Sauerbraten, the sour and sweet german meat

Sauerbraten (word composed of Sauer, sour, and Braten, roast beef) is a traditional Rhenish dish that is eaten throughout Germany. In fact, it is considered by many to be the star dish of German cuisine.

It consists of meat that is marinated for a few days and then stewed, adding raisins and other elements to achieve a sweet and sour sauce. Since marinating tenderizes the meat, it is not necessary - or even advisable - to use the best quality cuts as the result would be practically indistinguishable.

In this recipe some ingredients are used that are not very common. First of all juniper berries. These are the fruits of the juniper that is used to flavor the marinade.

They are also used, among other things, to flavor gin. It can be found in the areas of the supermarket dedicated to spices, although not always, because it seems that they are used to flavor the gin and tonic. It has a bit of a bitter taste and can be substituted with cloves, which will be much easier to find, or simply not use any spices.

The other strange ingredient for us is the pumpernickel. It is a dark rye bread, with a sweet taste, which is used to thicken the sauce. It can be substituted for fig bread or normal bread adding a little sugar. You can also do without it and use it to thicken cornstarch or a level tablespoon of wheat flour.

INGREDIENTS (4 people) :

For the marinade and sauce:

• Half a liter (500 ml / 2 cups and a half) of red wine
• 100 ml (half a cup) of red wine vinegar
• 2 large carrots
• 2 leeks
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 large red onion
• 3 juniper berries (or cloves)
• 3 peppercorns

For the stew:

• 600 (1.3 lbs) grams of beef
• Two tablespoons of sultanas or Corinthian raisins (without seeds)
• A slice of pumpernickel or a little cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• Salt
• ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• Clarified butter

First of all we are going to prepare the marinade by mixing the wine, the vinegar, the finely chopped vegetables, the juniper berries or cloves and the peppercorns. This marinade must completely cover the meat that we have, whether they are thick fillets, cuts of meat for stew  or similar. Therefore, it is best to put the meat in a container that allows it to be completely covered when filled with the marinade. We leave in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours.

Once the time has elapsed, we extract the meat and let it drain until it is completely dry, without losing the liquid that we will collect again.

In a frying pan over medium heat with a little clarified butter, fry the previously well-dried and seasoned meat until it turns coloured. It doesn't have to be done at all, and it's actually counterproductive.

Remove and reserve, trying to prevent the meat from getting cold.

Separate the broth from the vegetables and remove the berries or cloves as well as the peppercorns. In the same pan where we have briefly passed the meat, add the vegetables together with the teaspoon of tomato paste.

Let cook until the sauce takes shape. At that moment we incorporate the marinade broth after passing it through a strainer and then we add the meat, letting it cook over medium-low heat. We add the raisins.

Let cook for a couple of hours with the pan covered. Half an hour before the end of cooking, check for salt and pepper, correcting if necessary. If the broth is too light, crumbled pumpernickel is added and if not cornstarch. If you want it more bittersweet, add a teaspoon of sugar.

It is served piping hot and if the meat was in one piece, sliced ​​according to the number of diners. If everything has gone well, the taste will be bittersweet and the meat will literally melt, without the need to use a knife to cut it.

It is accompanied by spätzle (egg pasta) as in the image or by boiled potatoes or more rarely cooked rice.