Sauerbraten

This isn't sauerbraten from John Duck's or Luchow's - It isn't one Grandma made, although it incorporates a bit of each, at least in memory ... It follows a recipe from Craig Claiborne's An Herb and Spice Cookbook, which I probably bought in a bookstore in Penn Station about 1968 or 69.

I lost the book many years ago, but I recently found a copy on Amazon - so here it is again...

 
1 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 bottle red wine (about 1.5cups)

1 tsp salt

6 cloves

2 cloves garlic

2 strips lemon rind

1 onion, halved

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 sprigs parsley

1 4 - 6 lb round of beef

2 cups beef stock

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine everything except beef stock and cornstarch refrigerate to marinate for 3 days. Turn meat at least once a day.

Remove meat and dry with paper towels. Keep the marinade - put it in a pot and simmer on the stove.

Brown the meat in a Dutch oven with a bit of added fat because roasts these days are trimmed of most of their fat ...

After browning, pour off any excess fat, put the meat back in the dutch oven and add 1 cup of beef stock. Cover and simmer for about 2 - 2.5 hours, basting once in a while with the rest of the beef stock and the marinade.

Actually, I'm not sure why you can't just add all the beef stock and marinade from the start - I did this I think the last time I made sauerbraten and it turned out fine ....

Remove the meat and place on a platter. Strain the liquid and pour back in the pot - skim off any excess fat from the top. Mix the cornstarch with a bit of water and use this to thicken the gravy.

Serve with potato dumplings or potato pancakes and string beans (I will always call them string beans, even though I know the have been stringless for many years), and of course the infamous red cabbage.