German Beef Roulades

plate of sliced meat roulades with lots of sauce and parsley

5 from 9 votes

Beef roulades are a traditional German main dish. Learn how to make delicious roulades filled with onions, pickled cucumbers and bacon.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 50

Total Time2 20

Course: German Main Course

Cuisine: German

Servings:

Calories: 716kcal

Author: Adina

Equipment

Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot

Ingredients

Roulades:
4 thin beef slices/rouladen See note
2 onions
1 tablespoon butter
4-8 small pickled cucumbers/gherkins depending on size
2-3 teaspoons medium mustard
4-12 very thin bacon slices depending on size
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
some oil for brushing
Sauce:
2 onions
2 carrots
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup red wine
2 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 large garlic clove
2-3 sprigs thyme
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

US - EU

Instructions

Roulades:

Tenderize meat: Cut two pieces of plastic foil larger than the roulades and brush them with a bit of oil. Lay the roulades one at a time on one of the plastic foil pieces, cover them with the second piece and tenderize them using a flat object (I used a heavy saucepan with a handle, I “beat” the meat with the bottom of the saucepan). Set the beef slices aside.
Saute onions: Peel and halve the onions, then cut them into thin half circles. Melt the butter in a pan and cook the onions until nicely golden. Leave them to cool down slightly.
Fill: Brush each roulade with mustard. Place 1-3 very thin bacon pieces on the meat; it depends on how wide the bacon is; German bacon slices are very thin and narrow. Divide the onions into four portions and spread one part on each roulade. Place 1-2 small pickled cucumbers at the end of each beef slice.
Roll: Fold the long sides of the beef just a little bit over the filling so that it would not come out. Roll the meat starting at the end where the cucumber lies. Fix the roulades by sticking them with a special roulade needle (if you have any) or with a toothpick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on all sides.

Sauce:

Brown: Chop the onions and the carrots. Heat the oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Brown the roulades on all sides, take them out of the pot, and set them aside.
Saute onions: Place the onions and the carrots in the same pot and cook until the onions are golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Roux: Add the tomato paste and the sugar and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add the flour and continue cooking while stirring for another minute or two until the flour is slightly golden.
Add the red wine little by little (3 or 4 large splashes) and let it reduce before adding the following splash. Finally, add the last splash of wine, the beef broth, and the water, and bring everything to a boil.
Simmer: Place the roulades back into the Dutch oven, together with the finely chopped garlic clove and the thyme sprigs. Cover, turn the heat down, and simmer for about 1 ¼ hour. Remove the lid during the last 15 minutes of cooking time to allow the sauce to reduce.
Keep warm: Take the roulades out of the sauce, carefully remove the needles or toothpicks and keep them warm.
Cook the sauce down for about 10 minutes. You can leave the vegetables inside and blend the sauce smooth, this will thicken the sauce, but the sauce will not be that fine anymore. For a finer sauce, remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and reduce the sauce to the desired consistency.
Taste and add salt, if necessary. It might not be; it depends on the saltiness of the beef broth. Add pepper.
Reheat: Place the roulades back into the sauce and heat them again. Serve immediately as suggested above.

Notes

A slice of beef should be rather long, about 20-25 cm/ 8-10 inches, about 10-11 cm /4-4.5 inches wide, weighing between 160 g – 200 g/ 5.6 – 7 oz each.
You can use thin round steaks. Flatten them with a meat mallet, and if they are not long enough, layer two of them to get the length you need.

Nutrition