Puff Pastry or Pate Feuilletee and How to Make Beef Wellington

My apologies for the rarity of input to this blog. Busy in the hospital and busy with winter. But this next dish is something I'd love to share because it requires some skill. Even food hobbyists have to master the craft and so here it is.

I love to show and explain skills which I find at first made with difficulty but it seems that the proper technique, practice and tricks made the task easy and quite consistent over time. Cooking, in general is made perfect with practice just as with any other skill. However, I find that there are certain things that require helpful tips to guarantee acceptable or hopingly, superlative results. 

Puff Pastry in Beef Wellington

One dish that requires the right combination of skill, tricks and good practice is puff pastry or "Pate Feuilletee" (Pa-taye fah-ye-taye – as French speaker corrected me once...). Literally translated as "leaflike pastry" from the French word "feuillet" meaning leaf; it also means "pagelike pastry" from the French "feuille" for page - being multiple paper thin layer pastry. So one gets the idea. But this leaflike structure is the key to delicate desserts and entries owing to the richness of this crust. A prime example of this is the crisp multiple thin layered crust of the custard tarts made by Chinese dimsum restaurants (well known of these is by "Lord Stowe" in Macau. What is responsible for this is the thinness of the flour paste but how is this achieved and why it is very rich is owed to butter – loads of pure, rich, decadent butter. 

When interspersed between the thin layers of flour paste and baked, these fat layers melt away and the air within the butter expands with the oven's high temperature. The leaves separate and form crunchy buttery thin layers. 

How to create these layers is the key to making Pate Feuilletee. Now pay attention to the tips and the technique for this is the trick for a successful pastry. And of course, practice! 

Pate Feuilletee ("Puff Pastry") 

• 3 cups flour 
• 1 ½ cup water 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup butter 
• 2 sheets parchment paper 
• And MORE flour 

With butter cold but spreadable, whip the butter at medium then high speed. This phase of the process is important because the butter is made double in bulk. This creates the space in between the pastry leaves. Likewise, with air pockets, this traps air which will later expand with heat separating the leaves into its multiple layers. The more butter creates a richer product and when it melts, it "fries" the pastry. 

In a bowl, combine salt and flour. Pour 1/3 of the water on the flour and using a rubber spatula and with a peripheral circular motion, incorporate the water in the flour. As soon as the flour becomes pasty and the dough is just beginning to hold but still floury, pour the next 1/3 of water and repeat the process. Do this again with the final 1/3 of water. The dough should hold but still with semblance of floury surface and somewhat with small bits of flour separating. This consistency is just right for the second part which is butter incorporation. 

With a sheet of parchment paper on the table, dust the surface with about a small handful of flour. Place the flour pastry on top and roll into a rough square – does not have to be perfect. Spread the butter on top of this taking care to leave about 1 inch of the edges free of any fat. 

"Fold" the four corners into the middle creating quarter triangular folds sealing the "envelope" of butter. To this add more flour and lay the second sheet of parchment paper on top. If the envelope of butter becomes warm that it is unmanageable to handle, chill it in the refrigerator for about five to ten minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and roll evenly using the rolling pin. Remove the parchment papers, and keeping in mind three portions, fold the outer two portions into the middle portion. Reposition the pastry, apply more flour to guarantee minimal sticking, and the whole pastry in between the parchment paper, roll it once again.

If you have some more whipped butter leftover, you may choose to incorporate that within the middle and second portions of the fold and seal with the third fold. Again, roll using the rolling pin with parchment papers at the sides. 

At any time that the pastry becomes difficult to handle, refrigerate about five to ten minutes before rolling. Likewise, be sure you use parchment papers since this will minimize sticking of the pastry when it is time to roll and fold. 

As you fold and roll the pastry several times, you are creating leaves of pastry interspersed with butter in between. Because the pastry leaves become thinner with each fold and roll, there is a tendency for the first leaf to break when the parchment paper is peeled off. Don’t worry. This is normal. But you may use a sharp fruit knife to "scrape" the pastry leaf from the paper. 

