Why Searing The Meat Is Crucial For Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington is one of the most extravagant dishes any chef can make. Scroll the internet and you'll find several recipes for the "ultimate" Wellington, and social media is filled with amateur chefs attempting to master the tricky technique of cooking beef tenderloin inside a pastry crust. If you want to channel your inner Gordon Ramsay, however, who arguably made his career by modernizing and revitalizing the dish, make sure to follow these tips for making a Hell's Kitchen-worthy Wellington, especially the part about searing the beef properly.

Browning the outside of the beef tenderloin is crucial to the success of the dish for a couple of reasons. First, this step creates the deep, rich umami flavor beef Wellington is known for. Second, searing locks the meat juices inside the tenderloin and prevents it from seeping out into the crust and making it soggy. It's also important to sear the tenderloin all the way around and on the tips so that you get as much flavor from the meat as possible, because while tenderloin has a delicate texture, since there isn't a lot of marbling it doesn't have as much beefy flavor as, say, a ribeye or strip steak.

Browning the outside of a tenderloin for beef Wellington isn't exactly like searing a piece of steak. The goal is to create a dark crust all the way around the outside, without worrying about cooking the inside since that will happen in the oven. So for this step, go for high heat to get a hard sear.

Choose a heavy-bottomed pan that can hold an entire tenderloin without crowding, which will steam the food instead of searing. Get the pan very hot before placing the meat inside, and use just a touch of oil to prevent the surface from sticking. Try not to move the tenderloin around too much while it's searing, just leave it in place for a minute or so to let the Maillard reaction form a brown crust before turning it to the next edge. Once the meat is seared, heat the pan drippings to cook the aromatic onions, shallots, and garlic.

Searing the meat won't completely solve the problem of soggy pastry, however, since the mushroom duxelles also creates some moisture. So before you wrap everything together, take a tip from Kenji Lopez-Alt and use a layer of phyllo dough around the meat and mushrooms. Once you have everything assembled, make sure to carefully monitor the cooking with a meat thermometer, and you'll get the perfect beef Wellington every time.