Don't let the length of this recipe put you off! Practically everything can be done in advance. And, the individual steps are easy. But what a reward! This has been our Christmas Dinner for decades. It is the merger of two recipes: Julia Child's "The French Chef Cookbook", and a local restaurant that published their recipe in our local paper. Last year I made everything up in advance (except wrapping the beef in puff pastry) froze it, packed it in dry ice and hauled it to Colorado where two of our sons live. It was perfect!