Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Beef Rouladen – German Engineering You Can Eat

For something that looks and tastes as impressive as this beef rouladen, it’s actually one of the simplest stuffed meat recipes I know. Everything happens right on the meat, and after a quick roll and tie, we simmer in the gravy until tender. The beef and fixings flavor the sauce, the sauce flavors the beef, and everybody wins.

Regarding the meat, one of the great things about this technique, is that you can pretty much use any cheap cut of beef they have on sale. I used some round steak, but rump, chuck, flap meat, and other similar cuts will work.

Tell your butcher you’re making rouladen, and they will hook you up with what you need. If they’ve never heard of rouladen, then you should probably find another butcher. As I mentioned in the video, this can be scaled up to any size group. Just use a bigger pot, and the recipe will work as shown. I really hope you give this Rouladen recipe a try soon. Genießen!


Ingredients for 2 Beef Rouladen:
2 (about 1/4-inch thick) slices of cheap beef, about 6 ounces per slice. I used round, but rump, chuck, flap meat, and any other long cooking cuts will work.
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 strips pancetta or bacon
paprika to taste
sliced onion, as needed
6 slices dill pickle
1 tbsp vegetable oil
For the gravy:
2 tbsp butter, added to the pan drippings
1/4 cup flour
3 cups beef broth, veal, or chicken stock
salt to taste

35 comments:

meho said...

Hello Chef John!

carrots also taste good in Rouladen!

Greetings from Germany!

Meho

Anonymous said...

You're not a Dummkopf, I've never seen anyone eat Rouladen with mashed potatoes. We eat them with cooked potatoes and red cabbage. Kudos to you for knowing the mustard trick! My (German) grandma uses ham and really thick onion slices in hers, if you want to give that "pure" verion a try. No pickles where I come from!
Thanks for doing a German recipe that is actually delicicous and thanks for making me crave this classic! ;)

Unknown said...

My wife always tells me that: "I know nothing!!!" But I do know that Rouladen looks awesome.

Sincerely,

John Banner

Unknown said...

Thanks Chef John lovely dish.. can i put cheese in the roulade? if yes what kind of cheese you would recommend?

Unknown said...

Chef John, always liking your cooking style and recipes, I thought you'd like to know that once you put the pickle in it, it became an AUSTRIAN roulade, not German (there is a difference). Regards, John

Unknown said...

Looks great! Any chance you have a video for how to make the potatoes? Thanks.

TSRW said...

Hello Chef John!

Finally I have an excuse to wright to you – as if I need one, but it’s always better to have one than not…

Of course it’s about your Rouladen. Not only is it finally a German recipe, but it is also a great recipe! And – just for the record – it is almost the way my grandmother mad hers. So, good job on that. Traditionally, or better normally, you serve Roulade with red cabbage or Brussels sprouts (not so mine) and potatoes (boring) or better jet with Thüringer Klöße, or in English Thuringian dumplings.

Oh, and by the way: Roulades (in the 18th and 19th centuries from the French roll of rouler, "roll", borrowed) can either be filled rolls of thinly sliced Meat, Fish or cabbage leaves, which are in a Fund or a sauce Braised. An old recipe for veal rolls with celery can be found in the cookbook Le Cuisinier gascon 1740 published in Amsterdam. The bourgeois German recipes are roulade of veal, beef roulade and cabbage roulade filled with ground beef (they are also assume!). So, give them a try.

Best regards from Hamburg!
Thorsten

WolfyDaddy said...

I love rouladen, and I grew up with them as occasional special weekend dinners. My preference is to use one small whole pickle (preferably cornichons) for a crunchy pop of a bite.

Thanks for a very nice recipe. Guten Appetit!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Daniel Bottoms said...

Hi chef john,
In Austria there is also often small slice of carrot and celery and other types of root veg... and the sauce/gravy is a red-wine version. I've had your version in northern Germany though....

great recipe!!!
Greetings from Vienna!

Elisha said...

So if I buy a whole chuck roast, I could slice it thinly WITH the grain, then maybe pound it out a bit to make each slice smooth and level, and then we're good to go for this method? Fantastic! I supposed just adjust the cooking time and keep simmering until we reach the famous "fork-tender."
Anything to recommend using as a replacement for the bacon/pancetta for your Kosher eating audience? You said the fat and smokey flavor are necessary...

