Ingredients
• For four persons : 600 to 700 grams of beef
• Salt
• Pepper (corns and ground)
• Sugar
• White wine, Red wine
• Vinegar (a simple one will do – no need to take for example balsamic or any other fancy one)
• Carrots, Leeks, Celery
• Mustard seeds
• Juniper berries
• Bay leaf
• Tomato paste
First of all, what is a Sauerbraten?
Essentially, it’s a beef roast. The best piece will be what a German butcher would call flache Schulter (flat shoulder)
Preparation
Cut the vegetables into 1” dices. Prepare a marinade for the meat using the white wine, vinegar, salt, pepper corns, sugar, mustard seeds, carrots, leeks, celery, juniper berries and bay leaf. Make sure you have enough marinade to cover the meat! Let the meat sit in the marinade for 4 to 6 days.
Take the meat out of the marinade, and place it in a strainer to let the marinade drip off the meat, then using a paper towel, pat the meat dry before roasting. Save the vegetables and marinade for the sauce.
Take a pot big enough to roast the meat and make the sauce in. The best fat to roast the meat with will be ghee (you can also buy it on the economy called Butaris).
On high heat, melt the ghee and roast the meat from all sides, put the meat aside and put some tomato paste and the vegetables in the pot and roast them on medium heat. Add a sip of red wine and let it reduce. Repeat this process 3-4 times.
Put the meat in the sauce and let all slowly simmer for about 3 hours. Add some of the marinade bit by bit taking care to stir from time-to-time so it doesn’t burn. Add the desired amount of spices (salt, ground pepper, sugar). Strain the sauce. Cut the roast into slices and serve with salted potatoes and red cabbage as side dishes for a nice fall dinner.
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If you are interested in setting up a cooking class with Klaus, he can be found on facebook at www.facebook.com/CookingWithKlaus or via email at CookingwithKlaus@web.de.
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