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Mama's German Beef Rouladen

This traditional German meal is a true labour of love! Tender meat is rolled around a filling of mustard, bacon, pickles, and onions, seared and then simmered in a flavourful braising liquid. Serve these with the gravy, potato dumplings or noodles, and red cabbage. Sunday Dinner or Company's Coming never tasted so good!
Course Main Course
Cuisine German
Keyword beef, beef rolls, rouladen
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings 8

Ingredients

Rouladen

  • 8 slices top round beef, usually about 4x7 inches in size and 1/4 inch thick (ask your butcher), gently pound the slices with a meat mallet until they're a little thinner than 1/6-1/4 inch (be careful not to pound holes into them) See Notes
  • 1/2 cup German or dijon mustard
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 slices lean bacon, sliced in half, see Notes
  • 1 medium onion, sliced lengthwise
  • 4-6 large garlic dill pickles, depending on how large they are, sliced into spears
  • 2 tbsp butter, or more as needed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil, or more as needed

Braising liquid

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 large celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 2 cups strong beef broth, or water, See Notes
  • 5 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sugar, more if needed at the end
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • cornstarch or flour dissolved in a little water for thickening, depending on how much gravy liquid there is you'll need about 1-2 tbsp of cornstarch in 2 tbsp of water

Instructions

Create Rouladen

  1. Lay the beef slices out on a work surface to form an assembly line. Have the narrowest part of each slice positioned at the bottom.
  2. Spread each beef slice with about 1 tablespoon of mustard and season with a salt and black pepper.
  3. Place a strip of bacon on each beef slice so it's running the same length as the beef.
  4. Place the two or three pickle spears and some sliced onions on the bottom third of each beef slice. Roll up the beef slices, tucking in the sides as best you can. Don't worry if the slices aren't wide enough to achieve this.
  5. Use butcher's twine to secure either end of the roll on the seam side of the roll, trimming the ends. See Notes

Sear

  1. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy Dutch oven or or large deep skillet with a lid over medium to medium high heat.

  2. Sear the rouladen in batches, browning well on all sides. Do not crowd rouladen in skillet, or they will not brown nicely. Add extra butter and oil if needed. Adjust the heat if the meat is scorching.

  3. Set the rouladen aside on a plate.

Braise

  1. Do not remove the browned bits in the bottom of the pan (that's flavour gold!)

  2. Add the onions to the pot and a little more butter or oil if needed. Cook the onions over medium heat until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
  4. Pour in the red wine, bring to a rolling boil for 3 minutes. Add the beef broth or water, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper.
  5. Nestle the beef rouladen in the pot. Add any accumulated juices back in as well. If the liquid doesn't almost cover the tops of the rouladen, top up with extra stock or water.

  6. Stovetop: Bring to a boil and then reduce and cover. You can cook the rouladen, covered, on the stovetop on low for about 90 minutes or until fork tender. Turn the rolls, moving ones from the bottom to the top so that they all cook evenly.

  7. Oven: Transfer the pot (make sure it's oven-safe) to the oven preheated to 325 F and cook it there for about 90 minutes or until fork tender.
  8. Remove rouladen to a platter.

Gravy

  1. Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer, and the return the liquid to the pot. Bring it to a rolling simmer, over medium to medium high heat.
  2. To thicken gravy, create a slurry by combining about 1 to 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a little cold water and stir it gently into the liquid, stirring, until slightly thickened. If it hasn't thickened to your liking, just repeat with a bit more cornstarch.
  3. Season gravy to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. If you feel the flavour needs balancing, feel free to add a bit more sugar, or mustard, or even a little sweet balsamic vinegar.
  4. Cut away the twine to serve rouladen, drizzled with gravy. Serve the rest of the gravy on the side.
  5. See blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

This is enough to feed eight people. Feel free to double the recipe so that you will have enough to freeze or for leftovers.
A butcher is your friend for getting the right meat cut properly. Depending on the cut, the size may be smaller or larger than stated. If they are on the larger side, then one per person is good. If smaller, then be prepared to make two per person.
I don't like a whole slice of bacon, I feel like it can get a little greasy. But if the bacon you are using is on the thinner or smaller side, use full rashers per roll.
Feel free to use toothpicks if you would rather, for securing the rolls. I don't like using toothpicks.
You can use beef stock, beef bouillon powder or paste, or even just water.
To use the slow cooker, after cooking the onions through wine, put everything into the slow cooker and cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-8 hours.
You can prepare the rouladen the day before up to the point of making the gravy. Store everything in an airtight container in the fridge. The next day re-heat over medium low heat, either in the oven or stove top until the meat is warmed through. Then remove the rouladen and make the gravy as described above.
To freeze: Take the cooled rouladen and liquid and place into freezer safe container(s) covered with the cooking liquid. Thaw, then warm through as described above, and then make the gravy. Or if the gravy is already made, then cover the cooled rouladen with the gravy and freeze.