theyellowhobbit

Rachel: you're here, right?
levana_b: no, im at home
levana_b: i left today
Rachel: :(
Rachel: so you can't see me
levana_b: no, i cant
Rachel: and you can't eat my deli roll
levana_b: no, i cant
levana_b: i dont think we know each other well enough for that

In order to know what deli roll is, you have to experience it, by eating it, and ideally by baking it as well. Here's my standard recepie, as posted to the hillel newsgroup:

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This is my famous recepie, which is really Ari Levine's recepie, so all credit goes to him.

You will need:
Deli meat [preferrably real meat. do you really want to use turkey deli? come on!!!! and if you use vegetarian meat you know you're a kofer. it's assur to use fake meat.]
filo dough [I usually use kinneret puff pastry dough. it's easy, and I like it]
mustard
barbeque sauce
tin foil or a cooking sheet of some sort
a spoon or knife


0. let filo dough thaw for an hour before you start at least. Generally I forget this step, and heat it up in a microwave. this is time-consuming, but it works just as well. but only for the kinneret dough. the athen's stuff is crackley and wrapped in plastic, so it can't be unrolled unless it has thawed, and it can't be heated in a microwave. so watch out.

1. Preheat the oven. I usually have it on 450, but high rise ovens are really annoying. Maybe 400 for a normal oven. but 450 works. If you turn it on before you start cooking, you should be fine.

2. Spread out tin foil or lay down cooking sheet. If your cooking sheet is treif, then you should not use it. If it's questionably treif, like apparently mine is, use the tin foil instead. it's easier. no dishes involved!

3.lay out the filo dough. if it's like the athen's type unroll it, since it's one big many-layered piece. if it's the kinneret type, arrange the squares in a 2 x 4 pattern, connecting them together by presseng the dough.

3. Spread a generous layer of BBQ sauce. This is so essential. You NEED BBQ sauce. Otherwise your deli roll will be so comepletely inferior. you'll cry.
Be sure to leave about a half inch on each side empty, with regards to this step and all following steps of spreading. like don't put BBQ sauce here, don't put mustard here, don't put meat here. the meat is essential, because then you'll have a hard time folding. seriously. this is a stuff-free zone. think of it as no-man's land.

4. spread a much thinner layer of mustard. people over-do the mustard. don't be like the masses.

5. Lay out the meat. depending how much meat you have, you might be able to have 2 layers, which would be cool but don't overdo the meat, because then it might not roll up.

6. Spread another layer of BBQ sauce [not as generous as the last one]

7. maybe spread another layer of mustard...I advise against it, unless you run out of BBQ sauce. but only use a little.

8. fold over the filo dough first on the length of it, and then pinching it off at the ends, which should be easy if you did a good job of steps 3-7. press it down.

9. Put it in the oven. I usually plan on cooking it for 40 minutes, but check it at 20. you want the top to be a bit poofy if it's the kinneret dough, and maybe golden brown. 20 minutes only works if you have a real oven, but I usually like to make sure the dough is really cooked. the Athen's dough doesn't require this, because it doesn't puff out, so there just look for color.

10. take it out of the oven, and eat it. maybe share it with your friends, so they can know what a cool person you are for being able to make deli roll. but do you really want to give away your hard-earned culinary masterpeice...well if you do, send it to:

Rachel Adler
3901 locust walk
Box 336
Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Or deliver it to room 1011 of HRN.
Then I can tell you if you made a good deli roll.

Hope this helps.

~Rachel "The Yellow Hobbit" Adler