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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Kansas
Small leavened roll filled with seasoned ground beef, sautéed cabbage and onion, baked until golden. It came to Kansas with the Volga Germans in the late 19th century and is one of the dishes most closely associated with the state.
Traditional dish from Kansas
Also known as: bierocks, runza, krautburger
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Bierock — Kansas, the United States
A bierock is a filled roll: a soft yeast dough encloses a filling of ground beef sautéed with chopped cabbage, onion, salt and pepper, then baked until golden. It can be round or rectangular, and there are versions with sauerkraut, cheese or potato.
The recipe arrived in Kansas with the Volga Germans, settlers of German origin who had lived for more than a century along the Volga River in Russia and began migrating to the Great Plains in 1875 and 1876. Many settled in western Kansas around Hays and Victoria, where they built limestone churches such as the basilica known as the Cathedral of the Plains.
In families descended from those immigrants, bierock is a gathering food, alongside other recipes brought from Russia like dumpling soups and cukes. It’s made in large batches, frozen and reheated, and sold in bakeries, church bazaars and German heritage festivals.
The name’s origin is uncertain: one theory links it to börek, the filled pastry of Turkish tradition. In Nebraska, a similar filled roll is known as runza.
Yeast bread dough; filling of ground beef, cabbage, onion, salt and pepper, sometimes sauerkraut, cheese or potato.
By hand, hot or warm, as a meal or snack, sometimes with mustard.
Year-round; present at family gatherings, church bazaars and German heritage festivals.
Your questions
It’s a yeast roll filled with ground beef, cabbage and onion, baked in the oven. It’s typical of Kansas.
The Volga Germans, settlers of German origin who lived in Russia and began immigrating to Kansas from 1875.
They are very similar filled rolls. In Kansas the more common name is bierock; in Nebraska, runza.
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