Sauerbraten

German pot roast marinated for days in vinegar with juniper and Piment, and finished with a gingerbread sauce

Origin: Rhineland, Germany

From the journey of Allspice.

Sauerbraten means sour roast, and the sourness is not a seasoning but a method: a tough cut of beef held in vinegar and wine for three to five days until the acid has worked its way to the centre and broken the meat down before any heat is applied. It is one of Germany's national dishes and each region claims its own version. The Rhineland's is the best known and the strangest to an outsider, because it thickens the finished sauce with crushed Lebkuchen or the closely related Aachener Printen, which adds sweetness, body, and yet more spice all at once. Raisins go in too. The Swabian and Franconian versions are plainer and sourer. The marinade is where allspice does its work, alongside juniper, bay, clove, and peppercorn. Germany calls the berry Piment, from the same Spanish root that gives the Jamaican pimento, and German cooking uses it far more than French or Italian cooking does, through the sausage tradition, the pickling jar, and the gingerbread. In a marinade it holds up over days where ground spice would go muddy. The traditional cut was horse in parts of the Rhineland and still is in a few Düsseldorf and Cologne restaurants, though beef is now standard. What the long marination actually does is worth stating: the acid denatures the surface proteins and the meat takes up liquid, so a lean, sinewy cut that would be leathery roasted becomes tender and faintly sharp all through.

Ingredients

Beef

1.5 kg beef topside, silverside, or brisket, in one piece
2 tsp salt

Marinade

500 ml red wine vinegar
500 ml red wine
500 ml water
2 whole onions, thickly sliced
2 whole carrots, sliced
1 whole leek, sliced
2 tbsp allspice berries
1 tbsp juniper berries, lightly crushed
4 whole bay leaves
1 tbsp black peppercorns
6 whole cloves
1 tbsp mustard seeds

Cooking

3 tbsp lard or neutral oil
2 tbsp plain flour

Sauce

80 g Lebkuchen or Aachener Printen, crumbled
60 g raisins
2 tbsp dark brown sugar, or to taste
100 ml soured cream, optional

Method

Bring the vinegar, wine, water, vegetables, and all the whole spices to the boil, simmer for five minutes, then cool completely.
Put the beef in a non-reactive container, pour the cold marinade over so it is submerged, cover, and refrigerate for three to five days, turning daily.
Lift the beef out, pat it thoroughly dry, and season with the salt. Strain the marinade, keeping both the liquid and the vegetables.
Heat the lard in a heavy casserole and brown the beef hard on every surface, ten minutes or so in total.
Lift the beef out, add the strained vegetables to the pot, and cook for eight minutes until they colour. Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes.
Return the beef, pour in about a litre of the strained marinade, bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook very gently for two and a half to three hours.
Lift the beef out and keep it warm. Strain the sauce, pressing the vegetables, and return it to the pot.
Whisk in the crumbled Lebkuchen and the raisins and simmer for ten minutes until thickened. Add sugar to taste.
Balance the sauce carefully: it should be sour first, then sweet, with the spice behind. Stir in the soured cream off the heat if using.
Slice the beef thickly across the grain and serve with the sauce poured over.

Notes

Three days is the minimum and five is better. Some Rhineland households go to a week, though the meat begins to break down past that. A lean, sinewy cut is correct. This is a dish designed to rescue meat that would be unpleasant roasted. If Lebkuchen is unavailable, use crushed ginger biscuits with a pinch of extra allspice and clove. It is a fair substitute. The marinade must be discarded after use, not reused. Serve with Kartoffelklöße (potato dumplings), Rotkohl (braised red cabbage), and nothing else. The three are inseparable in Germany.

The Gastrographer

Name: Sauerbraten
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Germany
Ingredients: 1.5 kg beef topside, silverside, or brisket, in one piece; 500 ml red wine vinegar; 500 ml red wine; 500 ml water; 2 whole onions, thickly sliced; 2 whole carrots, sliced; 1 whole leek, sliced; 2 tbsp allspice berries; 1 tbsp juniper berries, lightly crushed; 4 whole bay leaves; 1 tbsp black peppercorns; 6 whole cloves; 1 tbsp mustard seeds; 2 tsp salt; 3 tbsp lard or neutral oil; 2 tbsp plain flour; 80 g Lebkuchen or Aachener Printen, crumbled; 60 g raisins; 2 tbsp dark brown sugar, or to taste; 100 ml soured cream, optional

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control