Ambrose Heath’s ‘Beef a la Wellington’ sandwich filling.
An incongruous enough combination but nonetheless good as well as intriguing. It is unclear from the 1948 original whether Heath uses cooked or raw beef. In Good Sandwiches & Picnic Dishes he describes “Minced cold beef” but his other recipes that include beef refer variously to ‘cooked,’ ‘boiled,’ roast’ or ‘rather underdone’ beef. The seasoning palette does resemble that typical of tartare to some extent. Either variation is good, even if we like the raw better than the cooked.
- 1 oz anchovy paste
- ¼ lb mashed good canned or jarred tuna packed in olive oil
- ½ lb minced beef (see the Notes)
- “a few minced olives”
- “a spoonful or two of chopped capers”
- 2 mashed hardcooked egg yolks
- salt and pepper
- hot sauce
- Worcestershire
Combine all the elements of the filling. The amount of seasoning is up to each cook.
Notes:
-As noted in the introduction as well, Heath calls for “minced cold beef.’ In Britain mincing beef is synonymous with grinding it, but as with steak tartare mincing the meat finely with a knife is worth the considerable effort because the texture is better.
-We have added the Worcestershire and hot sauce.
-By omitting the tuna a more nearly conventional combination would result. It is good too.