I want to do a beef Wellington for New Year’s Eve and to do most or all of the work ahead of time. I’ve seen that one can do that up to 24 hrs and just bake when it’s needed. I’m wondering how well the pastry survives that. I’ll be using bought puff pastry.
Two alternatives full assembly the day before occur to me.
B. Make it in the morning rather than the day before. So just 7 or 8 hours ahead not 28. (Our fridge is at 3C).
C. Make the Duxelles and sear the beef the day before, assemble the beef ham and duxelles and roll in saranwrap and refrigerate , and just assemble couple of hours ahead.
Maybe it doesn’t matter much?
All suggestions welcome.
I made this for Chrirstmas just now. It is fine to do a day in advance as long as you sear the beef shortly (preferably from the cold fridge) and seperately make fhe Duxelles, then let all of them cool before putting everything together. I prefer to have them in the fridge for an hour our so, before assembling with the pastry. After combining everything and coating in egg, make sure to cool well over night. You should be fine. 1kg beef inside would then need around 25 minutes in oven (200 oC) and another 5-10 minutes relaxing before serving. A good pepper sauce works well.
We did just what Freek said and it turned out awesome with individual filets instead of whole tenderloin. Egg washed them after pulling from the fridge
My husband makes this every year and will prepare everything the day before. Once the beef and duxelles have cooled everything is wrapped and put into the refrigerator for 24 hours or so. I haven’t noticed any issues with the pastry being wrapped that long. Egg yolk wash about 10 minutes before going into the oven.
34 minutes at 391 degrees F for a 2 pound filet was great. He has gone a little longer for 2.5-3 pounds but not by much.