Sparkle Kitchen: Bierocks
In this week’s At Home with Martin & Sylvia story “Visiting the New Baby”, Momma’s assistant, Amy, has just had a baby, and Martin and Sylvia can’t wait to see her. They do all sorts of things to get ready. They make cards and little fuzzy gifts, and plan out a nutritious meal. But nothing prepares them for the magical moment of seeing a new baby for the first time.
Having just had a new baby myself, I can relate to this story quite well. The wonder of greeting a new little soul just never gets old, and if you bring a hot meal you’ll be invited back to hold baby whenever you please.
While we appreciated all of the food and flowers that arrived in the wake of our daughter, the hands down favorite was a huge grocery sack of my friend Calley’s homemade bierocks.
A bierock (also called a “runza” in some parts of the world) is a meat-and-cabbage filed pocket pastry with Eastern European origins. They’re delicious, they’re filling, and they can totally be eaten one-handed.
Even if you aren’t helping feed a new family, you should give these a go. The number of bierocks this recipe will make varies depending on how big you make them, but basically you should plan on something in the neighborhood of a few dozen. No need to half the recipe though, if you wrap them individually in foil they freeze and re-heat beautifully.
We like to eat ours with a dab of horseradish sauce or Greek yogurt.
Calley’s Bierocks
Dough
2 pkgs yeast ½ cup warm water ½ tsp sugar 2 eggs 2 ¼ cups milk ½ cup butter ½ tsp salt ½ cup sugar 5-6 cups flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water with the sugar, and let it sit until it’s foamy. Add the eggs, milk, salt, sugar, and butter. Then add the flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Cover and let the dough rise for about an hour. Knead down the dough and let it rise again. Then roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick, and cut into 6-inch wide squares.
Filling
2 lbs ground beef (you can also sub sausage for some of the ground beef) 1 medium onion, chopped 3-4 lbs shredded cabbage salt and pepper
Cook the ground beef with half of the onion. Cook the cabbage with the other half of the onion until it’s translucent. Drain any fat off of the meat and any liquid off of the cabbage so that the filling is pretty dry. Add everything together and cook for 5 more minutes.
Assembly
Put 2-3 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center of each dough square, making sure that you can still pinch all four corners together in the center. Pinch the corners together to enclose the filling, flip the bierock over, and arrange it pinched side down on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are nicely browned.
Enjoy a few while they’re warm and delicious, then wrap the rest and freeze for later.
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About the Author
Meryl Carver-Allmond
The Sparkle Kitchen Series is created by Meryl Carver-Allmond.
Meryl lives in a hundred-year-old house near the prairie with her sweet husband, two preschoolers, one puppy, one gecko, and about ten chickens. While she's been writing since she could pick up a pen, in recent years she's discovered the joy of photography, too. She feels lucky to be able to combine those skills, along with a third passion — showing people that cooking for themselves can be healthy and fun — in her Sparkle Kitchen posts.
