roulade – Cook and Drink

How to Make a Roulade (part 2)

11 September 2025

Earlier we wrote about ‘butterflying’ meat, a technique that allows you to turn a bigger piece of meat into a roulade. Ideal for pork loin or turkey. But what to do when you have smaller pieces of meat and butterflying is not possible? Then it’s a matter of flattening the meat, for instance with a hammer. Better to ask your butcher to do it for you with the head (blade) of a butcher’s axe: easy, quick and a much better result. Thin is better!
Once you have flattened pieces of meat it’s a bit of a puzzle to create the roulade. Just give it a try and see what works best. When you think you have the right combination, make sure the kitchen twine is in place and the filling ready.
Obviously, you want to match the filling with the side dishes. We served the roulade with caponata and decided to make a filling with sage and thyme.

Wine Pairing

homemade roulade: chicken thighs, sage and pancetta. Served with caponata

We enjouyed a non-oaked Nero d’Avola from Sicily. The ruby red coloured wine has aromas of cherries and plum. The taste is fruity and long with subtle tannins. Great combination with the Mediterranean flavours in both the roulade and the caponata.

What You Need

4 Boneless Chicken Thighs
1 small Shallot
1 clove of Garlic
10 leaves of Sage
Thyme
Butter
Pancetta
Olive Oil
Lemon
Black Pepper

What You Do

Ask your butcher to flatten the chicken thighs
Chop the shallot and the garlic
De-vein the sage
Remove the thyme leaves from the stalk
Grate the butter
Add olive oil to a heavy iron skillet and gently fry the shallot
After a few minutes reduce the heat
Add garlic and thyme. Stir
Add some lemon juice
Allow the filling to cool
Put strings of kitchen twine on your work top
Decide on the pattern for the meat and put it on top of the kitchen twine. This way you can easily roll up the meat and tie the twine
Cover the meat with sage
Spread the mixture over the sage. Keep the edges free
Add grated butter
Cover with slices of pancetta
Roll up the meat
Tie with kitchen twine
Tightly wrap in plastic foil and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours
Remove the roulade from the refrigerator and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes
Preheat your oven to 180 °C or 350 °F
Remove the foil
Put the roulade on a rack (this way it will brown evenly)
Add water to the pan
Fry in the oven until the internal temperature is between 70 °C and 75 °C, or 160 °F and 165 °F
Transfer to your worktop, wrap in aluminium foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes
Serve with caponata

Homemade roulade: flattened chicken thighs, sage, pancetta, thyme, butter, shallot and garlic. The roulade is prepared in the oven on a rack. after 10 minutes resting it is served with caponata

How to Make a Roulade (Part 1)

10 July 2025

Butterflying meat is a technique that allows you to turn a thicker piece of meat (for instance pork tenderloin or turkey breast) into a piece that you can use to make a roulade, without damaging the texture. The first step is to slice the meat lengthwise, but not through and through. The second and third step are a bit more challenging: take your knife and half the meat, again lengthwise, from the centre to the right and then from the centre to the left. Basically, you have now quartered the meat but it still in one piece. Difficult? This helpful video shows you how to do it.
Some instructions stop after the first step and use a meat hammer to flatten the meat. Nice, but the result is not even close to the real thing.

Once the pork tenderloin is butterflied, it’s time to add the filling, on the outside. Sounds odd, but our butcher was right, if you fry the roulade inside-out, you get a much better result.

We have made pork tenderloin roulades with various fillings. This recipe is for a Mediterranean approach. You could also go for a spicy mixture with red pepper paste, garlic, onion, ginger and soy sauce.

Wine Pairing

In general both red and white wine can go very well with a roulade of pork tenderloin. It all depends on the filling. In case of this Mediterranean filling, we would suggest a more robust wine, for instance Syrah. This is a full-bodied red wine with medium to high levels of tannin. It has fruity flavors and a slightly peppery finish.
In case of a filling with red pepper paste, garlic, ginger and soy sauce you could pair the roulade with a more spicy red wine, for instance Zinfandel, or with a white wine with a touch of sweetness (Riesling, perhaps Viognier).

What You Need

Pork Tenderloin
Black garlic
Sage
Black Olives
Rosemary
Fennel Seed
Pancetta
Black Pepper

What You Do

Butterfly the meat
Devein and chop the sage
Halve the black olives
Crush the fennel seeds
Make a mixture of black garlic, sage, black olives, rosemary, fennel seed and black pepper. It should be a powerful mixture
Spread the mixture over the meat. Keep the edges free.
Cover with slices of pancetta.
Roll up the meat
Tie with kitchen twine
Tightly wrap in plastic foil and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours
Remove the roulade from the refrigerator and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes
Preheat your oven to 160 °C or 320 °F
Fry in the oven until the internal temperature is between 65 °C and 75 °C, or 145 °F and 165 °F (pink and well-done respectively)
Transfer to your worktop, wrap in aluminium foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes
Slice and serve on a warm plate, for instance with green peas, or pommes dauphinois, or a salad or ratatouille. Just think about the filling and be inspired!

butterflying meat allows you to create a roulade

Roulade of Turkey with Mushrooms and Chestnuts

13 January 2022

We love to eat this very tasty, juicy, rich combination during winter. We use meat from the leg of the turkey (the thigh) because it has lots of flavours and a great texture.
You could of course make your own chestnut butter, crème or spread; we prefer using Clément Faugier’s Chestnut Spread. It’s nutty, sweet (but not too sweet) and earthy.

