The Coming of Winter... and Clbuttic Braised Beef Dishes 7663

There can be quite a few variations in how these are made. My father said his recipe was how his mother made them. Once I went behind my father's back and asked my aunt (his sister) how she made them. She gave me a somewhat different version and said it was exactly how her mother made them. Somehow things diverge over the years even though people say they are making things exactly how their parents did. I imagine both my father and my aunt slowly lost track of what changes they had made over the years (they were both in their 70s at the time I asked). My grandmother pbutted away over 30 years ago, so there was plenty of time to lose track of things.

I've actually been doing my browning in a separate frying pan on most of these dishes rather than in the dutch oven I use for the simmering step in the oven. A couple of reasons for that. The "dutch oven" I use is actually an old French porcelain enameled cast iron oval oven. I like the size of this one as it is easier to handle (maybe 4 quarts). I put the rouladen in two layers, as it really doesn't matter for the simmering step. For the browning I am using a big #10 cast iron frying pan, and depending what I am doing even that might require multiple batches for browning. That pan has a bigger bottom than the dutch oven and is easier to get into with the low sides. Plus it is not enameled, so I can heat it up real hot without worrying about damaging the porcelain enamel. And because it was my father's frying pan... and might even be my grandmother's. I imagine it's at least 50 years old. It's certainly been a while since pans used those size numbers (on American cast iron).

I'll have to try some of your suggestions, and then my version of my grandmother's recipe will diverge even further! ;-)