German Burgers Recipes

BIEROCHEN (GERMAN CABBAGE BURGERS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Melt butter in skillet.
• Add beef, cabbage, and onion.
• Cook until cabbage is nearly done-- DO NOT BROWN.
• Drain, add salt and pepper to taste.
• Roll out, (with pin), each dinner roll.
• Place 2-3 heaping tablespoons of cabbage mixture on each roll.
• Bring corners together and pinch shut, (reforming the roll).
• Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until brown.
• Brush tops with melted butter as the rolls cool.

CABBAGE BURGERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide each loaf of frozen bread dough into 6 pieces, and roll into balls. Set aside.
• Crumble the ground beef into a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir until evenly browned. Drain off grease. Add the water, cabbage, onion, and garlic. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring as needed, until the cabbage is soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I like to use more pepper than salt. Drain off any excess liquids, and set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough balls into 5 inch (approximate) squares. Place about 3/4 cup of the cabbage burger into the center, fold the dough over, and pinch to seal. Place on a baking sheet with the seam side down.
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and brush with melted butter. Serve hot.

MOM'S ORIGINAL YEAST DOUGH FOR KRAUT BURGERS

Steps:

• Add yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar to warm water *see note
• Stirring add milk and oil to water mixture
• Mix about 2 cups of flour with the remainder of sugar and salt
• Add dry mixture to liquid mixture
• Mix with mixer until dough is elastic
• Put in enough flour to make bread dough form into a nice ball
• Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and knead (if you use a kitchen aid mixer instead let it mix on low speed 6-8 minutes and skip this step)
• Let dough rise while you make the meat and cabbage mixture

GERMAN HAMBURGERS (FRIKADELLEN)

Steps:

• Soak Kaiser roll in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. Drain, squeezing out excess water, and crumble into a large bowl.
• Mix crumbled roll with ground beef, ground pork, onion, parsley, egg, paprika, salt, and black pepper until well blended. Shape meat into large flattened meatballs.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; fry meatballs until browned and no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes per side.

ORIGINAL LAUER-KRAUT BURGERS

Steps:

• For the burger filling: Brown the ground chuck in a large skillet over medium heat, crumbling the meat pretty finely as it browns. Add the chopped onions and 1 teaspoon of the pepper. Cook the onion down a little, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage, sauerkraut, remaining 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Let the mixture cook, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how done you like the cabbage. Strain and let cool.
• For the dough: Put the yeast and sugar in a 4-cup measuring cup and add warm water to the 1-cup mark. Stir together and let sit until the yeast rises to twice its original size. Put the powdered milk in another 4-cup measuring cup and add water to the 2-cup mark. Stir together. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and shortening. Cut the shortening into the flour by hand. Next, make a well in the flour and add the eggs, yeast mixture and the powdered milk mixture to the flour. Work it all together until the dough comes away from the bowl (you may need a touch more flour or water). Oil the dough slightly on each side, cover and let rise, for 10 minutes. Pinch and let rise another 15 minutes.
• To assemble the Lauer-Kraut burgers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Lightly flour a work surface and put the dough on the flour. Begin to roll the dough as close to a rectangle as you can, roughly 24-by-30 inches. Once the dough is rolled out, cut the dough into squares, roughly 6-by-6 inches. Take a square of dough and roll it out a little bigger, roughly 8-by-8 inches. Turn the re-rolled square over and add a full cup of filling mixture into the middle of the dough. Bring the opposite corners of the square together, and then bring the other 2 opposite corners together. You should have all 4 corners drawn together. Pinch down the 4 seams of the dough. Once you pinch all the seams, push down slightly on the kraut burger. This will release extra air and help you find any place you missed sealing the kraut burger. Turn the sealed pocket over and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

BIEROCKS GERMAN HAMBURGER AND CABBAGE FILLED BUNS

Steps:

• 1. FILLING: In a large frying pan, cook the cabbage and onion together until the cabbage is completely softened and golden. ** This process can be hastened by adding a half-cup of water (or so) and covering the pan, but eventually cook all the liquid off before proceeding.
• 2. Season with salt and pepper.
• 3. In a separate pan, brown the hamburger and drain. ** Season with salt and pepper.
• 4. Mix the cabbage/onion with the hamburger thoroughly. ** You may complete this part of the recipe in advance, refrigerating until needed, or just before you are ready to assemble the rolls.
• 5. DOUGH: In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast.
• 6. In a saucepan heat milk, sugar, butter and salt just till warm (115-120 degrees F) and butter is almost melted; stir constantly.
• 7. Add to flour mixture; add eggs.
• 8. Beat at low speed for 1/2 minute, then three minutes at high speed.
• 9. Stir in as much remaining flour as you can mix in with a spoon.
• 10. Turn out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total).
• 11. Shape into a ball, and place in a greased bowl; turn once. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double (about 1 hour). Punch down and cover; let rest 10 minutes.
• 12. ASSEMBLY: Roll out the dough into a large rectangle, and a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
• 13. Cut into squares of 3 inches by 3 or 4 inches by 4.
• 14. By the spoonful, place some filling mixture into the center of each square, apportioning all of the mixture among the squares.
• 15. For each, bring the two opposite corner ends of the dough square up to meet one another, then do the same with remaining ends and pinch them (all 4) together with your fingers.
• 16. You will see that you now have open slits along the diagnals; pinch these together as well, making a seam of each. ** Water on your fingertips will facilitate them staying"glued" together.
• 17. The end product should be a square with a seam running from each corner to the center where all four are joined.
• 18. Set the squares on a baking sheet (if you had trouble keeping the seams closed, you can flip them over so that the seams are against the baking sheet, thereby keeping all the filling in place and making a nicer presentation).
• 19. Let raise 30 minutes. ** Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 °F for 30 minutes or until golden brown. When removing from the oven brush each bun with melted butter.

CLASSIC GERMAN HAMBURGERS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine ground beef, onion, parsley, eggs, seasonings and flour; mix well. Shape into six patties. Melt butter in a skillet; cook patties to desired doneness. Remove hamburgers to a serving platter and keep warm. , Cook onion rings in pan juices until soft and golden. Spoon onions and remaining cooking juices over hamburgers. Serve immediately.

CLASSIC GERMAN BURGERS

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients except butter and onion rings. Shape into patties. Melt butter in skillet over medium to med-high heat. Fry in melted butter until desired doneness, about 10-12 min per burger.
• Remove and keep warm. Fry onion rings in pan drippings until golden. Place burger on bun, with whatever condiments you like. Put fried onion on top of burger, enjoy!

BIEROCK

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef in one even layer, season the top with salt, pepper and paprika. Sear 2 minutes untouched to brown.
• Using a heat-proof spatula, chop up beef and stir. Top with cabbage and onion; sear 2 more minutes untouched. Continue chopping up beef, folding in the cabbage and onions; sear 3 more minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Open pizza dough onto a clean surface. Form a 12 by 14-inch rectangle, cut into 4 equal sized rectangles. Place a slice of cheese in the center of each rectangle.
• Mound a quarter of the beef mixture on top of each slice of cheese, fold each corner of the dough in to the middle, pinching seams shut with fingers.
• Place seam-side-down on sheet pan lined with parchment or nonstick baking mat. Bake 6 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees and bake 6 more minutes until golden crisp.