Wine Pairing

A medium bodied, red wine will be a great accompaniment of the roulade. In general you’re looking for a red wine with aromas of black fruit, floral notes and delicate wood. The tannins should be soft or well-integrated. We enjoyed a glass of Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) as produced by Von der Mark-Walter. The winery is located in Baden, Germany, at the foothills of the Black Forest.

What You Need (Filling)

Shallot
Olive Oil
150 grams of Mushrooms
Thyme
Chestnut Spread
Black Pepper

Chop the shallot and glaze in a pan with olive oil for 5 minutes. Clean the mushrooms and cut into smaller chunks. Add the mushrooms and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Add a generous amount of thyme. Transfer from the pan and allow to cool. Once lukewarm, use a kitchen knife to create a lovely duxelles. Add a teaspoon of chestnut spread. Taste and adjust by adding more chestnut spread and black pepper.

What You Need (Roulade)

One Turkey Thigh
Pancetta or Bacon
Filling
Kitchen twine and needle
Butter
Olive Oil
Cream
Black Pepper
Brussels Sprouts
Nutmeg

Remove the bone (if any) and ‘unfold’ the meat by slicing the thicker part, making it longer. Make a strip of pancetta from left to right, without covering the lower and upper part of the meat. Put the filling on top of the strip and then spread it out, making sure the top and bottom remain not covered. Put 4 or 6 strings of kitchen twine underneath the roulade and start rolling. Not too tight. Use one longer string of kitchen twine to close the sides (so the two strings are at right angles to each other). You may need a needle to close the roulade. Wrap the roulade in plastic foil and keep in the refrigerator.
Ready to cook? Fry the roulade in lots of butter and olive oil to give it a nice colour and then transfer it to the oven at 160 ˚C or 320 ˚F. It’s ready when the centre has reached a temperature of 70 ˚C or 160 ˚F. Transfer from the oven and wrap in aluminium foil. Leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Add some chicken stock to the pan and deglaze. Transfer to the blender and create a smooth, thick sauce. Transfer back to the pan and leave on low heat. Add some cream, taste and leave for 10 minutes or so. In the mean time steam the Brussels sprouts. When ready coat with some olive oil.
Serve two or three slices of turkey roulade per person with the sauce and some Brussels sprouts. A touch of black pepper on the turkey and some fresh nutmeg on the sprouts.

One whole leg of turkey and one unfolded © cadwu

Roulade of Pheasant with Mushrooms and Steamed White Cabbage

27 November 2019

A Challenging Bird

Pheasant is not the simplest bird to prepare. It is too big to take the approach we prefer for partridge and it’s too low in fat to create a Faisan Rôti. The choice is between applying bacon on the outside and stuffing the bird. Both are not among our favourites: the bacon will overwhelm the taste of the pheasant and an old fashioned stuffing with chestnut, sausage meat, butter and onions is simply too much for us: we prefer a light, tasty cuisine. Our approach is to make a small roulade using the breast of pheasant. This is probably the driest part of the bird, but combining the meat with mushrooms will make it tender and moist. The mushrooms and thyme in the roulade support the delicate game-taste of the pheasant, making it into a most enjoyable dish for November and December.
Duxelles is an essential element of a Beef Wellington. We make a variation by using mushrooms, butter and thyme only. We don’t want the mushrooms too finely chopped, see picture, but feel free to give it more of a duxelles texture.
The right internal temperature for pheasant is between 60° and 65° Celsius (between 140° and 150° Fahrenheit). Best is to set your meat thermometer to 60° Celsius and allow the roulade to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. This way the meat will be lovely pink.

Wine Pairing

Both red and white are possible. The wine should not be too powerful, given the delicate taste of the pheasant. If you go for white, then Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc are a good choice. Given the white cabbage with cumin Riesling is also a nice idea. If red, then we would suggest a Beaujolais or a Pinot Noir.

What You Need

2 Fillets of Pheasant
For the Duxelles
- 150 grams of (Chestnut) Button Mushrooms
- 50 grams of Porcini
- Thyme
- Butter
- Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Crème Fraiche
Mustard
Chicken stock
For the Vegetables
- White cabbage
- Cumin
- Excellent Olive oil

What You Do

Clean and chop the mushrooms and add to a warm pan with butter. The idea is to reduce the volume of the mushrooms but not to fry them. This may take 20 minutes. Halfway add the thyme. Take two sheet of foil and put one below a fillet and one on top. The former skin side of the breast should be visible. We use a small bottle to flatten the fillet. This does not require a lot of strength and be careful not to create holes in the meat. You’re looking for doubling the size, so not as thin as the veal for a Wiener Schnitzel or a Scaloppini a la Milanese. Now figure out how to combine the two flattened fillets, making sure you have some overlap. Spread the mushrooms on top, roll it up and create the roulade. Wrap it in foil and transfer to the refrigerator, allowing for the flavours to integrate and the roulade to set.
Heat your oven to 120° Celsius (250° Fahrenheit). Warm a heavy iron pan, add some olive oil and gently colour the roulade. Then transfer to the oven, add some butter and wait until the centre has reached 60° Celsius. When the roulade is ready, wrap it in aluminium foil and let it rest. Make a sauce of the cooking juices, mustard, crème fraiche and perhaps some chicken stock. Steam the cabbage for five minutes, add excellent olive oil and crushed cumin seeds and mix. Add the sauce to a warm plate, slice the roulade and serve with the cabbage.

