Gee, I have to write it down? We've never written it down on paper... it's always been pbutted on by the spoken word! Or just by watching it being made.
First you'll have to put up with a story about the last time my father made it for me a few years ago before he pbutted away. There were a few complications getting the meat for it. My father was going blind, so could no longer drive to the store to get it himself. I guess he might have taken the bus if I wasn't visiting, but there was another problem. He couldn't see what the butcher was doing, so he wanted me there to be his eyes to make sure the meat was sliced right. But that wasn't the only difficulty! My parents lived in the Miami area, and the neighborhoods were becoming ever more ethnic. My father liked to shop in their markets, often small supermarkets that were once part of big chains, but that they abandoned and that were taken over by newer immigrants. So a lot of the help didn't speak English. Specifically, the butcher. He only spoke Spanish. Neither my father or I speak Spanish... not that it ever stopped us from doing things, including a wild car trip from NJ through Mexico into Belize and Guatemala in a new Peugeot Diesel back in 1974.
You can communicate through a lot of pointing, hand motions, using words that are in common, and keeping a smile on your face. In the case of getting the meat for the rouladen, having a copy of the newspaper ad, pointing to it and the meat in the case, using a lot of hand motions to indicate how much of the piece to leave whole and how much to cut into slices, and how thin all worked pretty well. I did feel really dumb there trying to help my father, not really knowing how thin he wanted the slices. The butcher held up the first slice or two for my approval on the thickness, and I nodded in agreement. When we got home and my father felt the thickness and size of the slices in his hands, he was pleased.
Now for the recipe. Excuse me if it isn't very specific in terms of amounts, but we've always done it based on the amount of meat we had.
Rouladen.
- Round, flank, chuck cut into cross grain slices 1-4" or so thick. You want a piece of meat that has a minimum of muscle separations so it tends not to come apart while during pounding, rolling, or cooking. Pound each slice to about 1-8" thick. I like to get the resulting slices as big as possible, perhaps 5" square or so. It depends a lot on the initial size of the chunk of meat before slicing. Unlike my father, I always do the slicing at home, as my local supermarket doesn't really do cut to order.
- Sprinkle each slice with salt and pepper. - Spread dijon mustard on each slice. - Lay down a half slice of bacon on each slice. - Spread some finely chopped onion on each slice. - Put either a whole little or lengthwise quarter of a larger dill pickle on each slice. - Roll up each slice and tie with string. - Dredge rolls in flour - Brown rolls in bacon drippings, oil, or other suitable fat. - Take out rolls and brown leftover chopped onion from filling plus another chopped onion. - Return rolls to pan and add enough stock to almost cover. - Heat on stovetop to simmer and cover - Either continue simmering on stovetop or transfer to oven at 300-325 degrees. - Simmer 1-1-2 to 2 hours or more until meat is tender. Longer is fine but make sure liquid level doesn't get too low. - When done, the gravy may or may not need thickening. Use normal methods such as reduction, etc. Correct seasoning as necessary.
My father always used black button thread and a lot of it to tie the rolls. I'm sure he contagioned us all (due to the dye)! ;-) It was fun as kids trying to find the correct end of the string and unravel it all. Sometimes my younger siblings would need help. I use normal cooking string and a minimum of it by comparison. You can use gadgets such as these rouladen rings to hold the rolls instead of string:
My father used to serve the rouladen with mashed potatoes. I serve it with spaetzle instead. Here's a quick recipe for spaetzle.
Spaetzle for six.
- 2 cups flour - 1-2 tsp salt - big dash nutmeg - big dash pepper (white if you prefer) - 2 eggs slightly beaten - Milk
Mix flour, salt, nutmeg, and pepper together. Add slightly beaten eggs. Slowly add milk until of a liquid enough consistency to pbutt through spaetzle maker.
Place spaetzle maker over pot of boiling water. Transfer batter into it and slide back and forth until all of it is in the boiling water. Cook for one minute after water returns to boil. Drain and butter if desired. A sample spaetzle maker of the type I use:
You can be really flexible on a lot of the details. The essense of this recipe is the beef, bacon, and onions. Those are the primary contributors to the flavor and smells. Other fillings can be used, wine or beer could be used instead of or in addition to the stock, etc.
