Filet de Bœuf Wellington or Bœuf Wellington

from 
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com


Beef Wellington
Photograph courtesy of Dale Cruse
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalecruse/46448644852/

 

Filet de Bœuf Wellington 

Beef Wellington. 

The traditional Beef Wellington was named after the Iron Duke, Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852).  The dish requires a whole fillet of beef to be covered with goose foie gras, fattened goose liver, rolled inside a puff pastry casing and baked.  The finished dish will be cut into thick slices and served; a reduced Port Wine or Madeira wine sauce will usually accompany the dish.  Today, smaller cuts from the center of the fillet are also used to create individual Beef Wellingtons. Outside of a few very special, and expensive restaurants, the goose foie will have gone.  Occasionally it will be replaced by a chicken liver pate, though more often with duxelles.

 


A Traditional Beef Wellington with Goose Pate De Foie Gras.
Accompanied by roasted carrots and parsnips, and served with mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and a reduced Port Wine sauce.

 

The vegetables that accompany the dish will often include roasted root vegetables such as carrots, parsnip and pumpkin, roasting brings out their natural sweetness and earthiness.  Newer versions may include asparagus, haricots vert (green beens) and brussels sprouts along with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes.



An individual Beef Wellington
Photograph courtesy of David Blaine
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39718079@N00/4250488734/ 

Bœuf Wellington was not created for the Iron Duke.  Most traditions agree that the French dish called Filet de Bœuf en Croute was a favorite of Arthur Wellesley and that he ordered it twice or three times a week when visiting France.   The restaurateurs who saw the famous duke regularly return for the same dish gave orders for the name change to Filet de Bœuf Wellington.

   


Duke of Wellington National Portrait Gallery.
Photograph courtesy of DAVID HOLT
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zongo/12912485334  

The Duxelles.

The duxelles that replace the fois gras in many modern versions of Beef Wellington are a nearly five-hundred-year-old recipe of finely chopped mushrooms, shallots, and herbs cooked in butter.

Duxelles has always been a versatile staple, used as a rich stuffing or an elegant garnish for everything from eggs to fish and various meat dishes. Sometimes, it's simmered with a touch of wine and served with a sauce. While the original recipe would have called for wild mushrooms—as farmed varieties didn't exist then—today's versions commonly use button mushrooms.

 

Slices of a Beef Wellingtons made with Duxelles,
served with a reduced Port Wine Sauce,,
Photograph courtesy of Tom Mascardo

 

 

The chef behind this enduring classic was François Pierre de La Varenne (1618–1678), a pioneering French chef who was among the very first to publish his culinary secrets. In the manner of the time, he named his creation after his patron, the Marquis d'Duxelles. La Varenne's most famous work, Le Cuisinier François (The French Cook), is still published today with various editions available, with the last published in July 2024 and available at Amazon France. Though English versions appear to be out of print, his legacy extends beyond this one book, as he penned at least two more culinary texts.

La Varenne did not leave us with just one book; he published at least two more:

Le Pâtissier françois (1653): The French Pastry Cook

Le Parfait Confiturier (1667, sometimes republished as Le Confiturier françois): The Perfect Confectioner or The French Confectioner.

There are (of course) disputes around his ownership of all the recipes, but it is enough to say that the books allow us to look at the French kitchen in the 17th century.


The First page of: Le Cuisinier François
By La Varenne
Published 1651
Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)
The French national library permits reading on line without charge or downloading the whole book for a small fee,
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k114423k.texteImage

 

The duke’s knowledge of France and French

Despite the Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon I and his part in the 25-year-long attempted restoration of the French monarchy, the dish named after him is still served and enjoyed in France. France always had a large percentage of the population who were monarchists, and some would bring back one of Emperor Napoleon’s descendants today if they could. The duke spoke French and knew many members of the French aristocracy well.  When just 17, the young Arthur Wellesley spent a year at the French Royal Academy of Equitation, the French Royal Horse-Riding school, in the city of Angers; then considered the world’s best riding school. While in Angers, the young Arthur Wellesley also improved his knowledge of the French language, enjoyed French cuisine, and met and danced with many French ladies. He also met many of the aristocrats to whom he would restore their positions after he met Napoleon I at Waterloo.  The city of Angers in Anjou was also the historical home of the Plantagenêt Kings of England. 

Wellington's French Connections

It's fascinating that the dish named after the Duke of Wellington is still widely enjoyed in France, even though he defeated Napoleon I and helped restore the French monarchy for a quarter-century. In French society, there has always been a significant number of monarchists, some of whom still dream of restoring a descendant of Emperor Napoleon today.

The duke's connection to France ran deep. He spoke French and had extensive ties to the French aristocracy. As a young man of just 17, Arthur Wellesley spent a pivotal year at the French Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers. At the time, this school was considered the world's finest horse-riding school (it is still highly rated and open today). If you are an excellent rider, you may be accepted, if you can afford the fees.  While in Angers, Arthur Wellesley not only perfected his riding but also immersed himself in the French language and its cuisine, and famously danced with many French ladies. It was here, in this very French setting, that he met many of the aristocrats whose status he would later help reinstate after his monumental victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. Adding another layer of historical intrigue, Angers, in Anjou, was also the ancestral home of England's Plantagenêt Kings.  (The Plantagenêt dynasty ruled England from 1154 to 1485, making them the longest-reigning royal house in English history.  (They were related to William the Conqueror through Empress Matilda, William's granddaughter, who married Geoffrey Plantagenêt, Count of Anjou).

The early Plantagenêt kings, beginning with Henry II of England, controlled a massive Angevin Empire that stretched across much of France and was the cause of hundreds of years of war.




The Wellington Statue (1888)
An equestrian sculpture of Wellington by Joseph Boehm was faces Apsley House, which was Wellington's London home. The figures at the corners of the pedestal representative British soldiers, a Grenadier, a Scottish Highlander, an Irish Dragoon and a Welsh Fusilier.
Photograph courtesy of George Groutas
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jorge-11/2435317521/


Pont de Verdun in Angers, France.
Photograph courtesy of Alain Rouiller
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alainrouiller/12031034934

 

Napoleon today

Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington may have defeated Napoléon I in Waterloo, Belgium, but there are descendants of Napoléon who still claim the French throne.  The present pretender is Prince Napoléon, Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon Bonaparte born on July 11, 1986, in Saint-Raphaël, France.  Jean-Christophe is married to Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, and they have a son: Prince Louis Charles Riprand Victor Jérôme Marie Napoléon, who was born on December 7, 2022.

Jean-Christophe currently lives in London and manages his own private equity investment firm called Leon Capital.  (If Jean-Christophe became Emperor he would be known as Napoléon VII (or Napoléon VIII), depending on the Napoléon counting convention that you use).

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Connected Posts:

Anjou and Angevines – Dining in the Maine et Loire, France.

Button Mushrooms - The Champignon de Paris.

Duxelles on French Menus. Duxelles in French Cuisine.

En Croûte on French Menus.

Foie Gras in French Cuisine. Foie Gras is Fattened Goose or Duck Liver Foie. Foie Gras on French Menus.

Madeira wine, Vin de Madère and the French Menu.

 Port or Porto - Port Wine in French Cuisine.   


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