Rouladen

I wonder if there's any real difference between Austrian food and German food?  I'm guessing not much, I think each little village/region develops its own specialties.  In any case, I was talking to my friend, Mary Hansen about the wonderful things my German mother made while I was growing up.  I told her all about Rouladen and she actually went home this weekend and made some!  She said they were great, but she will use less pickles next time. Way to virtual travel!  Here's the recipe that's been passed down in my family.  Internet versions are quite similar and one of them claims that a serving has 999 calories.  Darn it, that's probably a conservative estimate.  :)

Get some thin cut flank steak or rump roast or any kind of beef roast and have the butcher cut it horizontally in about 1/4 inch thick slices.  Take the raw slices and spread them all over the counter driving the cats insane with longing.  Spread each piece with yellow mustard (spicy is fine too), salt and pepper each piece, top each slice of meat with a small slice of raw bacon, some slices of raw onion and a sliver of pickle (I like sweet, but dill is fine).  Roll up each piece of meat from the short end and tie it up like a present with sewing thread or thin twine (twine is easier to remove).  Then take an electric skillet and fry up the meat rolls with at least one whole stick of real butter--feel free to add more.  The big secret is to fry up the rolls really really really dark (Mom does it much darker than what is pictured here).  Once the rolls have absorbed all the butter and look as though they may burn, add a couple of cups of water to the skillet and keep cooking.  If you have time to babysit the skillet, keep this up all afternoon until dinnertime, adding two or three beef boullion cubes throughout the cooking time.  (Once the meat is good and dark, everything is cooked through and is edible, but the longer you let them simmer the more tender and delicious they will be).  If you'd rather not babysit, once everything is dark enough dump all the meat rolls into a crock pot.  Add water to the skillet and with a spatula scrape up all the meat drippings pour all of that in the crock pot too.  Just cover the rouladen with water.  Add three or four beef boullion cubes and put the pot on low.    At dinnertime fish out the rouladen and cut off the twine. Make the gravy by pouring all the liquid into a pan and thickening it with cornstarch.  Add more beef boullion cubes until the gravy tastes good and rich.   Serve the rouladen with mashed potatoes and plenty of the gravy.