# Beef En Croute



## jpjeffery (Dec 12, 2012)

(A bit of franglais for you there)

It looks like I'll be cooking Roast Beef for christmas dinner. I'd like to do it en croute but without the usual mushroom paste that sits betwixt joint and pastry.

Two reasons for this:


The mushroom paste isn't all that popular with the kids (but I will offer a creamy mushroom sauce on the side - now THAT'S popular!)
It's a bit fiddly.
But will it work? I'm sure this is how my venerable Mother did Beef En Croute but my worry is that the meat juices might adversely affect the pastry, whether I do puff pastry or shortcrust.

What are your thoughts?


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## Andy M. (Dec 12, 2012)

Non-Wellington beef.

The danger is moisture from the beef's sogging up the crust.  I'm not sure the lack of the mushrooms will make a difference.


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## jpjeffery (Dec 12, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Non-Wellington beef.
> 
> The danger is moisture from the beef's sogging up the crust.  I'm not  sure the lack of the mushrooms will make a difference.



Beef Wellington! THAT'S the name I should probably more accurately be using. Good man!

The moisture I my concern here, but perhaps puff pastry would cook quickly enough for that to not matter too much. I don't cook with pastry very often so not sure.


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## jennyema (Dec 12, 2012)

I don't think the duxelles are used for a moisture barrier, given that they themselves have so much moisture even though they are cooked off.

Searing doesn't seal in juices but a good hard sear might help.


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## Mad Cook (Dec 11, 2013)

jpjeffery said:


> (A bit of franglais for you there)
> 
> It looks like I'll be cooking Roast Beef for christmas dinner. I'd like to do it en croute but without the usual mushroom paste that sits betwixt joint and pastry.
> 
> ...


Someone on television (can't remember who) made beef en croute with very thin pancakes (crepes) wrapped round the meat before the pastry was put on. Not entirely a good idea I thought but it might work for you.

 Alternatively, there's a clip on "You Tube" of Gordon Ramsay doing his version. He spreads the duxelles onto very thin layers of pancetta or parma ham which are spread out on a sheet of clingfilm. He puts the meat on that then rolls the whole the thing together, then wraps the whole caboodle in pastry. I assume the pancetta stops the pastry getting soggy.


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## jpjeffery (Dec 11, 2013)

Mad Cook said:


> Someone on television (can't remember who) made beef en croute with very thin pancakes (crepes) wrapped round the meat before the pastry was put on. Not entirely a good idea I thought but it might work for you.
> 
> Alternatively, there's a clip on "You Tube" of Gordon Ramsay doing his version. He spreads the duxelles onto very thin layers of pancetta or parma ham which are spread out on a sheet of clingfilm. He puts the meat on that then rolls the whole the thing together, then wraps the whole caboodle in pastry. I assume the pancetta stops the pastry getting soggy.



It was the Ramsay method which I used and I think it worked quite well. It was fiddly though.


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## jennyema (Dec 11, 2013)

jpjeffery said:


> It was the Ramsay method which I used and I think it worked quite well. It was fiddly though.



The Ramsay recipe seems decidedly unfiddly to me...

Just omit the duxelles.  What's the worst that could happen?


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## Rocket_J_Dawg (Dec 11, 2013)

In Ramsey's method, he dries the duxelles in a frying pan. In his video he makes a definite point of getting as dry as possible. It could be that is what saves the dough from getting soggy.


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