To minimize sticking, be sure you flour your parchment paper each time before you roll. 

Note that with each folding, you multiply the leaves by the base of 3. So the first fold is 3, second is 3x3, third is 3x3x3. And if one does the same procedure six times, it is 3x3x3x3x3x3=729. Do we really need this much leaves? No. And probably one can end at the fourth fold = 81 or fifth = 243. But you get the idea. 

Once the folding and rolling is done, the puff pastry is ready. 

And what more could puff pastry be great than in Beef Wellington? Recipe follows! 

Beef Wellington...mmmm!

Beef Wellington 

• 2 pieces of beef tenderloin – cleaned, all outside ligaments removed 
• Salt to taste 
• Pepper to taste 
• 1 pound white mushrooms 
• 1 stick butter 
• Slices of foie gras 

First, if you have not yet removed the ligaments and fat from the outsides of the beef tenderloin, please do so. This is a no-no in Beef Wellington because it is what makes the beef not tender at all if one wants the definition of tender to be in that word. But trim all that fat and ligaments and save them to be marinated for some other recipe like teriyaki. They are tender alright – but not for a delicate thing such as Beef Wellington. 

Next, salt and pepper it to taste. Honest opinion? Err on the side of salting and peppering it more than usual. When its taste mixes with the pastry, it will be neutralized to just right. 

Chop the mushrooms to very fine. If you do not have the skills and/or patience to do it, use a food processor. With butter sliced to pat sizes and the mushrooms chopped well, place all in a pot, simmer under low heat until all liquids have evaporated to a spreadable paste-like spread. 

With high heat, sear the beef at all sides till rare. The higher the heat the better because this will caramelize the sides while the insides are raw which should be the case. Once that it done, set aside, rest then if possible, cool in refrigerator until well cold. DO NOT FREEZE! 

With your prepared pastry as the base, place the refrigerated beef in the middle. Spread some of the mushrooms on the top and sides. Then, place and distribute slices of foie gras on the top. Wrap te pastry all over and seal at the sides. 

Bake for 400 Fahrenheit oven for about thirty minutes. And broil at the final minutes for a delicate brown. The butter from the puff pastry will melt as the air incorporated in the butter as it was whipped earlier would expand, giving that high layered look baking and frying the thin flour paste to a crisp! For a more appetizing and more impressive look, brush with egg wash before broiling. The shine and the brownish crust would surely make the dish more attractive. 

Rest for about ten minutes. Still warm, slice and spread a bit of chopped parsley leaves. 

Serve with Merlot reduction sauce. Recipe follows.

Merlot sauce 

It is nothing more than a an equal volume (NOT weight OR dry/wet cups) but equal dimensional volume of merlot to white sugar. So if you are using one cup to measure the Merlot, use the same looking cup to measure the sugar. With that, boil under low heat and simmer to one half the volume. Essentially it is reduced sweetened merlot. Good for Beef Wellington. And good for other things like dessert.  

A drizzle is all what you need. 

How to Make Maki Mi. (Pork Tenderlon Shitake Noodle Soup)

I was about to write something about dimsum and radish cake. Yoo see, all these nice goodies that we eat in Chinese restaurants at 2.50 (DOLLARS!) an order can be made at home. And while I was about to share the secrets of making radish cake, someone asked me to write instead Maki-Mi.

Maki Mi.

My mother said that Maki-Mi has been in existence since her childhood way back in the late thirties and the forties when she was a young teen living in Apo, Quezon City. For a bit of a historical context, no one actually knows who owns the original recipe. It is true; however that Ha Yuan restaurant in Binondo served this dish as long as anyone could remember. And it used to be that the original set up of this restaurant we as kids went to that had a wooden screen door with a spring door closer. Because Manila was not as hot as it is now, the inside was cooled by the traditional ceiling fans with large motors and the blades were large and heavy unlike the plywood blades of modern lighter ceiling fans today. They serve tea in these thick Duralex glasses. And aside from the Maki Mi that they are famous for, likewise is the Fresh Lumpia with its signature sweet sauce mixed with a few drops of Chinese chili sauce and ground peanuts with sugar condiment.

