Nebraska’s Stuffed Beef Sandwiches
When I moved to Nebraska, I discovered many ethnic foods that I had never heard of before. A friend introduced me to this runza recipe, a German-Russian beef sandwich, and it quickly became a family favorite. —Dolly Croghan, Mead, Nebraska
Ingredients
- 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 2 large eggs
- FILLING:
- 2 pounds lean ground beef (90% lean)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 4 cups chopped cabbage
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Reviews
In Colorado we call these Cabbage Burgers.
My German mother-in-law taught me to make these. They are a German dish called Kraut Runza which means cabbage pockets. They are a family favorite. They can be frozen after baking, and are good cold as well as hot. I always serve a carrot and pineapple jello salad and apple pie with them. I've always made a batch up before I have surgery, as then all I have to do is warm them up in the microwave if I want something hot to eat.
My daughter and I make these, but we use frozen bread dough because I have issues with my hands. Also, when making that cabbage and beef mixture, I add 2 teaspoons of caraway seed. It's one of those ingredients that makes you go, "hmmm..."? I have a friend who has made these, and thought that they were dry. She added a small can of tomato sauce into the beef and cabbage mixture, and said that it helped. But to me, that would change the whole flavor. When I take these out of the oven, I brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle a few grains of coarse salt on top. Awesome!
these were excellent. Company also loved them. I added mozzarella cheese before I wrapped them. I could only put 1/2 cup of filling in each one. I couldn't roll them any bigger or they would get a hole in them. 1/2 cup worked fine. Next time I might try adding diced cooked potatoes (very small dice). These almost tasted like a pasty. I'll definitely make them again.
These are also good using drained sauerkraut in place of cabbage. My wife also liked to use her Tupper dough recipe.
I was wondering if I should leave the filling to cool before assembling?
My friend from Nebraska has made these for our Friday night get-together's for years. Runzas are wonderful comfort food! She used to make the dough from scratch but has started substituting frozen dough in the past 2-3 years because kneading the dough is hard with her arthritis. My advice for juicier Runzas is use around 80% lean hamburger and do not use slaw mix for the cabbage since it is a lot drier than fresh chopped cabbage, making the Runzas a lot drier. I've never had any with cheese but am willing to try them.
These are exactly like the Russian-German handpies my family makes called bierochs (bierocks), which I think are *almost* like a Runza. Whenever I make them, people are like "Why have I never had one of these before???" Super tasty and filling!. Some family insist on cheese, but the traditional I remember my grandma making were just ground beef cabbage.
My mom and I tried these tonight. I made half a batch. I found them tasty. Instead of buying a whole cabbage, I bought a package of coleslaw mix, so it made the recipe prep easy. My mom found the meat a bit dry. Next time I might add a tiny bit of water to the meat and cabbage to see if it adds some moisture.
I had never tried Runza before, but my neighbor was really craving them, so I tried making them for her. They are super tasty and she said better than she remembers having from family members. My only change was using earth balance margarine instead of shortening bc it's what I had on hand.