Cycling Naturalist
Guru
- Location
- Llangollen
I've never done this before, but I'm doing it for New Year's Day. I've got some great fillet steak from Steve McCardle in Chirk (a butcher so good that the Vegetarian Society publishes a map whereby Chirk does not exist, lest vegetarians pass through, and end up renouncing their vows, and demanding tightly crated veal and foie gras) and looking at the recipe, it all seems disarmingly simple.
However, I have a horrible feeling that it's all in the execution, and it's very easy to foul it up on the presentation and end up with something that looks like Lidl dog food. As I see it the key elements are:
1. Searing and chilling the fillet.
2. Really drying the duxelles, as otherwise there will be a late moisture release during the oven stage and the pastry will end up like a boiled Fray Bentos pie.
3. Being neat with the pastry during final assembly.
4. Glaze and seal with egg - not milk for grip and colour.
4. Keeping the sauce simple - I've got in mind a straightforward duxelle, port and red wine reduction with perhaps a little redcurrant.
Any tips?
However, I have a horrible feeling that it's all in the execution, and it's very easy to foul it up on the presentation and end up with something that looks like Lidl dog food. As I see it the key elements are:
1. Searing and chilling the fillet.
2. Really drying the duxelles, as otherwise there will be a late moisture release during the oven stage and the pastry will end up like a boiled Fray Bentos pie.
3. Being neat with the pastry during final assembly.
4. Glaze and seal with egg - not milk for grip and colour.
4. Keeping the sauce simple - I've got in mind a straightforward duxelle, port and red wine reduction with perhaps a little redcurrant.
Any tips?