Rouladen

Germany — the dish appears throughout northern, central, and eastern German cookery; specific regional variations exist (Rhineland: red wine-braised; Thuringia: beer-braised; Berlin: topped with Spreewald gherkins); Sunday Rouladen with Rotkohl and Kartoffelklöße is the canonical German Sunday Braten combination

Germany's Sunday Braten classic — thin slices of beef topside or silverside, spread with mustard, topped with bacon, sliced onion, and a cornichon, rolled tightly and braised in dark beef stock and red wine until the collagen-rich connective tissue converts to gelatin and the thin beef becomes fork-tender — is the centrepiece of the German Sunday lunch tradition. Rouladen (singular: Roulade) requires the beef to be sliced very thin (4–5mm), which is done at a butcher; home slicing produces uneven thickness that results in uneven cooking. The filling combination of mustard-bacon-onion-cornichon produces a salt-savoury-acid-fat interior that bastes the beef from within during the long braise. The pan drippings produce a naturally thickened, deeply reduced dark sauce that is finished with cream or Senf (mustard) at the end.

The German Sunday Braten: served with Rotkohl (braised red cabbage), Kartoffelklöße (potato dumplings), and the dark reduced braising sauce; at extended family Sunday lunches in autumn and winter; pairs with a German Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) from Baden or the Ahr; the combination of the dark, savoury roll against the sweet-sour Rotkohl and starchy dumpling is the canonical flavour memory of German Sunday childhood