Polish Beef Roulade or Zrazy Zawijane
My husband is an amazing cook. He has brought into our kitchen all the tastes and dishes of his Polish homeland and his mother's kitchen. Although this dish is not exclusive to Poland, it is a dish that is served in the region.
There are many variations of this dish. Some people braise the meat in the oven and some use a crock pot. The ingredients that are wrapped up in the meat can vary as well. Like all recipes, you can feel free to adapt it to your taste and cooking style. Here is our version.
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 4 thin cut top round steaks
- 1 - 1 1/2 onions
- 4 slices bacon
- 8 - 10 cloves garlic
- 2 cucumbers in brine pickles, sliced lengthwise in half; We use the Krakus brand.
- 4 Tablespoons spicy brown mustard, (or more to taste)
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup dried mushrooms, reconstitued in water
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1/2 - 1 container button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced or chopped into chunks
Instructions
- Start by prepping your assembly line. Cut the pickles lengthwise in half. Slice the onion into strips. Clean up the garlic cloves. Cut the bacon strips in half. Put about a cup of dried mushrooms in a glass of water.
- Using a tenderizer, pound the meat until it is about a 1/4 inch thick.
- To assemble each roulade, first season the meat with salt and pepper. Then spread mustard on the entire surface. Starting on one end, lay a bacon strip across. On top of the bacon, lay the pickle, onions, and garlic. Keeping all of those ingredients inside, roll the beef until it is closed. Use toothpicks or string to keep each roulade closed.
- Heat some oil in a pan. Place the beef roulades into the pan to sear the meat. Turn the beef to brown on all sides. Add water to the pan if necessary, so that nothing burns.
- When the meat is browned, add the reconstitued mushrooms and the liquid from the glass. Add in some more of the the onion and put the remainder of the garlic cloves through a garlic press. Cover and simmer.
- After about 30 minutes, add in the rest of the onion, red pepper and mushrooms. Continue to simmer with a lid on the pan.
- Add water as the beef simmers, as necessary. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer for up to two hours. The larger the beef roulade, the longer it will need to cook. Smaller roulades may be done in 1 1/2 hours.
Serving Suggestion
The beef roulades are delicious served with mashed potatoes and beets or green beans.
Enjoy!
What Do You Think?
© 2012 Donna Hilbrandt
Comments
Thanks for that! I've cooked it first from my Polish memory and how I was learned by Mum (I used dill to the sauce, beef stock and wasn't using red pepper), after I served it for the first time to my English bf he asked me for English recipe and it's the closest one I could find as he want to share with his friends, perfect ☺
@Toby, It may look dry, however its look is deceiving. This kind of meat is really delicate, tender and easily falls apart in mouth. The key lies in sauce with flour that combines with meat encapsulating all the umami extracted from it. It's really smooth and a little bit slimy, binding well with meat and supplementing it.
This is dry as a bone!!! Blegh! Top round steak is a terrible choice for long cooking. It's too lean.
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Beef stock is a great idea. Thanks, Katherine!
I totally forgot about this recipe. I came upon your it via pinterest and it brought back SO many memories for me. They are current simmering and my family and I are so excited for dinner. One thing my mother did differently...she use beef stock instead of water to cover the roulades. That way there is lots of gravey! Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks, PegCole. It is a lovely meal. I hope you try it out.
This looks really tasty and your instructions are nicely detailed and easy to follow. I would never have imagined putting mustard as a base but it looks good. My Grandmother's family was from Poland and how I wish I could have learned to cook from her.
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Indian chef: maybe chicken? I recently decided to eat a vegetarian diet, so I won't be eating this anytime soon either. Thanks for reading :)
Looks good but being Hindu I am not allowed to eat beef, so can we substitute beef with any other meat.. Looks good and voted 5 stars.
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Kasman: Polish food is wonderful. I hope you try this recipe. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Pictures were making my mouth water donnah! I haven't tried too much polish food that I know of but I know that probably needs to change. I'm voting this up! Making me wanna go cook slabs of meat now.
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Thanks, ComfortB! He is a great cook. This recipe is quite easy to make, and it is delicious. Try it out!
Wow Donna, this is so unfair! You got me salivating over here, and I don't even like beef. Kudos to your husband, the cook!
Voted up and beautiful.
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Dwachira: he is indeed an amazing cook :) thank you!
Hi donnah75,
Looks yum! yum! I would like to try this Polish Beef Roulade recipe, the final dish looks delicious and i must say he is an amazing cook. Voted up, useful, pinned and shared.
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It is! All the credit to my husband on that one.
That looks so good and delicious! I will have to make this simple recipe :)
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Thanks, Rajan. It is delicious! I hope you like it.
It looks so good, Donna. Bookmarking to be tried later. Voted up, interesting and sharing. Also gave a 5 star rating.
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Thanks, unknown spy! I have been trying to stay away from meat (for awhile) in order to shed a few pounds, but if my husband makes this, I will likely give in :)
Yummy! makes me hungry all over again.
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Peggy: Thank you!!! I have to give most of the credit to my husband on this one. I simply observed, wrote the hub and took the photos. Oh, and I ate the dinner of course. If you try it, let me know how it turns out.
Oh my! This looks and sounds like it would be so delicious! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe with us. I gave it a 5 star rating and voted up, useful and even beautiful for that gorgeous dinner plate of food that was photographed. I haven't made a roulade in quite some time. Will have to correct that soon and try some of your ingredients.
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Thanks so much, unknon spy.
i think this is perfect. Mouth-watering recipe and detailed steps how to cook. 5 stars,
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It is an awesome dish and easy to make. You should try it. :)
This dish has all my husband's favorites - beef, bacon, and pickles :)
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Alocsin: Try it. It is delicious!
I've never heard of this dish but since it's all beef, I'm sure to enjoy it. Voting this Up and Useful.
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Thanks everyone.
Mhatter99: I think different cultures call this dish by different names.
NC4life078: Like I said, my husband is an amazing cook. He has taught me a lot. I knew there was such a concept, but I didn't know when it was put into practice until he showed me the way :)
It is apparent that I am no cook as looks are very decieving to me. But, I read the ingredients and it sounds wonderful. I enjoyed being taken through the process because I had no idea you "pulverize" meats for certain foods.
It is apparent that I am no cook as looks are very decieving to me. But, I read the ingredients and it sounds wonderful. I enjoyed being taken through the process because I had no idea you "pulverize" meats for certain foods.
Is that what they are called. we called them beef rollada. they are a great way to stretch you beef and to infuse vegetable into your diet. Thank you for this.
Thanks, sounds great.
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B in blogs: Thanks! It isn't quite that hot here, but maybe slightly too hot for this one. We were in the mood for it though. Thankfully we have air conditioning. Hope it cools down for you soon.
This dish looks delicious. I might try it when the weather cools down. But here in the armpit of the devil's backyard, it's too hot to cook anything until the temperature gets below a hundred degrees! Thanks for another cool looking dish!!
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Thanks, Bill. In hindsight, we would have made this last weekend to enter in the contest. Oh well, it was still delicious!
It looks delicious! I hope you did well in the recipe contest.
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