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Other available menus: 

Dairy Free

Gluten Free

Nut Free

Soy Free

Full Menu

Other available menus: 

Gluten Free

Vegetarian Menu

Nut Free

Soy Free

Full Menu

Other available menus: 

Dairy Free

Vegetarian Menu

Nut Free

Soy Free

Full Menu

Thank you so much for purchasing a Take & Bake Beef Wellington, now it’s time for the fun part, so put on your chef’s hat!

Equipment

• 1-2 eggs
• Kitchen Brush
• Bread Knife
• Thin Spatula

Procedure (About 50 Minutes)

• Preheat Your Oven to 400 degrees
• Crack and whisk 1-2 eggs.
• To give the pastry a great golden brown color, using a kitchen brush evenly apply the egg wash to the surface of the Wellington.
• Generously sprinkle salt to the top of the pastry, this will help the pastry crisp. You do not need to use all of the salt, we provide moer than is necessary.
• For a more professional look, you can take the sprig of rosemary and remove the needles placing them on top of the pastry.
• Place the pastry in the bottom rack of your oven using the aluminum pan it comes in.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes. (Make sure to remove the aluminum cover it comes with)
• Take the Wellington out, let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
• To remove the Wellington from the tray after cooking, use a thin spatula and carefully wedge underneath the pastry. With the spatula underneath the Wellington use your other hand (careful it’s hot) to guide it out.
• Using a bread knife, gently cut your Wellington, make sure to use small strokes and let the knife do the work.

Thank you so much, we sincerely hope you enjoy your meal, have a great Valentine’s Day!

Thank you so much for purchasing a Christmas Meal! It’s time to get your meals prepared, below are directions for the Prime Rib platters and Brisket platters!

Go to the bottom of the page for the Donation Meal Instructions! 

Prime Rib Meal

Prime Rib – We recommend removing the prime rib from the fridge up to a half hour before cooking. The goal is to have the meat reach room temperature before cooking it. Once the meat has reached near room temperature, remove the plastic wrap. place in a large pan with about a half inch of water (or beef stock). Wrap the entire dish in aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place in the oven until you reach your desired internal temperature. We recommend about 130-135 degrees for medium rare! After the meat has reached your desired internal temperature, let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes for best results.

For a small Prime Rib, please allow up to 2.5 hours for the entire process.

For a large Prime Rib, please allow up to 3.5 hours for the entire process.

Mac & Cheese – Place in a saucepan, bring stove to medium heat. Add butter and milk and stir until you reach your desired consistency. Continue to stir occasionally until you reach your ideal temperature (5-10 minutes).

Mashed Potatoes – Place in a saucepan over medium heat. Add milk and butter until you reach your desired consistency. Continue to stir occasionally until you reach your ideal temperature (5-10 minutes).

Gravy – Place in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally and pull off heat once you reach you desired temperature (3-6 minutes)

Sweet Potatoes – Place in a saucepan over medium heat. If you desire creamier consistency you can add a small amount of butter and stir. Continue to stir occasionally until you reach your ideal temperature (5-10 minutes).

Corncake – The corncake is completely fine to eat at room temperature, but if you to prefer to have it warmed up you can put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 5-10 minutes.

Donation Meal Kits

Each meal kit comes with:

• 1lb of turkey
• 1lb of Mashed Potatoes
• 1lb of Stuffing

Our recommended reheating instructions are as follows:

Each meal kit comes with:

• 1lb of Ham
• 1lb of Mashed Potatoes
• 1lb of Stuffing

Our recommended reheating instructions are as follows:

HAM – Place ham in skillet on medium heat, place a small bit of butter in pan and cook until you reach your desired temperature.

MASHED POTATOES – Place contents in a sauce pan, put on stove top. Mix in butter and milk as needed to reach a creamy consistency.

STUFFING – Place contents in an oven safe dish add 1/4 quarter cup of chicken stock (or water) and mix well. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

——

If you do not have access to an oven or all of the appropriate equipment, the microwave will work fine. We recommend using your own dishes in the microwave. Heat each item 30 seconds to a minute at a time or until you reach your desired temperature.

