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Your best Runza recipe, please?

13 years ago

I've been using MIL's recipe all these years (DH grew up on), it's just ground beef, cabbage, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. A little on the bland side. He's requested them for dinner tonight and I want to season them up just a bit more. I don't want to change them too much from what he's used to, just a little more flavor. Worcetershire Sauce? Seasoning salt? How do you make yours?

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Comments (12)

triciae
13 years ago
No, No. Runzas/Beirocks are a traditional food so, IMO, you should not mess with the seasonings. They are a bit bland. I use a lot of black pepper. No garlic though.

I'm German-Russian and beirocks are my favorite food group! I also grew up with them.

/tricia
Teresa_MN
13 years ago
Tampering with MIL's recipe?????? I think that could be grounds for divorce! :-)

I actually had to look it up. Never heard of runza, however I have heard of bierocks. The first site that came up said "Anyone from Nebraska should know this recipe. I got this particular one from the Minnesotans for Nebraska website."

That made me laugh!
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angelaid
Original Author
13 years ago
I feel the same way about pasties. Dry and bland. And he loves the heck out of those things. I can't even choke them down. It's comfort food for him. Don't even try to doctor it up with seasonings or gravy. LOL
teresa_nc7
13 years ago
While I don't put any garlic in my bierocks, I do add a splash of W. sauce and I must put half a slice of American cheese on top of the meat mixture before I fold over the dough and seal them. I would not consider making them w/o that diagonal cut half slice of cheese!

Teresa
angelaid
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm going to try that with half of them tonight, Teresa! Good idea!
triciae
13 years ago
That's not a beirock though?

/t
angelaid
Original Author
13 years ago
Well, I'll munch on that half! LOL
TobyT
13 years ago
I made what was purported to be a traditional beirock recipe a while back - primarily to fill up my Dad's freezer with things that were easy to reheat. He likes "plain" food, so the blandness wasn't a problem, but there was quite a bit of sugar in the dough recipe. I cut it drastically, but are they typically made with a fairly sweet dough?
Jane
triciae
13 years ago
Jane, no, they aren't. At least not in my German-Russian family. I use a teaspoon of sugar in my dough recipe. The recipe makes 8 large beirocks (really large).

/tricia
TobyT
13 years ago
Good to know Tricia. It seemed odd to me at the time, but never having had them before, I wasn't sure.I just may make some this weekend, as my dad quite liked them.
Are you fasting in preparation for your banquet?
Jane
Lars
13 years ago
I think you could try serving them with some hot (or not so hot) chili sauce on the side so that you could have with or without. I definitely use chilies when I make stuffed cabbage, but I have not made Bierock, although I have made Pierogi (or Piroshki), which does not have cabbage, however.

My father liked his food very bland, and even my mother would complain if I made anything spicy. My mother grew up on German food, and my father grew up mostly on soul food, I think, since his family had a maid that did the cooking, and that's what she cooked.

Lars
doyles
13 years ago
Just found this thread. Runza was a pretty traditional food at my grandparents that were German Russian from the Volga area and my mother made it a lot for my grandfather. However, they never made it with hamburger. To my understanding beef was much more scarce and the Runza were made with leftover roast beef. They put the leftover beef through a hand grinder and used that in the Runza. As beef became more plentiful, my mom would braise a pot roast, separate the large pieces of fat and then grind the beef for the Runza. Hamburger seems to be the way Runza was made in the US. Online searches for recipes seems to only yield hamburger recipes. If you are a homemade Runza fan, I would encourage you to try it with Roast Beef instead of hamburger. The note on the sugar in the dough was consistent with the way my mom makes it as it was always a slightly sweet dough.

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