Beef roulades are our Sunday classic: 4 large roulades, bacon, onions, mustard and pickled gherkins inside, then gently cooked in the Varoma for 75 minutes. The sauce comes together at the same time from red wine, stock and root vegetables directly in the mixing bowl. While the roulades cook on top, the sides cook below. 85 minutes total, only 15 minutes of active work. A classic three-tier dish, made possible by the Thermomix®.
We make roulades for family gatherings (birthdays, confirmations, Christmas), for Sunday lunch with the grandparents and whenever a classic German braised dish is called for. 4 roulades for 4 people often leaves leftovers that taste even better the next day.
Beef Roulades with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 20 ✓
- 1 onion
- 50 g carrot
- 2 pickled gherkins
- 5 g clarified butter
- 50 g diced bacon finely chopped
- 4 beef roulades
- 4 tsp medium-hot mustard
- salt
- freshly ground pepper
- sweet paprika
- 1 onion
- 5 g clarified butter
- 20 g tomato puree
- 800 g beef stock
- 200 g red wine
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- salt
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions 0 / 8
-
1
Chop the vegetables.
Peel the onion, halve it and place in the mixing bowl. Peel the carrots, remove the top, cut into pieces and add along with the halved pickled gherkins.
-
2
Sweat the vegetables and bacon.
Chop for 5 sec / speed 5, add the clarified butter and diced bacon and steam for 3 min / Varoma / reverse direction / speed 1.
-
3
Season and spread the roulades.
Spread the roulades out slightly, season with salt, pepper and paprika, spread 1 tsp of mustard over each one and distribute the filling on top.
-
4
Roll up the roulades.
Fold in the sides of each roulade, roll up, secure with a cocktail stick and place in the Varoma.
-
5
Sweat the onion and tomato puree.
Peel the onion, halve it, chop for 5 sec / speed 5 and scrape down with the spatula. Add the clarified butter and tomato puree and steam for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
-
6
Add the sauce ingredients and cook.
Add the beef stock, red wine, thyme and bay leaf, place the Varoma on top and cook for 1 hour 10 minutes / Varoma / speed 2.
-
7
Thicken the sauce.
Remove the Varoma, take out the bay leaf, add the cornflour and season with salt and pepper as needed, then blend for 10 sec / speed 8.
-
8
Serve.
Arrange the beef roulades on plates and serve with the sauce.
Tip: Feel free to vary the filling to your own taste. Pretty much every German grandmother has her own secret recipe for the best beef roulades.
Video
Nutrition per serving
The right cut of meat makes all the difference
Classic roulades are cut from the topside, a lean piece from the hindquarter. The slices need to be about 1 cm thick, 15 cm wide and 25 cm long. We always ask the butcher specifically for topside roulades. Pre-packaged supermarket roulades are often too thin (5 mm) and tear when you roll them. Organic roulades from grass-fed beef taste more intense but cost around 25% more.
Pork roulades are often mentioned as an alternative on recipe sites. We stick with beef, because only beef roulades have the typical deep, rich braised flavour. The German Federal Information Centre for Agriculture defines the German roulade explicitly as a beef dish.
The filling is sacred: bacon, onion, mustard, gherkin
Per roulade: 1 tsp medium-hot mustard, 2 rashers of streaky bacon, 1 tbsp diced onion, half a pickled gherkin. Spread the mustard thinly over the whole roulade first. It adds flavour and helps the filling stay in place. Layer the bacon, onion and gherkin across the width so you get a nice cross-section when you slice.
Roll the roulades without cocktail sticks if possible, as sticks can block the Varoma steam. Tie with kitchen string or use roulade pins instead. String is easier to remove when serving.
The sauce comes together in the mixing bowl at the same time
Chop 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1/4 celeriac and 1 parsley root for 5 sec at speed 5. Add 1 tbsp tomato puree and 2 tbsp oil, roast for 5 min at 120 degrees C at speed 1. Then add 250 ml red wine, 500 ml beef stock, 1 bay leaf, 2 allspice berries and 4 juniper berries. Place the prepared roulades in the Varoma with a little space between them, set the Varoma in place and cook for 60 min at Varoma speed 1.
While the roulades cook on top, the flavours from below infuse the sauce. After 60 minutes, remove the roulades and keep warm. Blend the sauce for 5 min at speed 5, then thicken with cornflour. The result is a rich, dark brown sauce without any separate browning step.
Sides on the third tier
Place 4 medium potatoes (cut into eighths) in the steaming basket, which sits in the mixing bowl directly above the sauce. In the Varoma tray alongside the roulades there is room for 300 g of red cabbage strips. Meat, sides and sauce all cook in one go. Far more energy-efficient than three separate pots.
Five roulade variations to mix things up
Rhineland-style roulade (with prunes, apple and raisins), Bavarian variation (with pretzel stuffing and parsley), Italian involtini (ham, sage and Parmesan), Swedish variation (anchovies, capers and breadcrumb butter), vegetarian (aubergine slices, feta, tomato and spinach).
What goes well with roulades
Classic alongside our homemade red cabbage and potato dumplings. For sauce lovers: try our Spaetzle. More German classics and more Sunday dishes can be found in our collections.
Goes well with: Red cabbage and mashed potatoes.
