A Little Taste of Germany

My husband is German-American and tonight, I paid a little tribute to his German roots by cooking some of his favorite foods that he grew up with for our company who was visiting from California.  My mother-in-law is “famous” for her sausage rolls and bierocks, as they are known in Kansas, but they are also known as runzas or cabbage burgers  in other parts of the mid-west.  Bierocks are delicious meat pockets that look like a stuffed hamburger, with everything baked right inside the bun.  I can show you pictures, but because it is a family heirloom and treasure, and the recipe is heavily guarded, and I cannot divulge the actual recipe.

The filling – Ground beef, cabbage, onions, garlic and mushrooms.  One is vegetarian, made with vegan sausage, but otherwise the same.  One of our guests was vegetarian, so I made her some as well.  Cooking vegetarian isn’t any more difficult or challenging than  cooking non-vegetarian.

The Dough

The filled pockets, both meat and vegetarian, and the vegetarian sausage rolls as well before baking.  I used 2 types of vegetarian sausages.  One kind was a ground sausage that I used for the “meat” pockets, and then I used vegetarian sausage links for the sausage rolls.  I cooked them both the same way I cooked all the actual meat products, but of course I cooked them separately.

The finished bierocks and sausage rolls

Our welcoming spread that warmed our California guests who are not used to our wacky, unpredictable Colorado Spring weather.  Our complete meal consisted of both the bierocks and the sausage rolls; a corn, tomato, onion and basil salad; a red potato salad with a dill-mustard vinaigrette; the hazelnut brownies (you’ve seen them before); and a totally new creation for dessert (I will tell you more about that in my next post).    We also served a variety of wines and ports to round off the meal.  We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and of course, we all ate too much; again.