There's a small Northwestern Oklahoman town grocer that had these once a week but you had to get there before they sold out. They offered them in a couple variations but they fill a dough and fry them so they had a fried pie texture which I'm not so crazy about. (love the filling though) My mother made these for our family in my youth, always cooked in her electric skillet and served on hamburger buns. This is one of my husband's favorites.
Bierox (Serves 4-6)
Serve in split hard rolls, on crackers or hamburger buns, in pita pocket bread or baked inside a bread dough or on tortillas.
1 lb ground beef or any 50/50 beef and ground pork, turkey or sausage
(some have used wild game mixed with with beef or pork)
1 large chopped onion, white or yellow
1 small or 1/2 a large head of red or green cabbage (or mix them), shredded or chopped (a bag of coleslaw mix, even with carrots, will work too for a fast shortcut)
1/2 cup very hot water
1 tsp beef bouillon crystals or one cube dissolved in the hot water
cracked black pepper to taste
salt to taste
Brown meat with onions, drain off excess grease. Stir in cabbage and beef flavored water, about 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Simmer/steam loosely covered until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste. I usually go heavier on the pepper but the bouillon is salty so more salt is not usually necessary.
Variations:
Add a cup of picante salsa before simmering cabbage and mix in 1 cup shredded monterey jack or cheddar/jack mix cheese after cabbage is done, blending until cheese is melted for a spicier cheese Bierox. (this is my favorite variation)
Add chopped hot peppers of your choice with the cabbage for spicy Bierox, cheese optional.
Add 1 cup or more monterey jack or cheddar/jack mix cheese when cabbage is done and stir in until melted for plain cheese Bierox.
Bierox Pinwheels: Spread well drained fully cooked mixture on a 12" x 9" rectangle made from thawed frozen or homemade bread loaf dough, roll up pinwheel style on the long side making a 12" long roll, pinch seam. With seam side down, slice in 1" thick rounds, place on a greased baking sheet and bake at bread recipe or package recommended temperature until well browned. Serve hot. You can use any meat mix variation for the filled dough Bierox but a drier mix is best. Monterey jack cheese does help to hold it together. Makes 12 1" rolls, two per person.
Bierox meat pies: Thaw a package of a dozen frozen yeast roll dough or make some fresh dough, flatten and roll out each roll size dough piece into a square or small rectangle, spread a generous amount of well drained fully cooked Bierox mixture on half of each square or rectangle, fold over and pinch edges to seal to make a meat pie. After making one or two, you'll know how much you can fit reasonably well in each pie. Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush each pie with melted butter and bake at temperature recommended on roll package or the recipe until the pies are brown. Remove from pan after a few moments and serve hot. Makes 12 small pies, 2 per person.
Bierox is obviously just beef, cabbage and onion served on any bread or cracker product so you can come up with hundreds of variations. Drained diced tomatoes & peppers (Rotel product as example) go well in it, so does adding a bit of frozen mexicorn, one or two bunches of green onions (cut in thin rings with kitchen shears) instead of white or yellow onions is good, use the green onion tops and bulbs. You can top the cooked meat mixture with biscuit or pie dough and bake it like a casserole if you like. It can be as fatty or as healthy as you want and it can be a one pan meal if you like.
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