Tag: runza

BIEROCKS: A GERMAN-RUSSIAN TREAT IN AMERICA

German Food, German Recipes

Bierocks. Sounds like a combination of a German beer festival and a rock concert. (That would actually be a good promo name for such an event!)
I had never heard of Bierocks until a German Life reader wrote to ask me about them. She was an American from Kansas, who had also lived in Germany, and she had just finished reading my new memoir-cookbook, T-Bone Whacks and Caviar Snacks: Cooking with Two Texans in Siberia and the Russian Far East. Her question: “The ethnic German-Russians in western Kansas and the Mennonites prepare a pie similar to pirozhki [in the cookbook], stuffed with ground beef or sausage, onion, and sauerkraut, that they call Bierocks. I had never heard that name in Germany. Do you have any idea of its origin?
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    German Bierock and Runza Awesomeness

    German Cookbook, German Recipes

    Bierocks are very popular amongst Midwesterners in the USA mainly because they are an easy to prepare recipe that was brought to America from Germany sometime in the 1800’s.Bier Rocks

    Courtesy of pinterest via:  Curious Cuisiniere

    The Bierock is comprised as a delicious yeast dough roll pocket sandwich with savory filling made up with a simple mixture of cooked ground beef, shredded cabbage, onions that is seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Carrots were also often used in this filling too on occassion.

    Bierocks are very popular amongst Midwesterners in the USA mainly because it’s easy to prepare recipe was brought to America from Germany and Eastern Europe.

    It was real staple food for native German-Russian Mennonite immigrants that settled in western and northern Kansas in the Volga Community as they assimilated into American culture.

    The word Bierock is pronounced often as “brock” or “brook” in parts of the state of Nebraska and widely pronounced another way as “beer-rock” in parts of western Kansas and Oklahoma.

    The state of Nebraska has another name for a Bierock. There the tasty little rolls of cooked meat, cabbage onions & spices are known popularly as a Runza’s.

    runza

    runza restIn fact a RUNZA is so popular in Nebraska that they started a very successful chain of fast food restaurants named after it to cater to it’s high demand.

    A few years back I attended a Nebraska football game in Lincoln versus Penn State.

     

    It was quite amazing to me to see that there were literally thousands of Runza’s being consumed at pregame parties all around Memorial Stadium. It was obviously a tradition.

    There were tailgaters making their own, to people that had just purchased them from the Runza restaurant just prior to coming to the game. There were also private vendors selling Runza’s from a hotdog karts too.

    runza nebraska

    You just suddenly get how traditional having a Runza can be once you cross the Nebraska state line.  Runza’s are indeed  king in Husker Nation.

    Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!

    Speaking of Kansas, the Runza’s there are known as Bierocks.

    Bierock Drive thru

    At this point, they may not have the fancy Brand or Restaurant image like the Runza’s do to the north… however their recipes are pretty much the same thing.

    Be sure to create some Bierock’s or Runza’s for you family today!

    They sure are tasty!

     

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