Lisa said...

Hi Chef John!

Thanks for making my food wish come true! :)
Just a little word from 'mama bear' and the 'underground': I know a little German delicatessen in Upland, CA that they say sells "rouladen beef cuts". I can't wait to try this recipe!

Unknown said...

I was a meat cutter in an other life. We packaged thin sliced top round steak for use as rouladen. It probably would not need to simmer as long. Some people also use flank steak but I can never flatten it thin enough. Although I love rump I don't really care for bottom round. Although technically from the same muscle, the rump has better (and more tasty) marbling.

Anonymous said...

What do you do with the extra gravy from Rouladen? I made your coq au vin last night and I had extra gravy too. I froze the extra but I don't know if it's allowed/what to do with it!!

Unknown said...

OMG I made a food wish and you granted it! thank you so much much Chef John. Your recipe is very similar to the way my mom used to make it with some subtle differences, speaking of which, I love that you put paprika on it. I can't wait to go home and try making this your way, then I'll let you know who's is better ;) Now if you could show me a homemade knudel recipe we could really eat this the way us huns do. Again thank you so much Chef John, you're my Hogans Hero.

Gandalf said...

"You are the kaiser of these rolls."

I think you have a big pre-production meditation before you make these vids to come up with that stuff, don't you?

:-)

Since I can't stand pickles, I'm going to use green-pepper slices dusted with dill and try that.

Clarmindcontrol said...

The butcher shop was closed by the time I got off work the other night, but I couldn't wait to make it. That's why I picked up some pork steaks at my local supermarket and followed the recipe to the letter. Quite remarkable!

Haaase said...

Sorry for being a foodnazi, but...
You've done everything right except the sauce.
Take a huge amount of chopped onions( the same amount as beef at least), put them in the pot and put them on low heat until glazed.
Then pour some( or a lot, whatever you like) red wine over the onions. Also some water. You can also use beef stock if you want. But actualy you don't need to.
Bring it to a simmer. Put a few sliced pices of carrot inside. Ad some salt, pepper paprika powder bay leafes and some juniper berries if you can buy them in the US.
Then put back the rouladen.
From this point you can follow your recipe again from the point the sauce was cooking.
If you cook the sauce long enough the onions will make a nice thick sauce. Give it a try.

jtillinghast79@gmail.com said...

Oh Myyyyy...I never even thought of pork steaks as a possibility! That is the best idea EVER. pork, mustard, bacon, onion, pepper, roll it up... YUM! (We have never done the pickle. My family is actually all Scots and this is an added recipe to us but beloved still the same- Just like Chef John) Thank you Chef for making me better in the kitchen, I truly hope you see this. You inspire me.

Chef John said...

I did see it. And you inspire me. :)

Unknown said...

Chef John! I trust your recipes to Heck and back, but for the authentic Chef John experience, I have to ask....what kind of bowl is this?! I see you use it all the time and I get all jelly my fiancé and I aren't eating out of them.
Many thanks!

Chef John said...

Just a cheap bowl I got at a local restaurant supply store! You should be able to easily find a similar design on Amazon I think. Rhanks!

Anonymous said...

Made a food wish for this and here it is, even with the requested removal of the medicinal red cabbage.
This is perfect with an unoaked red wine and a black forest cherry torte.
I prefer this with cornichons for texture "mini gherkins....shh

Anonymous said...

Hi there - friend of mine in CT pointed me to your YT channel - loving it. Eager to give this recipe a try - he was raving about it - and how much his family enjoyed it as well.

Gina Butler said...

Hi Chef, I just made this, tripled the rolls, doubled the gravy. My man spent several years in Germany and loved the food.Thanks to you I think I was able to give him a reminder of that. It is like nothing I've had before,truly delicious! Please keep doing what you're doing, you are awesome!

pittyom said...

