Utahns have many traditions that make it onto the dinner table each holiday season. But if you’re thinking about ham or a turkey and casseroles, that’s not how the Pohlsander family of Millcreek rolls.
They bring a taste of Germany to their annual Christmas feast. Every year the family of five makes rouladen — a hearty and savory German delicacy that’s typically served on Christmas Day.
For the Pohlsanders, the recipe begins on the living room floor.
“The first thing we have to do is practice the recipe,” said dad Boyd.
The family rehearses the ingredients with an unconventional tableau. Boyd grabs a big blanket, places it on the carpet and picks one of the three kids: Grant, Ross or Saundra.
“We call the blanket one top round steak, thinly sliced,” he said.
Boyd puts Grant, the oldest child, on the blanket. Grant acts as “the juicy pickle,” one of the key ingredients in rouladen. His appendages serve as the other components of the dish.
“Then we take his [Grant's] arms and say ‘mustard, onion.’ And then we take his legs and say ‘two slices of bacon’,” Boyd explained.
Afterwards, Boyd rolls Grant up in the blanket.
“Now he's 17, so it's getting harder, but we do it,” Boyd said. “And then we put him underneath the Christmas tree and then we pepper him,” which is one of two seasonings used to prepare rouladen.
That process is repeated until all three kids are wrapped up like little burritos — or in this case, little rouladens stuffed under the massive, shimmering Christmas tree.
The living room is filled with laughter. All the kids know what’s coming and the strategy works because they all know the rouladen recipe by heart. It’s also one of mom Emily’s favorite parts of the tradition.
“It ritualized the recipe. So it wasn't just something we ate. It became something that we do as a family,” she said.
But the kitchen is where the real magic happens.
Rouladen has been in Boyd’s life for 45 years. His dad immigrated from Germany to America in 1947, two years after World War II ended, and he brought the recipe with him.
“This is a dish that my dad made that his mom made. I don't really know how that worked out during the war years. But it is something that is generations old,” Boyd said.
For him, it’s more than just a recipe – it’s a connection to his heritage. Growing up, Boyd recalls trying to learn more about his family history and Germany as a whole. But his dad was reluctant.
“He didn't really talk about it, because there's painful memories to that,” Boyd said. “And I also wanted to learn German and in a thick German accent, my dad said, ‘Now, son, you're an American. You'll speak English.’”
Boyd never learned the language, so cooking German classics with his family helps fill the gap.
There’s an assembly line in the kitchen. Boyd’s the only one allowed to handle the red meat. The rouladen cut is bought specially from the butcher shop. He lays out the raw thinly sliced top round steak and adds the seasoning salt and freshly ground pepper on top.
13-year-old Ross is in charge of adding the two strips of uncooked bacon across the steak because “bacon makes everything better.” Grant has the honor of placing one juicy dill pickle spear at the bottom end of the steak. Emily usually puts on the two slivers of onion before 9-year-old Saundra squirts on a horizontal line of stone ground mustard “because it’s delicious.”
After all six ingredients are placed on the steak, it’s time to “roll it up just like we did the kids,” Boyd said.
“So this juicy pickle will get it from one end to the other. And you roll it just as tight as you can, like rolling up a sleeping bag.”
Once the meat roll up is complete, Boyd ties it with butcher's twine in three places. It’s a critical step because if it’s not tied properly “the juicy pickle will fall out.”
The next step requires a frying pan and bacon grease or vegetable oil. Boyd heads over to the stove, turns the heat nearly all the way up and waits for the oil to begin crackling before placing the rouladen in the pan.
“The oil needs to be hot enough that when you put the meat in, you hear the sizzle,” Boyd said.
He sears the rolls on every side for about 90 seconds until “it's just on the edge of being burned.” After each rouladen has a nice, crisp sear, it’s time for the oven.
“We're going to place the rolls into a Dutch Oven and we're going to pour over prepared gravy until it covers the meat completely. We're going to put it in an oven preheated to 250 degrees and let it cook for six to eight hours.”
While the rouladen cooks, Emily prepares homemade mashed potatoes and red cabbage. In Germany, the dish is usually served with a dumpling-like side called spaetzle, but that’s not how it was prepared in Boyd’s childhood home.
“My mom's American. And because my dad did the meat, my mom did the potatoes. She was going to have American potatoes,” he said.
It’s definitely a dish that requires planning and patience, but it’s well worth the wait. The meat falls apart in your mouth. The gravy keeps everything moist. Emily describes it best.
“It's got sour; it's got acid; it's got sweet from the cabbage; it's got texture from the stone ground mustard. It's a flavor sensation,” she said.
The whole family looks forward to this once-a-year meal. But if Saundra had it her way, she would eat it “every holiday or every month or every week,” because “rouladen is the best thing in the world.”
While it will firmly stay a Christmas Day only dish, it’s recently taken on new meaning.
“My dad passed away last year at age 85, and so this has become a very special connection to him and to those Christmas traditions that he brought from Germany,” Boyd said. “And so it’s a way to pass it on to my kids. I can't teach them German, but I can teach them how to cook German food.”
And all the kids say will carry on the tradition for generations to come.
Editor’s Note: Emily Pohlsander is producer for Morning Edition on KUER.
—
The Pohlsanders' Rouladen Recipe:
For each serving:
1 thin-cut sirloin or rouladen-cut steak
2 strips of uncooked bacon
Dill pickle spear, cut in half lengthwise
2 narrow slivers of onion
Stone-ground mustard
Salt and pepper
Place the bacon side by side lengthwise along the steak. On the short end, place the pickle spear, the onion and 1-2 teaspoons of mustard.
Season the whole steak and filling with salt and pepper.
Starting at the pickle end, roll up the steak. Secure the rolled steak with butchers twine.
Sear each rolled steak on all sides.
Nestle the steaks together in a dutch oven and cover with beef gravy.
Cover and bake at 225 to 250 degrees for 6-8 hours.