Each meal kit comes with:

• 1lb of Ham
• 1lb of Mashed Potatoes
• 1lb of Stuffing

Our recommended reheating instructions are as follows:

HAM – Place ham in skillet on medium heat, place a small bit of butter in pan and cook until you reach your desired temperature.

MASHED POTATOES – Place contents in a sauce pan, put on stove top. Mix in butter and milk as needed to reach a creamy consistency.

STUFFING – Place contents in an oven safe dish add 1/4 quarter cup of chicken stock (or water) and mix well. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

——

If you do not have access to an oven or all of the appropriate equipment, the microwave will work fine. We recommend using your own dishes in the microwave. Heat each item 30 seconds to a minute at a time or until you reach your desired temperature.

A perfect treat to try at home!

Ingredients:

• Honey Crisp apples 4/5
• 2 packs of thin cut bacon
• 1 3/4 cups Heavy Cream
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla

Directions

• Put bacon in the smoker at 250 for 30 minutes or until crispy.
• Place the bacon on a paper towel to get rid of as much of the grease as possible.
• Use a wooden stick to stab apples. Place apples in the fridge to stay cold.
• Mix Cream, Corn Syrup, Brown Sugar, Butter, and Salt in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Try your best not to stir; that will add bubbles to the caramel. Heat till 235 degrees. Pull off heat and add Vanilla. Let rest 10 minutes.
• Dip apples into the Carmel sauce covering it as much as you can. Roll in bacon bits or other toppings and let rest on a baking mat or Parchment paper.

**Things I learned** Candy thermometers help. Use a silicone mat or parchment paper to rest the apples after dipping. Dip those apples fast – Saddleback Co-Owner, Matt Gillett.

ENJOY

Occasionally you’ll get a cut of meat and it will be much darker than you’re used to. This is referred to as a ‘Dark Cutter’. So what causes meat to become dark?

Long term stress on an animal can cause the meat to become dark. A typical healthy animal stores energy in glycogen. When an animal is harvested it converts the glycogen to acid, meaning the meat will have a lower PH. This is normal. When an animal has undergone long term stress, it uses its stored glycogen, meaning the meat will not experience the same drop in PH when harvested. This will lead to a darker cut of meat and sometimes unpleasant taste.

*This is referring to meat being dark upon butchering. There are of course other factors that can lead to meat being dark, oxidization being just one.*

We learned most of this from this podcast, if you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend checking it out: https://bit.ly/312cs8F

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There are three main reasons meat will be tough:

1. Connective tissue (silver skin) – Connective tissue is a protein based structure, that is found inside the muscle and between the muscle and the skin. When it comes to areas with a high density of connective tissue you’ll notice the ‘silver skin’ on top of the meat. Although trimming this off with help with the tenderness of the meat, it will not solve the issue because most likely this is intramuscular fat and goes throughout the entire piece of meat. The best way to handle a cut like this is to slow cook it. Think of a brisket being smoked for 12 hours, the goal is to render the intramuscular fat to make it become tender. If you cook at a high temperature for a short duration the meat will stay tough.

2. Contracted Muscle – Processing an animal before it has reached rigor mortis will cause the meat to contract and become more tough. This is the idea of cooking an animal immediately after harvesting will lead to a worse end product. After the process of rigor mortis has occurred the meat will not contract when exposed to heat or being cut. Meaning, it will be much more tender.

3. Fat – The main aspect when it comes to fat is the amount of marbling. Marbling is the foremost factor when determining the grading of meat. This is how the USDA makes its grading scale for prime, choice, or select cuts, but that’s a different story for another day.

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A very popular technique in the BBQ community is to rub your ribs in mustard before applying your rub. It is said to help the rub adhere to the meat. This may be a turn off for some folks, the thought of ribs marinating in mustard may not sound the most pleasant. However, if you ever have the chance to try this method you’ll be surprised to find out it does nothing to the end taste of the ribs.

At Saddleback we do not rub in mustard before putting down our rub. We’ve found the rub sticks just fine to the meat without any mustard.

We’d love to hear from you if you are pro mustard, what are the advantages you’ve found?

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