Pheasant in Amsterdam ©cadwu

Fillet of Pheasant © cadwu

Flattened Fillet of Pheasant © cadwu

Two Combined Fillets of Pheasant with Mushrooms © cadwu

Roulade of Pheasant © cadwu

Roulade of Pheasant with Steamed White Cabbage © cadwu

Roulade of Turkey with Chestnuts, served with Brussels Sprouts and Madeira Sauce

25 December 2018

Time to start cooking for friends!

This exciting dish is a combination of classic ingredients, things you love to eat in December: turkey, Brussels Sprouts and Chestnuts. Our version of Roulade of Turkey with Chestnuts, served with Brussels Sprouts and a Madeira Sauce is tasty, tender and juicy. The pancetta and the chestnuts in the roulade combine extremely well with the sprouts (tip of the day: steam Brussels sprouts, let cool and set aside. Warm butter gently in a skillet and add sprouts, crumbled chestnuts and slices of bacon or pancetta. Bit of nutmeg on top and a it’s ready to serve.)
The dish does require a bit of preparation, so make sure you start early or even better, start the day before.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our roulade with a bottle of 2016 Malbec, produced by Kaiken, Argentina. The wine comes with a hint of plum. It is soft, intense purple-red, has velvety tannins and is round in its taste. This combines very well with the sweetness of the chestnuts and the Madeira. In general you are looking for an intense but not overpowering red wine, one that is both soft and present.

What you need (Chestnut Butter)

250 grams of fresh Chestnuts
Butter

With a sharp knife make a cross in the chestnuts. It doesn’t really matter where you do this; it’s just to help you remove the outer shell later on. Wash the chestnuts and cook them for 10 minutes or so. Cool and remove the shell. Transfer back to a pan of water and cook them for another 30 minutes or so. Let cool and peel of the skin of the chestnuts. This requires patience! Blender half of the chestnuts with some butter until you have a nice, tasty chestnut butter.

What you need (filling)

350 grams of Chestnut Mushrooms
Olive Oil
Butter
50 grams of Pancetta
Cognac
Chestnut butter
Chestnuts

Clean the mushrooms and cut into smaller chunks. Fry the mushrooms for a few minutes and then add the very thinly sliced pancetta. Fry for another few minutes. Add the cognac and allow for the alcohol to evaporate. Crumble the chestnuts. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and combine with the chestnut butter and the crumbled chestnuts. Season with a bit of pepper. You will now have a dough like mixture of mushrooms and chestnuts. Let cool before using it.

What you need (Roulade of Turkey)

Two whole legs of Turkey
Pancetta
Filling
Kitchen twine and needle

Remove the bone from the legs and ‘unfold’ the meat, making it longer. Combine the two parts into one, making sure they are overlapping and that the meat on the outside is covered with skin. This can be a bit of a puzzle! Make a strip of pancetta from left to right, one-third from the bottom. Put the filling on top of the strip and then spread it out, making sure the top and bottom are not covered. Put 4 or 6 strings of kitchen twine underneath the roulade and start rolling. Not too tight. We closed the two sides of the roulade using a meat-stitching needle. After all, the filling needs to be inside the roulade. Wrap the roulade in plastic foil and keep in the refrigerator for 6 hours minimum.
Ready to cook? Fry the roulade to give it a nice colour and then transfer to an 180˚ Celsius oven. It’s ready when the centre has reached a temperature of 80˚ Celsius. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. In the mean time gently fry the steamed Brussels sprouts and in parallel create the Madeira sauce.

What you need (Madeira Sauce)

Chicken stock
Carrot
Thyme
Rosemary
Bay leaf
Madeira (medium dry Madeira is fine. Keep the dry Madeira as an aperitif)

Creating a true Madeira sauce actually requires a Sauce Espagnol (which is funny because Madeira is part of Portugal) but we take a short cut by pimping chicken stock. Cook the stock with a few slices of carrot, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. After 30 minutes you will have the most powerful chicken stock ever. Pass through a sieve. Combine Madeira, stock and the juices of the cooked Turkey in a pan, reduce the liquid for 10 minutes or so and then stir in two or three lumps of very cold butter.

Serve two slices of Turkey Roulade per person with the sauce and some Brussels sprouts. A touch of black pepper on the turkey and some fresh nutmeg (from Sri Lanka, of course!) on the sprouts.