What does Maki stand for? The Ma is meat – usually lean pork tenderloin. The Ki – according to my Mom is the thickness of the soup. Usually, Chinese style soup is made thick by using a slurry of water plus tapioca starch. And tapioca is a must – for the consistency of the thickness is best described as somewhat akin to mucous (I know, it's gross – as in Tagalog, "mala-uhog") Notice that when one gets the spoon and ladles the soup, it somewhat elongates into a strand before it breaks.

Now imagine that consistency more pronounced in Maki. It's this consistency that gives the dish its character and no doubt, married with its flavor, its heartiness.

If noodles are added – it is filling. Indeed a meal by itself. This is where the "Mi" comes from – Hokkien Chinese for "noodles".

The flavor of Maki Mi comes from the consistency but equally important is the taste itself which is basically meat – pork to be exact. How this is achieved is through a blend of meat, condiments that further its meat taste and the sweetness that highlights it.

So enter shitake mushrooms. Dark with a very nice bite, its essence highlights further the umami flavor.

Next soy sauce – the eternal browning agent of Hokkien cooking. It is the reason why Humba (Hong-Ma or Hong-Ba a.k.a. "Hokkien Style Red Meat") exists. And usually Hokkien Chinese mothers would say - "Di to khe tau-yu, tsa u siyak!"(You have to put in a bit of soy sauce, if you want some color! - attributed to Mrs. Lily Sy, the mother of my high school classmate Richard Sy-Facunda.) One or two tablespoons of dark soy sauce does the trick! This trick has been extended by some to other cuisines as untraditional as it may seem. I remember how an acquaintance of mine decided to marinade turkey with soy sauce in order to promote browning when roasted.

Lastly, as typical with Filipino cooking, the fragrance of roasted onions and garlic is unique! What cuisine always saute onions and garlic to a deep brown to add to flavor and color? This is what makes Maki distinct.

So Maki is Chinese. It is also Filipino. It is "Tsinoy" ("Chinese Filipino").

Maki Mi

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 head garlic, chopped
• ½ cup oyster sauce (to taste)
• ½ cup light soy sauce (to taste)
• 6 pieces dried shitake mushrooms
• ¼ kilo pork tenderloin
• 2 quarts water
• ¼ cup tapioca starch (US: can be bought in supermarkets under the gluten free section. My suggestion – Asian stores sell it in plastic bags way cheaper made in Thailand. Philippines: this is also known as "gawgaw" or ironing starch. Now for a bit of trivia – remember Yan Can Cook – the '80s cooking show? Yan's Wonder Powder is actually this.)
• White pepper to taste
• More tapioca starch for dusting your pork pieces.
• Bundles of dried egg noodles. (Philippines: You can buy "miki sariwa" or fresh egg noodles – this is the best.)
• Spring onions – chopped for garnishing.

Procedure.

Prepare the soup. Wash the dried shitake mushrooms then soak for thirty minutes in warm water until soft. Drain while squeezing the mushrooms, saving the liquid. Slice the mushrooms lengthwise and cut crosswise into small thin pieces. Set aside.

Slice the pork tenderloin thinly into 1 inch in length. Beat them using a meat hammer to tenderize the pieces. Add white pepper and light soy sauce. Dust the meat with tapioca starch until evenly and thickly well coated. Set aside.

Saute the garlic and onions in hot oil until well roasted and brown taking care not to burn. Lower the heat if necessary.

Add a quart of water and cover. Let it boil to a simmer for fifteen minutes to extract the flavor of the onions and garlic. Strain.

Return this onion and garlic broth in a soup pot. Add the mushrooms and bring to a gentle boil. To this add the soy sauce and oyster sauce. Thicken with a slurry of tapioca starch and a little water. This will not only make the broth thick but shiny as well. Lower the heat and bring to a gentle thick boil.

