Huntsville-Style Rouladen

Thin-pounded beef rolled around bacon, onion, and dill pickle, browned deep and braised low in a red wine gravy until fork-tender. A nod to Huntsville's German-transplant kitchens, finished the Southern way over a mountain of buttery mashed potatoes.

Serves 8 · as served on Bluesky ↗

Huntsville's got more German blood running through it than most folks realize, what with all those rocket engineers who landed at Redstone after the war and brought their mothers' recipes right along with their slide rules. Rouladen's the dish that stuck around longest — thin beef rolled tight around bacon, onion, and a good dill pickle, browned hard in the pot so it gets that deep color, then left alone to braise until it just about falls apart in its own wine gravy. I'm keeping the technique honest to the old country but plating it the way those transplanted families eventually did once they got used to an Alabama pantry: over a big mound of buttery mashed potatoes instead of spaetzle. The whole trick is patience — rush that braise and you've got tough meat and thin sauce, but give it the better part of an afternoon and the gravy pays you back double. This is the kind of Sunday dinner that makes the whole house smell like somebody loves you.

Ingredients

Fresh

• 8 slice top round beef, thin-sliced (pounded thin, about 3 lbs total)
• 2 yellow onion (thinly sliced, divided)
• 3 lb yukon gold potatoes (peeled and quartered)
• fresh parsley (chopped, for garnish)

Fridge

• 8 slice bacon
• 4 spear dill pickle spears (halved lengthwise)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
• ½ cup heavy cream

Pantry

• ½ cup whole grain mustard
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 cup beef broth
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (divided)

Spice rack

• kosher salt
• black pepper
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Lay the beef slices out flat on a cutting board, season both sides with kosher salt and black pepper, then spread the top of each with whole grain mustard.
2. Lay a strip of bacon, a few pieces of yellow onion, and a dill pickle strip onto each piece of beef, roll it up tight, and secure with a toothpick or kitchen string.
3. Season the rolls with a little more kosher salt and black pepper, then dredge them in half of the all-purpose flour.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the rolls on all sides, then set them aside on a plate. ⏱ 8 min
5. Add the remaining yellow onion to the pot and cook until soft, then stir in the tomato paste. ⏱ 5 min
6. Pour in the dry red wine and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
7. Return the rolls to the pot, add the beef broth and bay leaves, bring to a simmer, cover, and braise until the beef is fork-tender. ⏱ 1 hr 30 min
8. Meanwhile, boil the yukon gold potatoes in salted water until tender, then drain. ⏱ 18 min
9. Mash the potatoes with half of the unsalted butter and the heavy cream, then season with kosher salt.
10. Lift the rouladen out of the pot, whisk the remaining all-purpose flour into the remaining unsalted butter to make a paste, then whisk that into the simmering braising liquid until the gravy thickens. ⏱ 5 min
11. Remove the toothpicks from the rolls, return them to the gravy to coat, then spoon everything over the mashed potatoes and finish with a scatter of fresh parsley.

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