Mumsnet Talk

Scotch beef encroute?

Basically steak in pastry, bit like beef wellington, they are lovely and from very posh butcher. But do you think that this be like having meat pie? Cant decide.

oo I love beef wellington. We had it for Xmas last year only I made my own (which is quite easy btw if you fancy it!)

How is boeuf en croute not beef wellington, then?

I think it would only be like meat pie if the beef was 1) overcooked and 2) chopped up.

Beef Wellington has pate, mushrooms, onions etc in it too, not just beef!

Lol, I've been hanging around the Style and Beauty thread too much, I expected to find a link to a dress in this post.

Anyway, sounds lovely.

We did a taste test against the beef wellington last night. The BW has mushrooms and onions in and its minced beef. The scotch beef encroute was more like a piece of sirloin in pastry but very tasty.

Just wasnt sure if it would go down well with my dad who is quite traditional.

I know that HF, but I wondered what beef en croute consisted of. I doubt it's just beef - is it?

Actually beef wellington doesn't necessarily contain either pate or mushrooms or onions. There are lots of variations - some recipes call only for liver pate and nothing else, some for a mushroom duxelle and rashers of bacon but no pate.

I like to use mushroom pate and parma ham.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The beef wellington is minced beef!!!! [faints]

No it jolly well shouldn't be. Beef wellington is always a piece of steak (should be fillet really).

I don't know what mince in pastry is, but it ain't beef wellington!

Yum. Where d'ya get your recipe for beef wellington?

BTW Monty 27 - I will of course be wearing my ballgown and DH will be in his DJ as usual for dinner.....!!

I researched a lot of recipes and finally adapted one from a very niche cookbook called the Hungry Monk cookbook (after the restaurant - not sure if it's still open but it used to be quite famous).

I don't like hot liver so meat pate was out for me. The Hungry Monk one calls for mushroom duxelles and bacon, but I cook mine very rare and I was worried the bacon wouldn't be properly cooked so I changed it.

Do you want me to look it up and post it?

You are v kind (and clever!). I will google a few receipes first to see if its gonna be within my culinary skills. Did you do individual ones? I am cooking for 8.

It did one piece because I think it's quicker, and also easier to judge timings. But if you do individual ones you get more pastry of course, so it depends what you like.

Here's the way I did it for 4 - obviously you'll need to up the quantities.

1 x 8 inch length of fillet steak. If you use a long piece you need to fold the mignon (the thin end) under the middle so it's approximately the same thickness all along.
2 small tubs of ready-made mushroom pate
4 or 5 slices of parma ham (depend on size of slices you might need more or less)
1 block puff pastry
Egg to glaze

Roll out pastry to a thin sheet sufficient to wrap the fillet.

Lay parma ham slices out on the counter to make a rectangle sufficient to wrap the fillet.

Cover fillet in mushroom pate, then wrap in the parma ham, then wrap in the pastry. It looks prettier if you make the pastry join underneath but it's easier to make if you put the join along the top. Taste-wise it makes no difference

Seal the pastry edges with egg, then brush the top with egg glaze.

Put on an oiled baking tray and put in the oven for about 35-45 minutes at gas mark 7, or about 220 degrees. This leaves the steak pretty rare. You do need to adjust according to the thickness of the fillet.

Cut into thick slices with a very sharp knife. The knife needs to be sharp or you won't get a clean, pretty slice with the pastry etc intact.

Have a google though, there may be other methods that suit you better. It's not hard to make at all, the only art is timing it because of course you can't see how cooked the fillet is inside the pastry.

oh and I forgot to add - you can make it quite a long way in advance and keep in the fridge until needed. You will have to add a little bit to the cooking time if everything is straight out of the fridge - say 5 mins.

oh and sorry - the temperatures given are for a non-fan oven (because the cook book is very old).

So probably slightly less for a modern oven.

Wow, thank you so much, thats totally brilliant. It doesnt actually look that hard, you are right. And it would save quite a bit of money to make it as well as the bought ones are five quid each. I think I will have a practice go next weekend.

I will probably end up £5 per portion or a bit more as beef fillet is expensive (but delicious!)

I want beef wellington for mu dinner now!

Jan - I wouldn't expect anything less when one is having Beef Wellington!

Yes, sadly I think last time I did it I spent almost £40 on a piece of fillet for four .

But I did get very posh Black Angus fillet and it was sooooooo nice

Unfortunately if you are doing a whole piece then you really do need to use fillet because nothing else is the right shape.

If you do individual ones then you can use thick chunks of sirloin, so obviously quite a bit cheaper, but not quite as tasty.

But had I been more organised, a good tip is that the meat counter at the supermarket quite often has fillet on special offer (at least ours does), because it actually doesn't sell that fast. So you can buy the meat while it's on special offer and keep it frozen until you need to make the dish.

My ds wants steak and kidney casserole for Christmas dinner.......nice and easy!!!

* Scotch Beef En-croute even.

LOL. Thanks all.
Steak & kidney casserole sounds yum too.
Thanks for top tip re the steak.