Sauerbraten (Sour Beef Roast)

                       
                                         Sauerbraten

This is a german dish. Every region does it a bit different.  Since I am from Bavaria (Frankonia), I am doing it the Bavarian way. Optional we add Sauce Ginger bread to it. I don't. I am not a big fan of it. The least of the restaurants do it anyway. 

First you need to use your 5 P's again. Right, Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance lol. 
It this case it means, you need to brine the Beef Roast for at least 3 days ahead. 
Buy a nice piece of Beef Roast. Not to fatty but not to lean. I am going after looks for this, not specific for a special piece of cut. 

For the Brine you need: 

- 1 Liter (4 cups) of water

- 250 ml (1 cup) Vinegar ( I like the apple cider vinegar)

- 2-3 Onions, coarsely chopped

- 2 Carrot, coarsely chopped (or a handful of baby carrots)

- 1/3 Celery root, coarsely chopped (or 2 stalks of Celery if you can't find the root)

- 2 Parsnip, coarsely chopped

- little bit of salt

- 20 black Pepper corns

- 6 cloves

- 2 big Bay leave

- 8 Juniper Berries

- 2 TSP mustard Seed 

(You can just half the whole amounts, including the water, if you just have a small beef Roast)

This is how you do:

Bring the whole mixture (without the veggies) up to a short boil. Let it slightly simmer for 1-2 min.. Put the beef roast and the veggies in a big bowl where you can store it in the fridge for 3 days. Now add the HOT liquid over the Roast. It immediately will turn grey. That's fine. That's how you want it. Make sure everything transferred from the cooking pan to the bowl. 

Now let it sit outside till its cold enough that you can put it in the fridge. You don't want it to cool to fast. Now with the heat, the whole flavors of the herbs are going into the depth of the meat.


This what you do after the brine:

After the minimum of 3 days, remove the Meat from the brine and dry it good. In a big pot melt some butter. Now sear the roast from all sides hot and fast. It should be nicely medium to dark brown on each side. It smells fantastic already. That's when the pores of the meat close and it prevents of drying out. 

The amount of Sauce is now your personal choice. We love a lot sauce. So I am adding at least 3 packs of brown gravy and the requested Liquid. If the recipe says 1 cup of water per Gravy mix and you use 3 packs, use 3 cups of Brine. Just use a strainer to get just the liquid without the bits.  I also like to add the carrots to the sauce and cook it with the meat. Let it simmer for around about 90 min. to 2 hrs..  

After that time I like to take it out and cut it into slices. It falls apart? Good, that's how you want it. It doesn't? Let it cooked a bit longer cut (around 30 min.) 

I know that for this recipe I am actually using some help with the brown gravy. You can make it completely without the help of instant packs. There it requires Tomato Paste, red wine, the veggies from the brine and you blend that all together after cooking to a creamy sauce. But why not use a little bit of help with the brown gravy mix? I mean, come on lol..... ;-) 


Traditionally we serve the Sauerbraten with bread dumblings (recipe is already in my blog) and blue Cabbage. (This one I am also buying in the store. Big lots has the german brand I like. The one from Aldi is also not bad. One day I will make my own fresh blue cabbage.) 

Guten Appetit