Stuffed meat is a fantastic meal because is rich in protein and you can combine it with some veggies. It’s a complete meal that gives you energy for the whole day and you can cook it in many ways!
What is the best cut of beef for stuffed meat?
The most common cuts of meat for filled are flank, sirloin and tenderloin. All of them need to slow cook in the oven because they have to be juicy and not dried out when you eat them.
Flank cuts don’t have bones but are flavorful despite their toughness, so they are perfect to roll with fillings. You just need to marinate the meat a few hours and then you can roll it and cook it in the oven. It’s usually served in round cuts, depending of the size portions you want.
Sirloin has a great flavor but it’s a little chewy. It’s ideal to cook slowly and at a low temperature in the oven, so you can make tenderloin wellington with this cut. Also, you can use it for ground beef and meatloafs.
Tenderloin cuts contain less connective tissue, which makes them tender and doesn´t required marinades as long as you don’t overcook the meat. To cook tenderloin you need to break down the beef, seasoning the cut, adding the stuffing and tying the tenderloin. Then, searing the meat and put it in the oven to finish cooking.
Another alternative is meatloaf filled and cooked in the oven. For this meal you need ground chuck and it’s another way to eat stuffed meat.
Recommendations for combinations and sauces for stuffed meat
If you want to stuff tenderloin wellington you can use cheese, mushrooms and some veggies like carrots and onions. The sauces that match best with this dish should have light flavors and light textures like vegetables creams or tomato sauce.
For meatloafs you can use stuffings like eggs, peppers and olives. The best sauces are worcestershire, chili or mustard. Meatloafs needs strong sauces to increase the flavor of the meat.
The best ingredients to combine with sirloin are veggies because the meat is a bit heavy, so the stuffing can make the dish lighter. Also, sweet food like fruits or dried fruits and nuts are perfect partners for sirloin.
For flank cuts common fillers are herbs and spices with cheese. Combine them with veggies garnishes and wine sauces.
Tenderloin beef wellington: a classic dish
This comforting classic gets a smart makeover with cheese and spinach filler.
The ingredients for this tenderloin wellington are:
- 1 tenderloin beef
- 1 sheet of butter puff pastry
- 5-6 slices of cheese for melting
- 500 g spinach
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
- plain flour, for dusting
- large knob of butter
- cheese
The instructions are:
- Season the meat.
- Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan until very hot, then sear and turn the tenderloin for 10 minutes until it’s well browned on all sides.
- Put the spinach in a pot with boiling water to wilt it and then squeeze the spinach as hard as you can to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Roll the pastry to a rectangle, trim the edges to neaten and then lightly brush the pastry with egg yolk.
- Put the layers of cheese and the spinach in all pastry.
- Carefully unwrap the beef parcel and lay in the middle of the pastry. Fold the shorter edges over the beef, then roll the whole thing around the fillet to encase. Chill for at least one hour.
- Heat the oven around 220C and roast for 10 mins, then reduce the oven to 180C and continue to cook for 30 minutes, making sure the pastry doesn’t burn. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with more egg yolk. Leave to rest for 10 mins.