making beef wellington

Dizzie77

EEK! Help!!
I am planning to make beef wellington for the OH for Valentines Day.
I've never cooked it before, and he has never eaten it before (but I'm confident he'll like it).

Anyway - long story short....when I went shopping for ingredients, the MSE in me wouldn't let me pay the price for a fillet of beef, and instead I got a nice looking topside joint.

Now I'm panicking that this won't be suitable for a beef wellington...


Anyone able to help??? Should I just go and get a fillet and stop being so tight with my cash!?!!?

claireac

I've no idea myself, but if you ask on the Old Style board they'll know for certain .

Dizzie77

Thanks Claire - I wasn't sure where to ask it...but I thought, as it is for a special occasion, I would start here!!

Debt_Free_Chick

You won't get anything like the same result with topside, sorry. Whilst it's often sold as a roasting joint, topside is really a slow cooking joint and best braised or pot-roasted i.e. with liquid/stock added to keep it tender.

It is possible to slow-roast topside, but it then needs to be thinly sliced as it has a tendency to be tough.

Whatever you do, don't follow a beef wellington recipe written for fillet, with topside :eek:

You'll either need to pick a new recipe for the topside, or freeze it and buy fillet if you simply must to beef wellington :eek: