovely.

It looks so festive.

-This is gonna go in the fridge just 10 minutes.

Let those stripes adhere to the crust.

You can also do this up to a day ahead.

In that case, you'd want to cover it with plastic wrap.

-Okay.

-All right, just 10 minutes.

All right, Bridget, one more quick glaze with our egg wash. -Right.

-All right, Bridget, this is ready for the oven.

We're gonna cook it hot and fast, which is not what you think of when you think of a beef Wellington.

-Right.

-450 degrees for 45 minutes.

-Sorry.

You said 450 degrees for 45 minutes.

-Yes.

Yeah, it's hot and fast.

That really cooks the pastry through, and trust me, the meat will be perfect.

-I trust you usually, but we'll see.

-Oh!

-Hello, Wellington.

-Oh, isn't she a beauty?

-That crust is stunning.

-Oh!

Gorgeous.

-Mmm!

-So it's been 45 minutes.

I'm just gonna take the internal temperature of the roast.

Should be about 85 degrees.

Perfect.

I know.

85 degrees means it's still raw if we cut into it.

This is by design.

The sheet pan's hot.

The crust itself is really hot.

It's like a little oven.

And it's gonna continue to cook that meat all the way from 85, where it is now, up to 130 degrees, which is a perfect medium, medium rare over the next 40 to 45 minutes as it rests.

All right, Bridget, we're gonna make a really quick sauce that tastes really good on any cut of meat, any steak, particularly good on Wellington, though.

It's a green peppercorn and cream sauce with a little bit of brandy.

-Ooh!

-Here I have 2 tablespoons of butter.

Medium-low heat.

We're gonna add the green peppercorns.

I actually sometimes have trouble finding these.

A good import store has them, or you can order them online.

The good ones come in the can.

-Yes.

Packed in brine.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-That's 1/4 cup of green peppercorns.

To that, we're gonna add 2 tablespoons of minced fresh shallot, and we're just gonna cook that in the butter until they're softened.

Takes 3 to 5 minutes.

-Mmm!

-All right, so it's been about 4 minutes.

Those shallots are nicely softened.

-Mmm!

-All right, now I'm just gonna add a little bit of flour.

This is 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour.

Just gonna help thicken up the sauce a bit.

-Okay.

-Just gonna stir this in, cook it for about 2 minutes.

All right.

That looks pretty good.

Been cooking for about 2 minutes.

Time to add the liquid.

So this is some beef broth, 1 1/2 cups.

A little brandy.

Mm-hmm.

-Ooh, yes.

-Just a quarter of a cup.

Oh, yeah.

Green peppercorns and brandy -- magical combination.

And a little bit of soy sauce.

Just 2 tablespoons.

Just helps deepen the flavor of the sauce.

-Great.

-All right, we're gonna simmer this for about 15 minutes until it reduces to about 1 1/2 cups.

-Okay.

-Oh!

All right, now we're gonna add the cream.

This is a cup of heavy cream, and we're gonna continue to cook this sauce about 10 minutes till the volume measures 2 cups.

-Okay.

-All right, Bridget, it has been simmering.

Think it needs a little pepper, just a hint of salt.

Sauce is perfection.

Just gonna put a lid on.

Help keep it warm while that beef finishes resting.

Well, Bridget, the proof is in the pudding.

I promised that this roast would get up to 130 degrees.

-And I'm doubtful.

-I know you are.

[ Laughs ] All right.

131.

Isn't that incredible?

Just the carry-over cooking is so intense with that pastry.

And we left it on the hot baking sheet.

-Right.

-All right, so now we're gonna transfer it to the board.

It's not super hot to handle.

All I want to do is just gently loosen it from the pan.

Now, using the two spatula method... And it's so sturdy.

It's easy to transfer to a nice cutting board... -Nice.

Yes.

-...for the ultimate presentation.

Mm-hmm.

-You're gonna want to parade that around the neighborhood.

Just show all your neighbors at this point.

-And I'm using a serrated knife because that just makes cutting through the pastry really easy.

All right.

-Oh-ho-ho!

-Slices beautifully.

-Mm-hmm.

-Look at that.

-No way.

-Yeah, perfect medium rare.

The dough really is like a little oven.

The roast is not only perfectly cooked, but it's perfectly rested.

There's not a lot of juices making that bottom crust soggy, and the pastry is cooked all the way through.

And if you see, it is gorgeously browned on the bottom.

-That pastry looks so flaky.

-Oh, goodness!

All right, a little sauce.

Couple peppercorns.

-Oh, yes.

Mmm!

I've been bugging Julia all this time for more information, and we have all the make-ahead tips, plus Wellington for two and Wellington for four.

All those options are available on our website.

Let's eat.

-All right.

-Mmm!

Mmm!

Mmm!

This is heavenly.

-The mushrooms, that little bit of prosciutto, that buttery crust that's crisp and flaky, and that little bit of green peppercorn sauce -- it is magic.

-The mushrooms are intense.

-They are.

They're gorgeous.

-And it is such a leap of faith -- Wellington -- because you encase the super expensive piece of meat in pastry, put it in the oven, and hope for the best, but you didn't with that clever technique.

This is sorcery, Julia.

-Sorcery, It does taste pretty magical.

-Mmm.

One Wellington to rule them all.

And this is where you find it.

-You said it.

-Thanks, Julia.

-My pleasure.

-Stop what you're doing right now.

Invite people over 'cause you want to make this beef Wellington, and you're really gonna want to show it off.

It starts with seasoning, then refrigerating a tenderloin overnight.

Use a standing mixer to make an easy pte brise, shingle savory prosciutto to make applying the duxelles very easy.

Roast the Wellington at 450 until it only reaches 85 degrees and then let the carryover cooking finish the job.

And don't forget that beautiful green peppercorn sauce and all of those make-ahead moments.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," the ultimate, the magnificent, the masterpiece, beef Wellington.

You can get this gorgeous recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes, and those are all on our website.

That's americastestkitchen.com/tv.

I'm getting all choked up.

-[ Laughs ] There's a good reason to get choked up.

It's just that good.

I'm changing my will and leaving everything to this roast.

Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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Plugr European-style butter was created for all chefs, cooks, and bakers.

Slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

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Sailing with American Queen Voyages brings you to mighty rivers and unique expeditions, where passionate explorers can discover the continent of North America.

You can learn more about our voyages at AQVoyages.com or contact your travel advisor.

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