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.
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
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.
Madeira
wine, Vin de Madère and the French Menu.
Port
or Porto - Port Wine in French Cuisine.