Hi Chef John, greetings from Berlin!
Well, with pickles it is NOT only Austrian, but German as well, I grew up with it, the rub from my Mom is mustard, horsereddish, paprika powder, Cayenne, black pepper and tomato paste (mxed all together and spread onto the meat slice), then filled with Slice of bacon, pickled cucumber stick, a piece of red bell pepper and 1/4 onion (in ours is no carrot as others are claimingfor their recipes...).
to your cookie in the gravy: I know the gingersnap gravy, but not to the rouladen, but to Nuremburger Wuerstchen !!
Try the gravy, it is delicious!!! My Mom was from Mecklenburg.. she alwas said: in a real red cabbage you have to put 7 spices: sugar, salt, vinegar, pepper, clove, cinnamon,allspice

Unknown said...

My husband's (German grandmother) always had a bread stuffing in the rouladen. Season the meat, then lay the bacon, then the breadcrumbs mixed with mustard (the hotdog kind) and chopped onion. then a whole dill pickle. Roll up and bake in the oven. This made terrific leftovers, cold and sliced thinly.
Love your version better CJ. Thank you!

tonz0phun said...

Hey Chef John,

I made your rouladen for my family today (me, wife, 3 kids, my brother and both of my parents), so I did more than just 2! I followed your recipe exactly, well... almost. I added 1/2 cup of a German Riesling during the reduction stage. Ok, I admit, I also did my potatoes and red cabbage my own way. I'm sorry, I just like my roasted potatoes with turmeric, rosemary and lightly salted and peppered. My red cabbage was done with red wine, a quick splash of cooking sherry and German beer, then just cooked slowly until I liked how everything was tasting.

HUGE thanks for the recipe! If you're curious about how my meal turned out, which was awesome btw, I chronicled all that I did today! Check it out: https://imgur.com/a/VvdDj

Stefan said...

Chef John! I'm a huge fan! Just wanted to mention that mustard they use...(used to date a German and had this for dinner at her Mom's place many times (who hated me)... anyways the mustard they used was Löwensenf. But u may already know this- whatever! Lov ur channel man
-SJ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Düsseldorfer_Löwensenf

Unknown said...

I recently came across your videos and have been enjoying watching them. I decided to try your rouladen recipe. .having always wanting to try this dish but never had before. Our family doesn't eat pork so substituted turkey bacon. .. overall was a very tasty dinner. (Also attempted the fondant potatoes for the side dish). However as another poster had commented. .we had a lot of leftover gravy. .. our solution to this delicious problem? ... STEW.... we threw in some carrots onions celery and potatoes and mushrooms. .thinned it with some water. . Browned some stew meat and tossed it in. . Simmered for an hour and a half. . Best homemade stew I've ever had. .

Unknown said...

Very similar to how my German mom makes rouladen. We add carrots and onions to the gravy and serve it with spätzle.

Melanie said...

Hi! I made this today, with a slow cooker twist, and it was SO GOOD!

I prepped the meat last night. I used a small chuck roast, cut into 4 "layers". (I removed the fatty edge first.) I then pounded them out a bit to thin them a little and tenderize as well. I did all the seasoning, filling and tying, and then put them on a plate and wrapped it, then popped them in the fridge overnight.

(I did chicken out on the pickle slices, maybe I'll try that another day, lol.)

Then I got up this morning, browned them in the skillet, took them out and stuck them in the crock pot (6 qt oval) and made the gravy in the skillet, then poured it over the meat in the crock pot. I then set it to low and let it to cook until we got home from church, about 5 hours. Got home, turned it off, took them out to the platter to set up and fixed some quick sides and then we had lunch all done in about 15 minutes after getting home.

It was DELICIOUS! It just melted right in your mouth!

This is definitely going into the rotation.

Matthias said...

My Oma and Opa both taught me how to make this family favorite! I like your way with the onions spread out. We just do one big slice and pickle. Any stone ground mustard is good and as for the gravy you forgot the one main ingredient my grandmother ALWAYS used in any gravy and that is a little wine! And yes it is amazing with mashed potatoes!

Cheers!

Unknown said...

I don't want to be rude, but it's a polish classic nobilty food.

Rich from North Carolina said...

My mother made this all the time when I was growing up. She was born and raised in Bavaria and always made hers with Bavarian mustard (sweet) and sweet gherkins. And just like you, she used regular American style bacon. I believe there was some vinegar in her gravy because it always had a little sweet/sour taste to it.