isithalal.food

Halal-conscious recipe

Beef Wellington without prosciutto

Halal beef fillet wrapped in a thyme mushroom duxelles and Halal cured beef instead of prosciutto, baked in puff pastry, with no wine in the mushrooms.

  • Cuisine British
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Advanced
  • Yield 1 Wellington, 6 thick slices
  • Time 2h 30m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A whole baked beef Wellington on a wooden board
Photograph from our ingredient library: a beef Wellington, not the finished dish.

Photo: Ruth and Dave · CC BY 2.0

Why Halal checks matter here

Beef Wellington is usually wrapped in prosciutto or Parma ham, the mushroom duxelles is often cooked down with wine, and the fillet is only Halal from Halal slaughter.

Beef Wellington is a seared beef fillet coated in a paste of finely chopped mushrooms (the duxelles), wrapped in thin slices of cured ham and baked in puff pastry. In BBC Good Food's version, that ham is twelve slices of prosciutto, which is pork, and the mushrooms are cooked down with 100 ml of white wine.

This version keeps the method and swaps both: Halal-certified cured beef slices do the prosciutto's job of holding the duxelles against the meat and keeping the pastry dry, and the mushrooms are simply cooked until all their liquid has gone. The fillet needs Halal slaughter (see beef), and the puff pastry pack is worth a look for the fat it uses.

The two chilling steps matter: a cold fillet and a firm log keep the pastry crisp underneath, and resting the Wellington for 10 minutes keeps the juices in when you slice it.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Prosciutto It is cured pork, and the original wraps the whole fillet in 12 slices. Use Halal-certified cured beef slices instead. See Prosciutto.
  • Dry white wine The original cooks the mushrooms down with 100 ml of white wine. Cooking it off does not make it Halal on this site. Leave it out and cook the mushrooms until dry. See Wine.
  • Beef fillet Beef is Halal only from Halal slaughter. Buy from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. See Beef.
  • Puff pastry Pastry fats vary; some pastry is made with lard. Read the fat on the pack.

Safe substitutes

  • Prosciutto → Halal-certified cured beef slices
  • Dry white wine → Nothing: cook the mushrooms until dry

Allergens

gluten (pastry, flour), milk (butter, pastry if all-butter), egg (glaze)

Ingredients

Beef and duxelles

  • 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) Halal beef fillet
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 250 g (9 oz) chestnut mushrooms (some wild if you like), very finely chopped
  • 50 g (3½ tbsp) butter
  • 1 large sprig fresh thyme

Wrapping

  • 12 slices Halal-certified cured beef slices (such as beef bresaola), in place of the prosciutto
  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) puff pastry, thawed if frozen (read the pack)
  • a little flour, for dusting
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten with 1 tsp water

Method

  1. Roast and chill the beef. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Brush the fillet with 1 tbsp of the oil, season with pepper and roast for 15 minutes for medium-rare or 20 for medium. Cool, then chill for about 20 minutes.
  2. Make the duxelles without wine. Chop the mushrooms as finely as coarse breadcrumbs, pulsing in a processor if you like. Fry them in the remaining oil and the butter with the thyme for about 10 minutes, then season and keep cooking until all the liquid has gone and the mixture holds its shape (the original adds 100 ml of white wine here and cooks it off). Cool and remove the thyme.
  3. Wrap the fillet. Lay the Halal cured beef slices on two overlapping sheets of cling film in a slightly overlapping double row. Spread over half the duxelles, sit the fillet on top, spread on the rest, then use the film to roll it tightly into a log. Chill while you roll out the pastry.
  4. Encase in pastry. Roll a third of the pastry to an 18 x 30 cm strip on a baking sheet and the rest to about 28 x 36 cm. Unwrap the fillet onto the strip, brush the edges and the meat's wrapping with yolk, drape the larger sheet over, press into the sides, trim to a 4 cm rim and seal with a fork. Glaze, score diagonal lines without cutting through, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  5. Bake and rest. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Brush with more yolk and bake for 20 to 25 minutes for medium-rare or 30 for medium, until golden and crisp. Rest for 10 minutes before cutting into thick slices.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Beef Wellington' (1 kg fillet roasted 15 to 20 minutes at 220°C and chilled; 250 g chestnut mushrooms chopped fine and cooked with butter and thyme, then with 100 ml dry white wine until absorbed; 12 slices of prosciutto rolled around the fillet and duxelles in cling film; wrapped in 500 g puff pastry, glazed, chilled 30 minutes and baked 20 to 30 minutes at 200°C; rested 10 minutes). We replaced the prosciutto with Halal-certified cured beef and left out the wine, cooking the mushrooms until dry. The source gives a total time of 2½ hours; prep, cook and rest are split from its steps. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Beef Wellington — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    Serves 6: 1 kg beef fillet, 3 tbsp olive oil, 250 g chestnut mushrooms, 50 g butter, thyme, 100 ml dry white wine, 12 slices prosciutto, 500 g puff pastry, 2 egg yolks; roasted 15 to 20 minutes at 220°C, baked 20 to 30 minutes at 200°C; total time 2½ hours. We replaced the prosciutto and removed the wine.

  2. Prosciutto analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why prosciutto is pork, and Halal cured alternatives.

All Halal-conscious recipes