We had it Sunday night, and the house still smells like it. Of course, that may be because I just nuked a large bowl of sauerbraten and noodles for my dinner. Yum.
I put it on to marinate the Wednesday before. I used a London broil, about two inches thick. You can use a sirloin roast or any meat without too much marbling. If you use a very tender cut, it will dissolve, and not taste anywhere near as good.
I put the meat in a bowl, and sliced over it a medium onion, and three cloves of garlic. Then I added a couple of bay leaves, about ten peppercorns and ten cloves. Then I covered the meat with a red wine and red wine vinegar mix, about two or three parts wine to one part vinegar until the meat is pretty much covered. Then I put a lid over it (plastic wrap works well, too). Every day, I'd turn it to make sure all sides were well soaked. You can marinate it at room temperature for a few days, the vinegar will keep it from spoiling. That's how Mom used to make it. If you want it to marinate less quickly, you can refrigerate it. I kept it on the counter for a couple of days then refrigerated it. You can also put it in a large plastic bag and rotate that now and then.
On Sunday, Julie and I took the meat out of the marinade and let it sit on paper towels, then dried it with more towels, to make sure it browned well when we put it in the pan. We heated a Dutch oven over high heat, and added some canola oil. While Julie browned the meat, I strained the marinade, retaining the spices. After the meat was browned, we removed it from the pan, turned the burner to medium-high, and added the onions and other spices, stirring them until the onions were translucent and tan in color. Then we added a couple of tablespoons of flour and stirred that for a couple of minutes, then added the wine and vinegar mixture, stirring to incorporate the flour and brownings. At this point, salt and pepper it to taste. It will require a fair amount of salt to taste right.
We returned the meat to the marinade, and simmered it for about two hours, during which time we played poker and drank with my folks. Julie cleaned up. The rest of us lost. I never realized my cousin was a card sharp. Yesterday, we had lunch at the folks' and played poker again. Julie won. The rest of us just snivelled.
We had the sauerbrated with noodles and cucumber salad. Mom brought cauliflower au gratin, and made crepes Suzette for dessert. Then we all fell into a coma.
(We got so busy setting the table and getting everything together at the end, I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Trust me, it was good. Still is.)
Comments