German Beef Rouladen Recipe

Pilar - I didn't add pickle because I don't care for it, but will eat it if this recipe is made that way. It doesn't matter what kind of freakin' onion you use in the recipe either. And,... finally,... a little sour cream in the gravy never hurt anyone. I am German too, and I take offense to your critique. My mother is German, and this is basically how she makes it.

Wow this Rouladen are so wrong that ain't even funny I'm german and I never in my whole live heard of making them this way, Original Rouladen have pickles and red onions in it. Also there is no sour cream in those.

I have made this twice . The first time as directed , and found the meat rolls to be chewy , and the sauce a little bland . The second time after browning the meat rolls , I added a large sliced onion with the broth and water . Covered and simmered for 1 1/2 hrs. Did not strain , and after thickening the sauce , stirred in the sour cream , and simmered the meat rolls for about 10 more mins. Very tender and yummy . Thank you for sharing .

My boyfriend and I are German and love German foods. One of my boyfriends favorite German dishes is Rouladen so I searched to find a recipe to try to duplicate the one his mother made while he was a kid. I made a few changes becuase when I made the recipe as written the meat was extremely tough. These are the changes I made on my second attempt. I pound the round steak out to be around 1/4 inch thick. I brown the meat in the electric skillet on all sides. I add 2 C beef broth and then enough water to have the liquid line come up halfway up the meat. I simmered in the electric skillet on 250-275 degrees for 1 1/2- 2 hrs or until meat is tender. With these changes I've perfected this to our liking.

I usually pound my choice of steak then cut into 1 inch by 4 inch strips, salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder, spread yellow mustard, a strip of bacon on each, I use whichever onion I have available at the time but I don't dice it I use thin slices , then the pickle ( I like to use a good zesty garlic pickle spear), roll them up and tooth pick them. Brown in oil , then I add a 12 ounce beer and follow up with beef broth to cover the rouladen rolls. Simmer till tender. Once tender I remove the rolls and make a gravy using the broth left over. Then I make latkes ( potato cakes made from grated potatoes, eggs, and flour. Spoon gravy over the potato cakes and rouladen. Delicious !! My mother's family were German also. PS.... I have used sour cream in my gravy... it depends if I have it or not.

1.27.19 I didn’t have any sour cream on hand for the gravy, so I omitted it. Recipe doesn’t call for much anyway, so I didn’t ’t think it would be a game changer. Since I was looking for a rich beef gravy, I used all beef stock, no water. I had a few mushrooms in the fridge, so I sautéed them, and added after the gravy had thickened. I checked the rolls after 30 minutes, and they were not nearly tender enough (this is round steak, after all), so I ended up cooking for 1-1/4 hours at which time they were good-to-go. I added a little browning sauce (Kitchen Bouquet®) to get a richer, darker gravy for better eye appeal. That dijon mustard gave the beef rolls just a bit of tang, and the gravy was rich and robust, with just a hint of bacon. Served today with Red Cabbage (recipe on this site), sautéed fresh egg noodles, and freshly-cooked apples. My husband’s family has German roots, he is accustomed to German cuisine, and he gave this a thumbs up!

Hey DebbyO - My Mom is Austrian and we pretty much make it the same way as your recipe here except we do add half a pickle spear to each Roladen. We also cook it on low heat covered much longer so that the meat falls apart and yes my Mom always added sour cream to the sauce at the end. I like to make it by browning the beef rolls well on all sides removing them from the pan and then adding some mushrooms to the pan and once they have cooked to the right texture then I add the beef broth, deglaze the pan, and then the rest is pretty much the same as yours. It's all good and the fun part is playing with these old recipes and making them our own. :)

The beef round I bought was already thinner than the recipe called for but I still pounded it thinner to make sure it was tender and easy to roll. I did add pickles because I do like that combo. I also half cooked the bacon before adding it because I wanted to make sure it was fully cooked (I've had this before with flabby bacon inside - yuck). I loved the combo of the mustard, onions (I did use red), bacon and pickles. And the gravy - YUM! I liked the addition of the sour cream. It gave it a tang and smoothness. The only issue I had was that the simmering time didn't seem to be enough to make the beef tender. I think next time I will simmer it longer or maybe put it in a crock pot. Overall, super tasty and a definite make again recipe. P.S. to the commenter who said that this recipe was "wrong". The person who posted this did not say that this was a "traditional" German recipe. Simply her own rendition. Using pickles is a regional variation. And though I too prefer red onions with this, using white onions does not make it any less a rouladen. And if you are not happy with this recipe, choose another one on this website. There are quite a few that do include pickles.

