Aren't you even gonna have any of this
Look we've got Oysters Rockefeller, Beef Wellington,
Napoleons,
We leave this lunch alone, It'll take over Europe.
Hey, what's up guys welcome back to Binging with Babish, where this week
We're taking a look at foods from the 1960s. So, foods that are inevitably going to revolve around one thing:
Butter; so we're gonna start by needlessly
showboating a little bit with a rolling pin and beginning the process to make puff
pastry from scratch. This starts with two cups of all-purpose flour, a few pinches of kosher salt
that we're going to toss together and create a little trench almost, like we're making fresh pasta
But there's no eggs instead
We're going to use 1 cup of ice water added a little bit at a time that we're going to toss together with the flour
Reforming the trench adding a few more tablespoons of ice water tossing again, and eventually once it gets a little bit more chunky
We're going to start using a bench scraper
Adding water a bit at a time until we get a dough that holds its shape that we're going to knead together
Forming into a square wrapping and plastic wrap and chilling for 30 minutes while we get our butter square ready
We're starting with two sticks of unsalted butter to which we're going to add a few tablespoons of flour and using a floured rolling pin
we're going to start pounding together into one solid mass we're gonna keep reflowing the rolling pin the work surface and
Repounding out the butter until it is pliable enough to fold like this
That's breaking a little bit but that's fine
Likewise we're gonna form this into a square wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 10 minutes
While we roll out our lean dough this stuff gets pretty sticky
So generously flour your work surface and start rolling out your sticky lean dough to a 12 by 12 inch square
Or a 14 by 14 inch square doesn't really matter
Just roll it out into a square and then pound out your butter square so when placed in the center of the dough square
Diagonally the corners almost meet the sides of the dough square if this doesn't make any sense
I'm Sorry and just go out and buy some puff pastry because this is not worth the effort pinch the edges of the dough square around
The butter square shut and begin to roll out to about a 12 inch long by 5 inch wide
rectangle then we're going to fold in thirds like a letter then rotate 90 degrees and roll out again to the same dimensions and
Fold in thirds once more before wrapping in plastic wrap been letting rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
This is going to let the gluten relax so we can do it all over again
We're gonna roll this out same dimensions twice fold in thirds twice refrigerate again for 30 minutes
And do it again. In the end this creates a sum total of 729 layers of
butter. No wonder of puff pastry
Puffs up so much who knew that math could be so delicious
After six total folds were putting in the fridge for one hour up to overnight
And we're gonna start seasoning our beef for the Beef Wellington
Season liberally on all sides with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper and placed into a ripping hot
Cast-iron skillet to sear on all sides. This doesn't lock in juices or any of that kind of nonsense
It's to introduce some roasty flavors into our Wellington, one of the things that helps a lot with that is a mushroom
Duxelle we covered how to make this in the Bob's Burgers episode from a few months ago
But basically it just calls for finely processing some mushrooms, sautéing and butter, adding a little bit of thyme, some freshly crushed garlic,
Deglazing with a bit of cognac, adding a bit of heavy cream, and cooking down into a smooth paté.
This is just going to serve to augment and intensify the beef flavors as will a quarter pound of prosciutto that we're going to shingle
onto several sheets of plastic wrap before brushing our roast down with English mustard making sure that it is tied with any string that that's
Been cut off and spreading our mushroom paté evenly onto the prosciutto
Making the rock on which we shall build our church lift
the
Strategically placed plastic wrap and use it to wrap the prosciutto
And mushroom mix tightly around the roast. We're going to place this in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up while we roll out
our puff pastry.
Generously flour your work surface before rolling out your puff pastry
to about 12 inches long and
3 inches wider on each side than the size of the roast, then use the plastic wrap to wrap the puff around the pastry and
Then use Gordon Ramsay's whipsie flipsie method to tightly encase the whole thing together
that we're going to place in the fridge to firm up for 20 minutes before brushing the whole thing down with a
Beaten egg, then we're gonna use the back of a paring knife to place some decorative
scoring across the top, sprinkle the whole thing down with flaky kosher salt, and insert a
Temperature probe into the thickest part of the roast we're then going to bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the roast registers 120 degrees Fahrenheit
internally let rest for 15 minutes, and then slice open to reveal the fruits of your labor: A moment of silence please...
I mean come on dude, if you want to find the way to Christina Hendricks' heart
This is it right here, and you guys know my policy on clean plates it only happens when something is really, really, really good
but utterly incomplete without dessert
So it's time to make Napoleon's we're gonna start by whisking together
Four egg yolks and a half cup of corn starch into this light ribbony mixture and then in a large saucepan
We're going to combine in two cups of milk and a half cup of sugar along with two teaspoons of vanilla paste or vanilla extract
If that's all you've got
Whisk together and bring to a bare simmer set aside and a half cup at a time add the hot milk
mixture to the egg and
cornstarch mixture very slowly so as to temper the egg yolks without cooking them once you've added about half the milk mixture feel free to
Dump the rest in and return the whole mixture back to the saucepan.
Cooking over medium heat whisking constantly until a thick custard forms
We're then gonna kill the heat and add about two tablespoons of crumbled butter
Whisking that in until completely melted and incorporated, just in case this thing was starting to get a little bit too healthy.
We're gonna put this into a metal bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressing the plastic wrap down onto the surface of
Custard making sure that it doesn't form a skin while it is in the fridge. Meanwhile,
We're going to bake some equally sized sheets of puff pastry that we've cut with a pizza cutter
For about six minutes at 450 degrees and until light and puffy and then we're gonna weigh it down with another cookie sheet
baking for an additional four to five minutes until thin and crisp, allow to cool completely before
Topping with our cooled creme patisserie. Layering, repeating, and getting ready to make our decorative top layer.
We're gonna start by making a thin icing out of a cup of powdered sugar, two teaspoons of corn syrup, two
tablespoons of whole milk, and
two tablespoons of melted butter. We're gonna whisk together well to combine and take just a little tiny bit to taste and make sure that
It tastes good, and then take a few tablespoons and set them aside to make a chocolate version
We're gonna add a little bit of molten chocolate if you don't have that add some cocoa powder
Start by spooning some of the white glaze over the top layer of your puff pastry
smoothing out with an offset spatula
and then use a
Drinking glass to hold your pastry bag and fill it with the chocolate glaze, that we're then going to very carefully pipe into
perfectly straight
Lines across the length of the pastry. Add this to the list of things that I never thought I would be able to do properly
Then using a toothpick, or if you don't have a toothpick, a giant skewer
Drag the tip back and forth across the frosting to make a decorative flare
Which if you asked me, is about as early
1960s as you can possibly get. Plate up on a nice serving plate and hack yourself off a piece and revel in the
2187 layers of butter in this Napoleon. I mean technically, I didn't count 'em.