Has anyone made this from their pie book? Have looked at a few recipes and theirs says chill over night then cook but I wondered if the beef would be too cold as it only gets cooked for 40mins (although this is shorter than Gordon Ramsey's and his recipe has a larger piece of beef and cooks from chilled).
I want to do it for New Year's Eve dinner and could have a practise first but as there is only two of us normally it's a bit extravagant and a bit exp for a practise meal!

never cooked that specific recipe, however, cooking meat for a beed wellington from warm would mean the meat juices would be running out which would make your pastry soggy so you definitely need to cook from chilled.
you could bring the meat out of the fridge to bring up to room temperature again before cooking.
beef wellington should be served rare...if you prefer your meat cooked more another 10 minutes wouldnt hurt.

It needs to be chilled or the pastry will slip off the meat as the fat in the pastry  melts slowly.
It may be too rare at 40 mins but you can pre cook the meat for a while, cool then chill then start from their recipe.

If you just cook it longer from raw meat stage...the pastry will most likely burn a little.

That all makes sense. I defiantly want it rare which hairy bikers says it should be but I think I will cook slightly less. It does say sear on all sides then cool.

> normally it's a bit extravagant

Do invest in the best piece of meat you can get.  Tell a butcher what you want it for and he/she can help you decide what will be most suitable.  Rare beef is such a treat that you want to do it justice :)

I made a fish wellington once which was very different but very nice - I keep meaning to do it again sometime but I try not to eat too much pastry...

Yes, definitely sear it to give it some colour and seal the juices in.
im jealous...a good beef wellington is divine :-)