Polish Beef Roulade or Zrazy Zawijane

I am a high school English teacher who is passionate about writing, theater, directing and enjoying a positive life with family and friends.

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

1. 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.
2. Using a tenderizer, pound the meat until it is about a 1/4 inch thick.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. After about 30 minutes, add in the rest of the onion, red pepper and mushrooms. Continue to simmer with a lid on the pan.
7. Add water as the beef simmers, as necessary. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
8. 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.

Pound the steak with a tenderizer.

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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

Monika on June 19, 2020:

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 ☺

Obito on August 09, 2018:

@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.

Toby on August 09, 2018:

This is dry as a bone!!! Blegh! Top round steak is a terrible choice for long cooking. It's too lean.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on November 03, 2014:

Beef stock is a great idea. Thanks, Katherine!

Katherine on November 02, 2014:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on February 07, 2014:

Thanks, PegCole. It is a lovely meal. I hope you try it out.

Peg Cole from Northeast of Dallas, Texas on February 07, 2014:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on May 07, 2013:

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 :)

Indian Chef from New Delhi India on May 07, 2013:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on April 17, 2013:

Kasman: Polish food is wonderful. I hope you try this recipe. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Kas from Bartlett, Tennessee on April 15, 2013:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on February 19, 2013:

Thanks, ComfortB! He is a great cook. This recipe is quite easy to make, and it is delicious. Try it out!

Comfort Babatola from Bonaire, GA, USA on February 18, 2013:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on February 18, 2013:

Dwachira: he is indeed an amazing cook :) thank you!

Danson Wachira from Nairobi, Kenya on February 18, 2013:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on February 11, 2013:

It is! All the credit to my husband on that one.

Sarah from USA on February 11, 2013:

That looks so good and delicious! I will have to make this simple recipe :)

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on February 10, 2013:

Thanks, Rajan. It is delicious! I hope you like it.

Rajan Singh Jolly from From Mumbai, presently in Jalandhar, INDIA. on February 10, 2013:

It looks so good, Donna. Bookmarking to be tried later. Voted up, interesting and sharing. Also gave a 5 star rating.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on October 08, 2012:

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 :)

Life Under Construction from Neverland on October 08, 2012:

Yummy! makes me hungry all over again.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on August 09, 2012:

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.

Peggy Woods from Houston, Texas on August 09, 2012:

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.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on August 06, 2012:

Thanks so much, unknon spy.

Life Under Construction from Neverland on August 05, 2012:

i think this is perfect. Mouth-watering recipe and detailed steps how to cook. 5 stars,

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on July 30, 2012:

It is an awesome dish and easy to make. You should try it. :)

GiblinGirl from New Jersey on July 30, 2012:

This dish has all my husband's favorites - beef, bacon, and pickles :)

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on July 02, 2012:

Alocsin: Try it. It is delicious!

Aurelio Locsin from Orange County, CA on July 02, 2012:

I've never heard of this dish but since it's all beef, I'm sure to enjoy it. Voting this Up and Useful.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on July 02, 2012:

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 :)

Nicoli Clause from United States of America on July 01, 2012:

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.

Nicoli Clause from United States of America on July 01, 2012:

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.

Martin Kloess from San Francisco on July 01, 2012:

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.

Johan Smulders from East London, South Africa on July 01, 2012:

Thanks, sounds great.

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on July 01, 2012:

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.

B in blogs from Alabama, USA on July 01, 2012:

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!!

Donna Hilbrandt (author) from Upstate New York on July 01, 2012:

Thanks, Bill. In hindsight, we would have made this last weekend to enter in the contest. Oh well, it was still delicious!

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on July 01, 2012:

It looks delicious! I hope you did well in the recipe contest.