I do not particularly care for bacon unless it is lean, crisp and drained of most fat. Thus I devised my own filling. I use approximately equal parts by weight of diced, preferably old, cheddar or similar, a diced hard boiled egg and diced fresh onions. I prepare this a day ahead by sauteing the onions golden brown, then add the cheese and eggs, stir it all until it forms a nice goo and let it cool to be used the next day. The next day I spread some Dijon mustard on the meat, my goo over that, add a thin slice of pickles, roll it all up (folding in the ends of the rolls) and secure it. This is a lot of work and I cannot be bothered to do that often. Accordingly I prepare a whole badge of these things, set aside those earmarked for immediate consumption, wrap the rest individually in saran and freeze them. The ones set aside, should be prepared as in this recipe, but simmered for AT LEAST 1½ hours. As I said rouladen meat is generally tough and you want it to "melt in your mouth". Oh, and another note: If you decide to go the route of my filling, make lots of it. Anything left over can be used as spread or condiment for all kinds of dishes. Good Luck

I would say this recipe is pretty authentic. My mother made this for special occasions and while she used pickles and uncooked, chopped bacon, I prefer to make mine using small pieces of sautéed bacon. All other ingredients are the same. To those who object to this recipe-bear in mind there are likely regional differences.

This was very tasty, but after 40 years of cooking, I can't follow just one recipe & I'm always looking for shortcuts! That said, I used only about 1/2 strip of bacon (cut into small pieces) per roll. I also added a small (cut) dill pickle spear in each roll, which is the way I'd had this dish in Germany once. I saved myself the (5 minutes?!) of making the gravy per the recipe. Instead of adding beef stock, water & corn starch, I used a jar of Heinz fat-free beef gravy, 8 oz. of mushrooms and about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard & simmered covered for about an hour. I added the sour cream to the gravy just before serving and it was EXcellent! My husband would have eaten about 5, but I convinced him to have some more Brussels sprouts instead! I will make this again ... thanks, Debby!

Ok. Standard but missing the main ingredient. The slice pickle!!!! Do as instructed and lay 3 piece of thin slice German type pickle than roll it. Also, pencheta is better than beacon.

I chopped the bacon up but used all the ingredients as listed in the recipe. The bacon flavors the broth to make the most scrumptious gravy. I will make this again and again. So tender it falls apart with a fork. Delicious!

It's missing the German pickle and bay leaf wrapped in the steak meat

Tenderized thin steak with sliced pickles, mustard, and onions rolled inside, then bacon wrapped. Salt and pepper only... Browned then covered then placed in Sour cream and served next to mashed potatoes. My Oma made this and won an award. It was my favorite dish.

Great framework for experienced cooks to freestyle from. I had an idea what I wanted because I bought round steak in a family pack on sale and was doing make-aheads. After I assembled the rolls and browned them, I used the oven low and slow at 300° for about 2 hours. The plan is that they'll be fall-apart tender to use over a starch (two meals so will vary) with a side of roasted brussels sprouts or carrots.

This is the second time I have made it. It is excellent with mashed potatoes and easy. I love the paprika, which gives it a little heat to the flavor.

Such a simple recipe with perfect results.

Very good,in Bochum are variation is well marbled top round ,thin,cooked onions teaspoon ,raw onions 1/2 teaspoon,precooked bacon chopped slices,drained,paint beef w yellow mustard,sm dash of powdered clove,salt and pepper

Seriously good, even better than expected.