Monday, August 18, 2014

YOU SAY BEEROCKS, I SAY BIEROCKS!

What the heck is a bierock? Or for that matter a berrock, burek, or other names, it is a meat sandwich filled with ground beef, cabbage and other items a traditional food found in parts of Germany, Russia and Argentina. I first encountered these savory sandwiches my freshman year in College.  The cafeteria cooks for the dorm where I lived were German Mennonites and it was a special day when these were served. Most cultures have some type of a portable savory "sandwich." Growing up the special treat around our home was Cornish pasties my father would make.  We were of German heritage but he learned to make these wonderful little meat pies from his sister-in-law my adorable little Aunt Gert who learned from her English mother.
Once again, I do not have a recipe for these so I measured while I made these and will list my measurements. You can find these in the Midwest at a particular fast food restaurant and they make all kinds and add cheese, etc.  Berrocks can be found in the Fresno, California area at specialty food places, the County fair, etc. I had been making these for a long time before I saw my first recipe in a Sunset magazine cookbook.  Purists will probably just shake their heads when they see my recipe because I put diced potatoes in mine, no caraway seeds, no sausage, etc.  If you look online you will find many recipes, all a little different. I start out with good ground beef and brown the beef until almost done then add diced onions and cook for a bit and then add diced potatoes and cook until I am ready to add the seasoning - salt and pepper only and we like them with lots of pepper - my husband says when you think the pepper is right, add some more pepper, and I agree.  Finally add chopped cabbage and stir and when the cabbage is wilted you are ready to fill you little sandwiches.
 Ground beef, onions and potatoes...
Add your diced cabbage...
While browning the meat, etc. I put the dough in my mixer.  I used the same dough recipe that I recently posted - here is the link - dough.  Over the years I have used different recipes for the dough and some of the online recipes suggest using frozen bread dough, my dear SIL Babs makes wonderful berrocks using Bridgeford bread dough. I found this quick dough recipe to be perfect for making the bierocks. The dough is so easy to work with.  After you take it out of the mixer just flatten it into a square and cut into 12-14 pieces.
Fill them with approximately 1/3 cup of the filling, twisting the bottom to close.
Set them in a warm place and cover with a towel and let them rest for ten minutes.
Lightly brush them with a little olive oil and bake in a 350°oven for about 20 minutes, depending on your oven, you want them to be nice and brown but not overcooked. Serve with some coleslaw or a nice green salad and you have a meal.  They freeze wonderfully too.

My recipe:

2# good ground beef
3 cups diced potatoes
3 cups diced onions
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
salt, pepper, lots and lots (teehee, we like them peppery, personal choice)

1 recipe of dinner roll dough

Preheat oven to 350°

Cooks Note:
Since I did not have a recipe for this and always just eyeball everything - 2# of ground beef was a little too much for 14 bierocks so we saved the leftover filling and you can either freeze it for later or as in our case we are going to add shredded carrots to the filling and use it for tacos.

Thank you for stopping by.


2 comments:

  1. LOOK GREAT AND BET THEY TASTE DELICIOUS !!!!

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  2. They are good Anonymous but I bet the ones that you get to have are even better! Thank you for your nice comment. j.

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