Roulladen and a near death experience

The way I make Roulladen is not exactly the same way as Oma makes it. But they taste ok too. Maybe we should create a recipe blogsite for Oma where she can share all our favorite recipes? What do you think?
Well...here goes for my roulladen...and no exact measurements...sorry...do everything by feeling :-)

Ingredients:
thin slices of beef (schnitzels are good or create your own..buy a roast and cut into large thin slices)
Mustard
salt and pepper
Onions - diced finely - absolutely heaps
Bacon - diced (optional)
Gerkin quartered (Dill cucumbers) (when you quarter, cut them into strips lengthwise)
stock cubes
bread crust
string to tie up (in germany you can get special roulladen spikes for this).

The thinner the slices of beef and the bigger the better. I take a large surface and spread out as many slices as fit. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Turn around and again sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then take a knife and spread each slice evenly with mustard (I use german mustard).
Then take a handfull of onions and spread on each slice
Then the bacon
Then in the middle stick a quarter strip of gerkin
Now roll up each piece of beef to make sure that the stuffing doesn't fall out (need to fold over the ends a bit if you can)
Then fasten the lot...with string unless you have the small metal skewers which are brilliant for the job. I have also used long strong toothpicks but they can become dangerous if not removed properly (have a story to tell...see below)
Now heat up some oil in a large frying pan and brown all roulladen all over.
Then place all the browned roulladen into a large pot or a casserole dish (they can be cooked in the oven which is better or on top of the stove where you must watch them more)
Pour water over the frying pan (when you finished browning) to dissolve all the tasty brown bits and pieces that have been left in there and then pour this hot water over the roulladen.
Add quite a bit of stock (use beef stock or cubes) and enough water to cover them.
Add a crust of brown bread (I got this from Mum I think but have no idea what it does)
And cook the lot for about an hour and a half. Either in oven or on stove top - if on stove top then turn down to simmer. If the stock level starts to drop..top it up. Pot has to be covered.
Once they are done I usually remove the roulladen and let them cool down. It is easier to remove the string or whatever you have used to bind them together when they are cold. If they are still hot they tend to break apart.
Now thicken the stock that remains in the pot. Put the roulladen back into the stock (I use cornflour to thicken). And heat up before serving...watch out that they don't burn!
ENJOY!

Messy and fiddly to make but DELICIOUS to eat.

Now for my story:

Once I made a large pot of roulladen when I was working as chief cook and bottlewash in the Kimberleys at the aboriginal mission. To tie the roulladen together I had these miniture sate sticks - size of toothpicks but with pointed sharp ends both ends. Very easy to use. I thought I had taken them all out before I served up. We would have the food all laid out in the kitchen and people would help themselves and then go into the dining room to eat. We all waited until the priest had sat down and said grace and then we hoed into the tucker.
My eyes happend to look up just in time to see a fork heavily overladen with a giant piece of roulladen, held by our priest, make its way into his widely open mouth. But the problem was there was one of those deadly skewers sticking out in front which I am sure would have killed him! I froze for a second (do you know that feeling when you want to yell out but can't - the words just won't come?) and then screamed out...STOP...I think everyone freaked out. Needless to say, we all examined the rest of the roulladen very carefully before consuming them. And that was my story. So string is safer I suggest! Just very messy to remove.