First blind results...kinda.
Posted by The Blind Chef | Posted in Charlotte, Cupcakes, Wellingtons | Posted on 4:12 PM
1
The Plan: Make Individual Beef Wellingtons and Strawberry Charlotte for my sister's birthday party.
The Problems: First of all, Beef Wellington is generally prepared with beef tenderloin, which seemed like one of the simpler ingredients to find...but it turns out that stores are apparently not carrying it as often or at all anymore. After three stores we did find some though, however it has apparently shot up in price dramatically since the last time I saw it. Market Street has it for $24.99 a pound, and I needed 3 pounds. Needless to say, we did not get the tenderloin and instead went for a NY strip that was $6.49 a pound.
The other problem was more of a stupid mistake on my part...after completing my Strawberry Charlotte the night of the party, I tasted it and said to my friend, "Wow, this is really good, but I bet it has something to do with the alcohol in it!" Then it finally hit me...
My sister is pregnant! Thankfully I had another pound of strawberries and I was able to make some strawberry cupcakes (which turned out really well, link to the recipe at the end) but this set me back on my time and preparation quite a bit. Thankfully I was able to conscript my mother as a sous chef and we managed to get everything done in time.
...yes there was fire...and smoke. But that's what happens when you sear your steaks indoors I suppose! If you have the option, sear your steaks outdoors, otherwise you might want to take the batteries out of your smoke alarms!
The Result: Everything ended up really good, especially the Wellingtons. The pastry shell was perfect, the meat was very tender (even though it wasn't tenderloin), and I substituted sautéed garlic and onions for the liver paté. I will be remaking these tonight I believe, and hopefully be posting a video for the Beef Wellingtons later tonight, since I was unable to record what was going on yesterday in the mayhem.
Here's the cupcake recipe by the way, I will get the tenderloin recipe to you guys once the video has been completed!
The Problems: First of all, Beef Wellington is generally prepared with beef tenderloin, which seemed like one of the simpler ingredients to find...but it turns out that stores are apparently not carrying it as often or at all anymore. After three stores we did find some though, however it has apparently shot up in price dramatically since the last time I saw it. Market Street has it for $24.99 a pound, and I needed 3 pounds. Needless to say, we did not get the tenderloin and instead went for a NY strip that was $6.49 a pound.
The other problem was more of a stupid mistake on my part...after completing my Strawberry Charlotte the night of the party, I tasted it and said to my friend, "Wow, this is really good, but I bet it has something to do with the alcohol in it!" Then it finally hit me...
My sister is pregnant! Thankfully I had another pound of strawberries and I was able to make some strawberry cupcakes (which turned out really well, link to the recipe at the end) but this set me back on my time and preparation quite a bit. Thankfully I was able to conscript my mother as a sous chef and we managed to get everything done in time.
...yes there was fire...and smoke. But that's what happens when you sear your steaks indoors I suppose! If you have the option, sear your steaks outdoors, otherwise you might want to take the batteries out of your smoke alarms!
The Result: Everything ended up really good, especially the Wellingtons. The pastry shell was perfect, the meat was very tender (even though it wasn't tenderloin), and I substituted sautéed garlic and onions for the liver paté. I will be remaking these tonight I believe, and hopefully be posting a video for the Beef Wellingtons later tonight, since I was unable to record what was going on yesterday in the mayhem.
Here's the cupcake recipe by the way, I will get the tenderloin recipe to you guys once the video has been completed!