Not Your Grandmothers Sauerbraten Food

TRADITIONAL SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• Place beef rump roast, onions, vinegar, water, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, sugar, cloves, and bay leaves in a large pot. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days, turning meat daily. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels, reserving marinade.
• Season flour to taste with salt and black pepper in a large bowl. Sprinkle flour mixture over beef.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat; cook beef until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Pour reserved marinade over beef, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until beef is tender, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Remove beef to a platter and slice.
• Strain solids from remaining liquid and continue cooking over medium heat. Add gingersnap cookies and simmer until gravy is thickened about 10 minutes. Serve gravy over sliced beef.

NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• Make a bundle with the cheesecloth and the pickling spices, placing pickling spices in a square of cheesecloth and tying it off with cotton string. Mix water, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, and onion powder in a large crock pot (the one I use is a 6-quart model). Add the bundle of pickling spices.
• Put meat in fat side up in crock. Cook until meat is tender (low for 12 hours or high for 7-8 hours).
• Remove spice bundle and throw away. Do not discard the juices nor turn off the crockpot. Take meat out and allow to cool.
• Add 12 crumbled ginger snaps to juices that remain in the crockpot and allow to thicken.
• Slice the meat and return to sauce in the crockpot.

SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over high heat combine the water, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, juniper, and mustard seeds. Cover and bring this to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Pat the bottom round dry and rub with vegetable oil and salt on all sides. Heat a large saute pan over high heat; add the meat and brown on all sides, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side.
• When the marinade has cooled to a point where you can stick your finger in it and not be burned, place the meat in a non-reactive vessel and pour over the marinade. Place into the refrigerator for 3 days. If the meat is not completely submerged in the liquid, turn it over once a day.
• After 3 days of marinating, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Add the sugar to the meat and marinade, cover and place on the middle rack of the oven and cook until tender, approximately 4 hours.
• Remove the meat from the vessel and keep warm. Strain the liquid to remove the solids. Return the liquid to the pan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk in the gingersnaps and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Add the raisins if desired. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce.

TRADITIONAL GERMAN SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• Wipe beef with a damp cloth and season with salt and pepper. Place seasoned beef in a large glass bowl.
• Combine vinegar, carrots, onion, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, and parsley in a bowl; pour over beef. Cover dish tightly with a lid or plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate beef, turning daily, for 3 to 7 days.
• Drain meat, reserving liquid and vegetables. Rub flour over all sides of beef.
• Heat butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; brown beef on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes. Add onions, carrots, and 2 cups reserved liquid. Cover Dutch oven, lower heat to medium-low, and simmer until meat is tender, about 2 hours. Transfer beef to a serving platter.
• Stir gingersnap crumbs and sugar into the liquid in Dutch oven; cook and stir until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Pour sauce over meat.

SAUERBRATEN I

Steps:

• In large saucepan over medium heat, combine cider vinegar, water, brown sugar, cloves, allspice, salt, pepper, peppercorns, bay leaf, onion, carrot and celery. Heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbles appear at edges, but do not boil.
• Poke deep holes in roast and place in non-metal bowl. Pour vinegar mixture over roast. Cover and refrigerate for five days, turning once daily.
• Remove roast from liquid; pat dry with paper towels. Remove bay leaf and peppercorns from liquid and discard. Strain liquid from vegetables, reserving both.
• Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear all sides of roast quickly, 1 to 2 minutes each side. Reduce heat to low, pour reserved vegetables and 1 cup of vinegar liquid into pan. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours, adding more vinegar liquid if necessary.
• Remove roast from pan, and let cool slightly. Slice roast and return slices to liquid in pan, cover and simmer 30 minutes more. Remove slices to serving platter. Stir sour cream into heated liquid and heat through, but do not allow to boil. Pour sauce over meat and serve immediately.

GRANDMA FRITZ'S SAUERBRATEN (FOR THE CROCK POT)

Steps:

• Combine onions, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, vinegar, and water.
• Arrange meat in a covered earthenware or Tupperware container and pour pickling solution over the top of the meat.
• Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days (the longer it marinades, the more flavor soaks into the meat).
• Turn the meat once or twice a day.
• Remove the meat from the solution and pat dry.
• Remove and discard the bay leaves and peppercorns.
• Strain and reserve the onions.
• Put a little oil (I like to go light, if I can, and use extra virgin olive oil or Canola, but you can use a couple of tablespoons of butter) in a skillet and heat and cook reserved onions until they are transparent, but not brown.
• Remove onions and brown meat on all sides in the same oil.
• Place onions and meat in a slow cooker/crock pot and fill the crock pot with a cup of the pickling solution.
• Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until the meat is cooked through and tender.
• When meat is done, remove to a warm platter and cover to keep warm.
• Add any remaining marinade to a skillet.
• Add brown sugar, raisins, crumbled ginger snaps (I pound these out in a Ziploc bag to crush them).
• Stir and cook until the sauce is smooth and has thickened--about 15-20 minutes.
• Serve the sauce over the slices of meat and put the remainder of the sauce in a gravy boat.

SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• Place meat in a bowl, set aside.
• Combine vinegar, water, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves, salt and pepper in a sauce pan and heat just to boiling.
• Remove from heat; cool slightly.
• Pour mixture over meat, and let cool.
• Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate for 5 days, turning meat once a day.
• Remove meat from marinade and drain thoroughly.
• Strain and reserve marinade.
• Put pot roast into a Dutch oven (very large covered pot), and brown meat on both sides.
• Add 1 cup of the reserved marinade, the carrots and onions.
• Bring rapidly to boiling, cover tightly and simmer about 2 hours, or until tender.
• If necessary, add more marinade while simmering.
• Remove meat to a warm platter and keep warm.
• Stir the crushed gingersnaps and sugar into the liquid in Dutch oven.
• Simmer the gravy for 10 minutes.
• Serve Sauerbraten with the gingersnap gravy, red or white cabbage and kartoffel balle (potato balls) to complete the meal.

OLD-WORLD SAUERBRATEN

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Brown beef on all sides. Add all remaining ingredients except gingersnaps; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 3 hour., During the last 30 minutes, stir in gingersnaps. Remove meat; discard bay leaves and cloves. While slicing meat, bring gravy to a boil to reduce and thicken.