Beef Wellington a la Mexicana
A classic French Meal with a Mexican
Twist
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli
It started with the search for the bakery
in Chapala that produces the wonderful
bolillos sold throughout the village.
Bolillo is a white
crusted bread loaf similar to a French baguette, but shorter and thicker. In
Mexico and
Central America,
it's a type of very popular cheap bread made with wheat flour. It is not considered sweet,
but it's not exactly sour, either.
Freshly made bolillos
This bread is also known as “Pan Francés”
with the French baguette recipe having been
transformed in Mexico.
Upon finding the
source, I inquired about buying a ball of raw dough. The vendor called it "masa,"
which normally means dough made of corn flour, so the name masa must
just be a colloquialism here in town.
I wanted to make a Beef
Wellington using local ingredients, so instead of puff pastry, I used local
bolillo dough.
I gave the vendor 20 Pesos and took the
bag of dough home.
Center cut, filet tenderloin
After I purchased the raw dough, I placed
it in the refrigerator while I went to my favorite butcher to get a
tenderloin of beef.
He pulls out a large tenderloin, about
two feet long and throws it on a stone slab. He cleans it up a bit by
trimming the excess fat, and then asks me what part I want.
From my experience in the States, this
would not happen. But because I buy a lot of quality meats from this man,
New Yorks, Filet, Tenderloin of Pork, Leg of Lamb --he is now letting me know that I can
choose from this full tenderloin with the head and the tail on - which part
I want to buy.
I spread my hands apart about a foot, and
place them above the tenderloin.
I want the center cut.
For this three pound piece of meat, I
paid (after my
discount), 400Pesos, less than $20USD.
I take it home, remove more fat and
membrane, wrap it up with string and liberally season it. I then sear the outside
of the meat in a hot pan sealing in the juices and set it aside
to cool.
Now, I begin on the duxelle which is
wrapped around the tenderloin between the meat and pastry.
Duxelle for the Beef Wellington
I finely chop mushrooms and shallots, and
sauté them in butter extracting as much moisture out of the mixture as I
can. If left wet it would leave the pastry soggy and uncooked.
Serrano ham
Previously, I purchased eight thinly
sliced pieces of Italian Serrano ham as this, too, will help keep the pastry
from becoming soggy and it will add flavor.
I laid them out on a large piece of
plastic, overlapping them.
Duxelle spooned over Serrano ham
I spoon my duxelle over the
Serrano ham spreading it out evenly.
Browned tenderloin
Meanwhile, the tenderloin has been
cooling so that I can cut away the string.
As you can see, it
looks pretty good!
Browned tenderloin with Dijon mustard
I gently remove the string so as not to
disturb the integrity of the meat, and I cover it with Dijon mustard.
Placing the tenderloin onto the duxelle
and Serrano ham, I roll it up. Having it in this large piece of plastic helps
me keep control of all the ingredients, preventing them from flopping
around.
I set it
aside in the refrigerator.
Bolillo-wrapped tenderloin with
egg wash applied
Now it's time to roll out my bolillo
dough.
It is spongy and thick, and every time I
roll it out, the dough springs back to a ball.
Hmmm.
I continue to roll and roll, until I have
broken down some of the yeasty hardiness. Finally it is now a flattened
piece that will cover the tenderloin.
Carefully unwrapping the Serrano ham-covered tenderloin, I wrap the dough around it, and I brush it with an egg
wash - a bit of whipped egg and water.
Browned dough-covered tenderloin
One thing I learned though my years of
cooking, is that I had to work with the ingredients, stove and utensils that
I had, not what I wished I had.
Here in Mexico, we have a small gas range
with 4 burners and an oven. Working in commercial kitchens for years, I am
used to huge and powerful appliances, so I call this one in our place
my "Easy Bake Oven." No temperature markings, basically high and
off.
Just to make it challenging, I don't even
know what the temperature is inside the oven, even after I have had it on to
pre-warm for 20 minutes.
Placing my dough-wrapped tenderloin in a
lasagna pan, I put it in the center of the oven and I check it every so
often. I need to make sure the dough is done but not burned, and that the
meat is cooked enough to be able to eat it.
To punch this dough with a meat
thermometer would be quite rude to the presentation. I was trained as a Chef to
carefully insert a thin blade knife into the center of the meat, and to test the
temperature in that manner. When the knife is warm enough, the meat is done
to the desired temperature.
At this point, the meat and the dough are
resting on the cutting board, however it is still cooking while wrapped in the pastry.
This is why I remove it from the oven a little early.
Sliced Beef Wellington
Meanwhile, I have been preparing the
vegetables and a rich bordelaise sauce to complete the meal.
Here you see our Beef Wellington a
perfect Medium Rare.
Beautiful, eh?
Complete Beef Wellington meal
Beef Wellington with crunchy herbed
potatoes and a medley of fresh vegetables.
Needless to say, this meal was terrific!
But wait! There's more to this story.
Cinnamon rolls made from bolillo
dough
We had left over
bolillo dough, and we
didn't want to throw it away.
So what did we do?
We made cinnamon rolls for the next
morning!
Yum!!
To visit our Commentary Page,
click here
To find out more about Mexico,
click here
For more on
Retirement Topics,
click here and
here and don't forget to signup for
our free Newsletter.
