How to make German Beef Rouladen
German rouladen, with its pungent horseradish and tease of summer pickle, makes fine comfort food on any cold fall evening. Don't look for beef rouladen in the freezer case, though; it is a do-it-yourself project. Rouladen, boiled potatoes or spaetzle and red cabbage appear on traditional German holiday tables and Sunday dinners. Make them day ahead and refrigerate them, or cook and freeze them for future use. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 3 to 4 lb. thin-cut round steak
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
- Dusseldorf or other brown mustard
- 1 large onion
- 10 slices of thick bacon
- 1 large, whole dill pickle
- Salt and pepper
- Meat mallet and rolling pin
- Wax paper
- Round toothpicks
- Heavy skillet with lid
Instructions
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1
Cover a cutting board with waxed paper. Pound boneless round steak as thin as possible with a meat mallet - between 1/8- and 1/4 -inch thick. Make the thickness uniform with a heavy rolling pin and cut 3-inch by 6-inch strips out of the resulting sheet of beef. You should end up with eight to 10 strips.
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2
Cover the surface of each beef strip with a thin coating of mustard, using about 1 tbsp. for each strip.
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3
Cook the bacon strips until they are nearly crisp, drain them and lay one lengthwise along each beef strip. Remove bacon drippings except for a few tbsp., or enough to cover the bottom of the pan, and reserve the pan for cooking the rouladen.
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4
Cut the onion in half, and then slice the halves down into thin strings. Lay strings across the bacon strip on each slice, more or less to your taste. Salt and pepper the assembled beef strips to taste.
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5
On a second strip of waxed paper, slice the pickle lengthwise into thin slivers. Then roll each sliver in 1/4 cup of ground beef so that it resembles a 3-inch stuffed olive. Trim the pickle end so it shows but does not extend out of the roll.
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6
Set the ground beef roll across the end of a beef strip and roll the strip, securing it with a toothpick. Repeat with all of the rouladen.
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7
Heat the bacon drippings in the pan used to cook bacon and brown the rouladen quickly. Reduce heat to low. Gently add 1 cup of water or beef broth to the pan and cover. Cook on the stove top until the meat is tender, up to one hour and 30 minutes. Check frequently and add liquid when needed.
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Tips & Warnings
Use cooking liquid for gravy. Add more broth to deglaze and reduce until the mixture glistens. Add red wine for a rich taste and corn starch to thicken.
Cooking times vary according to the quality of meat; the outer part of the round contains more fat and the eye.
You can also stop after an hour of cooking, make gravy, and thne continue to cook the rouladen in the gravy over low heat for another hour.
Crumbled bacon and diced onion, may be used instead of strips.
Use butter or oil rather than bacon drippings for browning.
Roll rouladen firmly. Choose ground sirloin to avoid shrinkage.
Treat rouladen tenderly until they're cooked and hold their shape.
Use care when cooking and handling hot foods. Use pot holders and never add water suddenly to hot bacon grease as it can cause spattering that can burn your skin.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Michael Blann/Digital Vision/Getty Images
