German Rinderrouladen and Potato Dumplings

This is my last German dinner post! Just to recap, each month I am choosing a country and then once a week cooking a meal from that country. January has been Germany. See my previous posts on this adventure here, here, and here!
 
It has been a very delicious and fun experiment so far. And as a bonus I have made a German dessert that I’ll be sharing with you on Thursday! I’m taking over Renny’s Recipes this week, so stay tuned.
 
Today’s dish is rinderrouladen and potato dumplings. Both of today’s recipes are from Germanfoods.org.

Rinderrouladen

A rouladen is a roll-up and a rinderrouladen is a beef roll-up. It’s so good you guys and I didn’t even make it right (I think)! I really was trying to make an original recipe for you here but I feel like it still needs perfecting. As such, I will just link you to one of the base recipes I used and tell you my tips for it. Hopefully in the future I can update this with the recipe. (Because I will be making this again.) It was so delicious!
 
It’s a really thin cut of beef round or chuck. I used bottom round and chuck to try them both. Then rolled up inside is bacon or ham, caramelized onions, and a pickle.  Then it's braised in beef stock for about an hour. I couldn't tell the difference between the two different cuts of meat.

My rouladen with gravy.

Here are my tips:

• Find a butcher to cut your meat really thin. Most recipes I saw called for between 1/16” and 1/8” thick. I feel like the thinner the better. My meat was closer to 1/8” and I felt the rouladen was bulkier than it should have been. I did try to flatten it a bit more, but I don’t have a meat mallet so I used the back of my metal ice cream scoop. It worked ok. But this brings me to my next point.
• Have “rectangular” shapes about 4’’ x 6-8’’. None of the recipes told me which way to put the filling and roll it up. But you need to be able to tuck the ends in to make a of pocket of meat. So I think it might be easier to put the stuffing in long-ways and roll it up. I dis it short ways and the roulade was very fat.
• Use bakers twine to tie it up. It will be so much easier. You may also want to use some toothpicks in the ends to help tuck them. I didn’t have string or toothpicks. I use giant skewers that I broke in half and weaved through the rouladen to try to hold it together and close the ends. While it worked it didn’t keep them tightly packed so they came out pretty big. (Big and DELICIOUS!)
• Add some grainy mustard before you put the bacon on. It takes the flavor to the next level. Trust me. It’s so good.
• Use a pickle even if you don’t like pickles. My husband hates pickles but actually liked it in the rouladen. Make at least one with a pickle and try it. (I did half with and half without and the pickle and mustard combo was my favorite).
• Judge how many onions you think you'll use. I most definitely did not use 2 whole onions. I used more like half of one onion, but if you roll it the other way you might fit more. Try it!
  

This could be a great thing to make for a special occasion, like Valentine’s Day at home, a birthday, or anniversary.. The meat can be kind of expensive so it’s not an everyday meal.

Potato Dumplings (Thüringer Klöße)

I have never in my life made dumplings, nor watched anyone make them. And though I have had these before and really liked them, mine turned out like weird mashed potatoes with toast stuffed inside. Also mine came out huge and only half the batch came out of the water in tact. I think watching a video of someone making these would have been beneficial for me.
 
Don’t get me wrong they were still good with the gravy, but I wished I had just made mashed potatoes. I’m calling it user error. I didn’t use the recipe I’m linking too, but I wish I had because it seems more detailed in the instructions.
 
Because I need to practice these more I have no tips for you. But if you try them let me know how they turn out. I found a mix for them on Amazon that I might have to try.

Have you tried any of the German recipes yet? Stay tuned for a German dessert on Thursday!