Is beef Wellington Melbourne's must-have dish this winter?

Those who thought they'd eaten their last beef Wellington back in 1973 could get a shock dining out this winter. The pastry-wrapped fillet of beef is being served at gourmet pubs and neighbourhood restaurants around Melbourne, with high-end butchers also selling versions ready to bake.

The appeal is undeniable for Troy Wheeler, who sells the centrepiece item through four Meatsmith butcher shops he co-owns. "Flaky, rich, delicious pastry; a beautiful piece of eye fillet that's soft and tender; rich, unctuous duxelles around the eye fillet. It's quite grand on the dinner table."

It's a complicated piece of kitchen handiwork, which is one reason why people love to outsource it. And after being featured on two MasterChef episodes in two years, the showstopper has got plenty of Melburnians aflutter.

Made with a premium cut of beef and a shell of golden pastry, beef Wellington's other essential component is finely chopped mushrooms cooked to a paste with shallots, butter and herbs, known as duxelles. Often the meat is spread with pâté, then coated in duxelles and rolled in pastry, typically puff.

It's thought to be named for the first Duke of Wellington, who may have tried a similar French dish (boeuf en croute) during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s.

Classically French-trained chef, Donovan Cooke, offers beef Wellington as a pre-order special ($60) at his Fitzroy North restaurant Ryne. It's among a collection of other old-school dishes that he learned at London restaurants such as Waterside Inn at Bray.

Most of us have a memory of a dinner party of our parents, where they had beef Wellington and drank port.

Troy Wheeler

Cooke's first time making beef Wellington was for the 1992 wedding of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White to Lisa Butcher. "Every Michelin-starred chef in London was there. And Marco wanted it in brioche, not pastry," he chuckles.

Steven Nelson of The Recreation in Fitzroy North says the atmosphere in the kitchen during Wellington prep is charged. "Everyone's waiting for that first slice. The whole brigade [of chefs] is gathered around the chopping board."

The dish is a three-day preparation for his team. Since adding it to the Sunday menu earlier in June, demand has been good, with 40 portions sold last week at $60 a pop.

Variations on the original recipe are common. At Meatsmith, there's no pâté but crepe is included as a layer between the mushrooms and the shortcrust pastry, which helps absorb any moisture during cooking.

Cooke's version layers jamon Iberico (cured Spanish ham) between the puff pastry and the duxelles. In a nod to the French version, he also mixes his duxelles with foie gras and chicken liver parfait.

Tips for making your own Wellington at home

Since that daunting first brush with preparing a Wellington, Cooke has mastered it and has a few tips for those who want to try it at home.

"It's all about the prep. Don't try and do your beef Wellington the day you want to eat it. If you want an easy life, I suggest you start two days before," he says.

Wrap your beef in clingfilm and refrigerate it for at least a day after it's been spread with its various additions. It will help everything set and hold its shape.

But don't forget to unwrap the plastic before you add pastry. Cooke says it's happened before – even in professional kitchens. A meat thermometer is essential to check it's cooked, but before you slice it with a sharp serrated knife, let the Wellington rest.

Or you could simply order the retro classic pre-assembled from butchers like Peter Bouchier or Meatsmith, of which chef Andrew McConnell is also a partner.

Meatsmith has served some type of pre-assembled beef and pastry creation since it opened in 2015, says Wheeler. But in the last year, Wellington sales have surged.

Wheeler thinks the appeal is a mix of convenience and nostalgia. "Most of us have a memory of a dinner party of our parents, where they had beef Wellington and drank port…It reminds me of a cold winter's night around the fire."

Wheeler likes to serve his with a red wine jus and either green salad or roasted carrots and parsnips. Nelson is also a red wine jus fan, but adds mashed potato.