Filet of Beef en croute / Beef Wellington

This video demonstrates how to, stuff wrap in pastry, bake and slice a large piece of beef tenderloin. I gave this preparation two names because a Beef Wellington is also a Beef en Croute, with distinctions that I’m noting for you here.The two century old preparation that was popularized under the name “Beef Wellington” is in fact a spin on previous French “Filet de Boeuf en Croute” preparations that predated the Beef Wellington’s popularity. The beef in pastry idea can also legitimately be traced to many similar French versions of this type of preparation without any of them considered to be a “Beef Wellington”.  In other words, a Beef Wellington will always be a “beef en croute” but a “beef en croute” is not necessarily a Beef Wellington. I’m making this distinction for you because Beef Wellington has some specific traditional regionally driven recipes, most of which include ingredient choices such as foie gras, duxelle, truffles, truffle sauce(s), Madeira sauce(s) and tend to have a slightly more qualifying ingredient list.

On the other hand, my version here includes spinach which is considered to be an “outside the box” approach to any traditional Beef Wellington. Under the guise of “Beef en Croute” I could easily include any number of other ingredients without compromising the use of the term “beef en Croute”. On the other hand, if I included chicken mousse and figs into the stuffing I would be compromising any reasonable expectations for serving that preparation as an actual Beef Wellington.

The truth is, is that the use of the term “Wellington” has been adulterated to such an extent that it’s now being attached to seafood, fowl and vegetable versions of en croute style preparations. One of the reasons for this is that any association with the use of the successful word “Wellington”  lends some respectful high end anticipation, simply by association with the word “Wellington”. 

Having said all of that, I strongly recommend that you take note of my approach at assembling this preparation because you can apply my method(s) to any number of versions that you choose to make, whether you call them Beef en Croute or Beef Wellington LOL.