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brooklyn1

On Fri, 17 Oct 2014 23:19:43 +0200, (Victor Sack)
wrote:

>DavidW > wrote:
>
>> I've only had it once, at a restaurant a year or two ago. I was really looking
>> forward to it but disappointed when I found that the shell was bread-like
>> rather than puff pastry. I'm sure it would have been better with puff
>> pastry. Why mess with a classic?
>
>As far as I am concerned, the "classic" is not really worth messing with
>in any sense of the word. I said it once or twice and I will say it
>again: Of all the famous recipes, Beef Wellington is one of the most
>overrated. Roasting or browning a solid piece of meat and then steaming
>it (which is what happens once you enclose it in a pastry shell and
>continue to cook) does nothing for its flavour, except for dumbing it
>down. The pastry adds its own bland-down effect and the optional
>addition of foie gras is designed more to impress the guest than to
>improve the dish. It's not accidental that most pie-type meat dishes
>call for *minced* meat - it somehow blends in and contributes to the
>making of a harmonious whole, rather than to a combination of basically
>unrelated ingredients. But that's just MHO and it doesn't mean I
>wouldn't be able to enjoy the dish - just not on the same level as a
>really well-composed one.
>
> "A few years ago it was considered chic to serve Beef
> Wellington; fortunately, like Napoleon, it met its Waterloo."
> -- Rene Veaux, Lasserre restaurant, Paris
>
>Victor

Here Victor is correct... high price of restaurant entrees has
absolutely no bearing on value. Beef Wellington is one of those
dishes that has less worth than a basic beef pot pie, only
"Wellington" sounds impressive.