Rouladen

This beef rouladen recipe comes from my Grandma Mary, and it’s a childhood favourite. Tender beef rolls full of smoky bacon, onions, and dill pickles are slow-braised till melt-in-your-mouth tender, delivering large taste from easy components and essentially the most unbelievable gravy.

What’s Rouladen? German beef rouladen is thin-sliced beef unfold with mustard, rolled up with bacon, onions, and a dill pickle, then slow-braised till tender and served with brown gravy.
Taste: Savory and sturdy with out feeling heavy. Sluggish braising softens the meat and mellows the onions, whereas mustard and pickles hold the flavour vivid and energetic.
Why Make It: This basic German dish combines on a regular basis, easy components for layers of mouthwatering taste. It’s top-of-the-line consolation meals of all time (and it’s a dish my Polish grandmother and mother made usually)!
Serving Solutions: Serve with mashed potatoes or cooked macaroni like my grandma at all times did. Or it may be paired with spätzle, egg noodles, potato dumplings, child potatoes, or braised red cabbage (rotkohl).

Beef round , pickles , bacon , onion , mustard , salt and pepper with labels to make Beef Rouladen

Selecting the Proper Components

Beef Spherical or Flank Steak: Select skinny slices of prime spherical steak or flank steak, 8 to 10 inches lengthy, 4.5 inches vast, and ¼-inch thick. In my space, I discover beef labeled “Rouladen,” or you possibly can ask the butcher to thinly slice steaks. If utilizing spherical steaks, you could have to layer two to get a 10-inch size.
Mustard: My grandma at all times unfold ready yellow mustard on the meat. For a sharper taste use Dijon mustard as a substitute.
Bacon: Use raw bacon; it provides smoky taste and retains the meat moist.
Pickle: Our household makes use of dill pickles (not candy) within the heart of the rouladen. Keep in mind to maintain a number of the juice for the gravy. The acidity from the pickle tenderizes the meat and provides numerous taste together with the bacon.
Gravy: This recipe makes use of beef broth with a little bit of dill pickle juice. My mother at all times added a can of mushrooms with the juices, so I add them in as nicely. The juices are later used to make the sauce or gravy for serving. Whereas some recipes add a little bit of purple wine, my Grandma saved it easy. You possibly can add additional onions to the gravy and a rib of celery and carrot when you’d like for taste. Discard the carrot/celery earlier than thickening the gravy.

adding ingredients on beef slices to make Beef Rouladen

Beef rouladen being rolled up on a marble board

The way to Make Rouladen

Gently pound the meat to tenderize (full recipe under).
Prime with mustard, bacon, and onions, and roll round a pickle, then safe.
Brown the surface. Add broth and a splash of pickle juice. Simmer.
Thicken the juices with flour or a cornstarch slurry to make gravy.

close up of beef rouladen on a white plate with mashed potatoes and gravy

Pound the meat with a meat mallet evenly so it cooks on the identical fee and rolls simply.
For one of the best browning, keep away from overcrowding the pot.
Braise lined to maintain the rolls tender and stop the sauce from lowering too rapidly.
If the gravy will get too thick, add a splash of broth or water to loosen it.
Make forward as much as 24 hours; the rolls reheat nicely, and the flavour deepens in a single day.

Acquired Leftovers?

Rouladen tastes nice the following day! You may as well chop up the leftovers and add them to a soup!

It may also be ready and frozen both earlier than or after cooking. Merely put together as directed, place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze. As soon as frozen, switch to a freezer bag or air-tight container. To take pleasure in from frozen, thaw within the fridge in a single day and prepare dinner as directed within the recipe.

Consolation Dinners with Unimaginable Gravy

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image of Everyday Comfort cookbook by Holly Nilsson of Spend With Pennies plus text

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook dinner Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Complete Time 2 hours 10 minutes

Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Place the meat slices on a slicing board and gently pound with a meat tenderizer to ¼-inch thickness.
Unfold a skinny layer of mustard over every slice and season with salt and pepper.
Add a slice of bacon to every piece of beef and prime with onions and a dill pickle.
Roll every rouladen jelly-roll type and safe with toothpicks or kitchen twine.
In a Dutch oven, warmth the butter over medium warmth. Add the meat rolls and brown on both sides.
Add the meat broth to the Dutch oven, scraping up any brown bits within the backside of the pan. Add the canned mushrooms with juices if utilizing and ¼ cup pickle juice (and further onions if desired). Cowl and roast 90-120 minutes or till fork-tender.

To Make Gravy

Switch the rouladen to a plate and canopy with foil to maintain heat, leaving the juices within the Dutch oven.
Warmth juices over medium-high warmth till boiling, ensuring to scrape up any brown bits. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of chilly water. Slowly add the cornstarch combination to the boiling broth whereas whisking to attain the specified thickness. It’s possible you’ll not want the entire cornstarch combination.
Serve rouladen over mashed potatoes or elbow macaroni with gravy.

*Beef ought to be about 8-10 inches lengthy, 4.5-inches vast and ¼-inch thick. If the meat strips aren’t lengthy sufficient, it’s okay to overlap two shorter items a bit.
I choose to roast prepare dinner beef rouladen within the oven however it may be lined and gently simmered on the range for about 45-55 minutes or till tender.
Retailer leftovers in a lined container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. Reheat within the oven or within the microwave till heated by means of.

Diet info offered is an estimate and can fluctuate based mostly on cooking strategies and types of components used.

Course Beef, Dinner, Entree, Major Course

Delicacies German

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