Once boiling, drop the meat pieces in the broth. Because the broth is thick to begin with and the pork pieces have the starch coating, the more the soup would thicken. Simmer this soup further to extract the meat flavor. You may choose to season further with more oyster sauce for the right saltiness and sweetness.

Meanwhile, warm the noodles in another pot of boiling water. If using dried egg noodles, microwave the noodle bundle in a bowl with about ¾ cup of water at high for about a minute.

To the bowl of noodles ladle the soup until full. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve hot.

Fujian Style Five Spice Pork Ribs

I know. When anyone mentions the word, "ribs" a southern barbecue comes to mind complete with its images of thick brownish sweet tangy sauce usually reminiscent of tomatoes, brown sugar, honey perhaps with pepper, paprika and chili. Each recipe is somewhat unique altering the proportions of sweetness to tanginess and even the saltiness. But whether the sauce is Texan or Georgian or Louisinianan I find that the taste stimulants are somewhat similar to one another. However, there is a basic way to prepare ribs so that it is absorbed in flavor and "sink-in-teeth-fall-off-the-bone" tender. 

Pork ribs with Fujian Five Spice.

 First things first – tenderizing does not mean pre-boiling the ribs. My mother used to do this and I believe most Filipinos would do it but that's simply from the at least my experience that pork I bought from the wet markets in the Philippines were somewhat tough. Preboiling the ribs under pressure for about twenty minutes usually does the trick but I noticed that doing this sacrifices on the flavor. The meat's own juices are washed away in the broth. This is where this trick comes in. 

Mainly, slow cooking with the use of aluminum foil under medium oven heat ensures that the heat gets a chance to tenderize the meat by slowly degrading the proteins. Secondly, with the aluminum foil cover and seal, none of the meat's natural liquids would dry leaving the ribs tender, moist and most of all flavorful. 

Second, in connection to my comment regarding sauce, there are many ways one can explore the various flavors of ribs. It does not have to be barbecue sauce! In this installment, I am going to make ribs in the Hokkien (Fu-Jian) style which is mainly influenced by five spices much reminiscent of the Braised "Red Meat" (a.k.a. "Hong Ma") 

A bottle of Five Spice Powder.

Fu-Jian Style Five Spice Pork Ribs 

• 1 rack of pork ribs (St. Louis style) 
• 1/2 cup white sugar 
• ¼ cup five spice powder (Wu-Siang in Mandarin or Ngo-Hiyong in Hokkienese) 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• ½ cup light soy sauce (if less salt is preferred, you may want to omit the salt and just use pepper to taste) 
• ¼ cup white sugar 
• Aluminum foil. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. Wash and pat dry the ribs using paper towels. Or let it drip dry for about fifteen minutes. 

3. Make a rub mixture consisting of the white sugar, five spices, salt and pepper. (Omit salt if less salt is preferred since soy sauce by itself is salty.) 

4. Using a piece of aluminum foil large enough to make a "pocket", lay the meat in the middle and wrap around it making sure all edges are sealed. Lay this on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about two hours. 

5. Mix together light soy sauce and white sugar in a cup. 

6. At the end of two hours, open the foil and spread the soy sauce and sugar mixture evenly. Once again cover the meat with aluminum foil but doing a light seal. This would encourage drying the meat and caramelization of the soy sauce/sugar mixture. Be careful not to burn the meat in this process. This probably takes just ten to fifteen minutes. 

7. Cool a bit, rest and serve. 

   

   And yes! The smile of contentment could be in you!

Now, for the people that want a traditional barbecue ribs recipe, this is how I do it: 

1. Salt and pepper the ribs to your liking. 

2. Dust the ribs with loads of paprika. 

3. Bake the ribs in the same way as above for about two hours. 

4. Open the foil after two hours and pour a whole bottle of barbecue sauce. (You may also make your own usually by sauteing garlic, onions, some chillies, sugar, tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes or ketchup or combination of these. Some even add honey. Simmer all these until desired thickness. Salt to taste.) Caramelize as before. Let cool, rest and serve. 

I think I did discuss this in a former blog entry on "How to Make Barbecue Pork Ribs".