A number of years ago we used to take motorcycle trips to a small German town about 100 miles west of us. There is a restaurant there we loved stopping at and their specialty was traditional German cuisine. I fell in love with the Rouladen they served and it was my staple dish when we stopped. The week before Labor Day Tracy and I went out there for a 3-day trip for me to chauffeur her around to visit a bunch of the world-class wineries that have been developed in that area. One night we went back to the restaurant that we loved only to be hugely disappointed. Ordered the Rouladen and it was horrible...to the point of being inedible. I still wanted one though so decided to make them. Did some reading to find the common denominators for the dish and set about creating it.
Started out putting together a potato casserole of sorts. Taters layered in with salt, pepper, a drizzle of EVOO, and sliced Cooper sharp white cheese then a splash of heavy cream on top
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Defrost the skirt steak and cut it in half
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Pound it out with the meat mallet, cover it with spicy German mustard, bacon, pickles, and diced onions
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Roll them up, tie them off, and into a pan with a little EVOO to sear them
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After being seared
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Add onions, carrots, and celery then deglaze the pan with red wine. You want to get all the crunchies off the bottom to incorporate into the gravy, which is coming later
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Add beef broth and put the Rouladens back in to simmer for a while. I covered the pan for this step
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After simmering, remove the Rouladens, strain the broth, put it back in the pan sans the veggies, and add heavy cream
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Thicken the broth into gravy with a corn starch slurry and put the Rouladens back in to simmer more and develop flavors from the gravy
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Potato casserole was cooked on the grill and is done. Cooked for a while with the lid on to soften the potatoes then uncovered to brown up the cheese
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Plated: Rouladens smothered with gravy, the potato casserole, and some kraut
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Sliced shot
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Come to find out from our good friend
@Steve H ,the addition of the pickles is more of a regional thing and more commonly seen in Southern Germany. His wife is from Northern Germany so I'm strongly of the impression she knows what she's talking about
These are typically made with thinly sliced beef but skirt steak was the best I could do. In summary, the flavor of the Rouladen was outstanding!! The cheese in the potato casserole came to me via
@chef jimmyj in a recent exchange we did and it is some of the best cheese we've ever had. We love it and the casserole was extremely good. The star of the show however was that gravy. I've never had such a deep, rich, spicy, and flavorful gravy in all my life. The Rouladens could ave simmered a bit longer to get a tad more tender. They weren't tough by any means, just not as tender as they should have been. The addition of the pickles was fantastic and the flavors melded beautifully. Next time though I'll use thinner slices of pickles. They were a bit flavor forward. Using thinner slices will also make it easier to roll the things up. The big slices kept wanting to slide forward and mush out the front. Last critique was the kraut. We both love it but along with the pickles there was too much "sour". Recommend serving a less tart side dish. All in all a great meal but more importantly, a great learning experience. The next round I'll leave myself more time and they will be exceptional.
Thanks once again for sticking this one out. It was a superb meal that some folks might enjoy creating. Stay safe, be well, and we will see y'all again soon.
Robert
