This was a simple dish my Oma used to make all the time growing up. It was inexpensive and easy to make. The word roulade comes from the French and essentially is rolled meat. Many cultures in Europe have their own version of it, in Germany it’s called Roulanden.
It all starts with the cut of meat. You want to use thin round steaks and when I say thin, I’m talking about 1/5” thick. If you can’t get your butcher to cut it this way and you’re handy with a knife, you can do it yourself, usually by partially freezing the meats prior to slicing. Once you have the correct thickness you want to tenderize it and continue to thin and flatten it out as much as possible. The traditional German recipe calls for mustard, bacon, onions and pickles. I’ve omitted the pickles because my Oma never made it that way and in this I was trying to recreate her version as much as possible.
Anyway, salt and pepper your steak. Smear some mustard on the steak, just enough to lightly coat it. I suppose any old mustard will do (except the dreaded yellow mustard, because nobody needs to use that stuff!), I used a good Dijon mustard for my dish. Put a little of the bacon and raw onions on the steak. Next comes the tricky part. You want to roll everything up as tightly as you can, holding it all together with 2 toothpicks. Dredge the rolled meat in some flour just to lightly coat the exterior. Heat up your pan and melt around 2 tablespoons of butter, along with a drop or two of olive oil so the butter doesn’t burn. Brown the little rolled meats on all sides (or as many sides as you can, given the toothpicks). Remove from pot. De glaze the pot with a little beef stock and get up whatever little brown bits are at the bottom of the pot. Add the rolled meats back to the pot and add more beef stock until it almost covers the top of the meat. After bringing to boil, cover and simmer until the meat is fork tender, usually around an hour and a half. You can also cook these in the oven if you are making a lot of them. Line them up in a large casserole dish, add beef stock until almost covers meat, cover casserole dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for about hour. When they are done you will know because the meat just falls apart with a fork. At that point, take them out of the pot or casserole dish and get ready to add the thickening agent for the gravy. I use cornstarch because unlike flour, I don’t have to spend a lot of time cooking the flavor out of it. I usually eyeball it in a teacup, adding about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and just enough cold water to dissolve the cornstarch. Once that’s mixed I simmer the gravy and add it one spoonful at a time until the gravy reaches the appropriate thickness. Taste it and add salt and pepper if needed.
Traditionally my Oma would serve this with boiled white potatoes. I always felt they were a little too “vanilla” or boring, so I typically serve it with creamy mashed potatoes or spaetzle, a German noodle and then whatever vegetable you like.
Ingredients:
8 thinly sliced round steaks
4-6 slabs of bacon
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2-3 tablespoons mustard
salt & pepper to taste
Serves 4
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| Can't go wrong with bacon and onions |
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| Ideal thickness |
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| Ready to spread the mustard before wrapping with onion and bacon |
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| lightly floured and browning in oil |
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| Ready to close the lid and simmer until tender! |
