Nagi Maehashi, the acclaimed chef behind the popular "RecipeTin Eats" website and cookbooks, has expressed profound distress after one of her signature recipes, a beef Wellington, was used by convicted killer Erin Patterson to murder three people in a high-profile case in Australia. Patterson, 50, was found guilty on Monday, July 7, 2025, of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after serving a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home in July 2023.
During the trial, it was revealed that Patterson had based her deadly meal on Maehashi's recipe from her cookbook, Dinner. Following Patterson's guilty verdict, photos released by the Supreme Court of Victoria showed Maehashi's cookbook in the killer's home.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Tuesday, Maehashi described the situation as "upsetting," particularly because she had spent countless hours perfecting the beef Wellington recipe, creating it with the intention of bringing "joy and happiness." She conveyed her reluctance to discuss the matter further, stating, "Other than that, I have nothing to say and I won’t be talking to anyone. Thank you for respecting my privacy."
While Maehashi’s recipe specified cooking the beef Wellington as a log, Patterson testified that she made individual servings due to not finding the right cut of beef. The incident has drawn significant media attention, intertwining the culinary world with a tragic criminal case.