Up next.... going to try my hand at Sauerbraten

[Cgrutt]

Prepping tonight for slow cooker on Sat.

Wife had butcher cut a 4# bottom roast. Going to whip up a marinade tonight and leave it be until Sat morning. Never tried this before and going to put something together from a few different recipes I found on line. The marinade will be made from some beef stock, red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, lemon juice, onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves, all spice, salt and pepper.

Sat will add carrots, celery, more garlic, thyme and onions and, of course, ginger snaps. Getting hungry thinking about it!

More to follow....

[harleyhutch]

Brown some onions and make a rue (spelling), then use fatty pork steaks or chops (cheap one), need the fat for flavor. Don't forget dumplings at the end.

[Cgrutt]

Hmm, I've made rue before for clam chowder... not sure about for this. Going to try to make spatzel (sp?) and red cabbage on Sat.

[Cgrutt]

Well the marinade seemed easy enough. I zipped it up a bit, he, he. Took about 15 minutes to make, including the time to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Now the hard part is waiting for it to cool down so I can marinate the meat.

Used:

2 cups of beef broth
1 cup of red wine vinegar
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 white onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
Approx 10 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp whole peppercorns
2 tsps whole allspice
1 tsp whole juniper berries
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp clover honey
1 tbsps whole grain dijon mustard

Throw everything in a med saucepan, bring to boil and let simmer for 5 minutes. After it cools to room temperature will throw it in a zip-lock bag with 4.25# bottom round and refrigerate. Will turn a couple times between now and Sat. morning.

Here's what it looked like so far:

[24Pink14Stink]

Roux. Equal parts fat (butter, lard, oil, etc) and flour browned in a pan.

[Cgrutt]

Roux. Equal parts fat (butter, lard, oil, etc) and flour browned in a pan.

Yep that's it. I don't do French, LMAO. Made it camping with Bacon and Flour for base of clam chowder. Comes out a bit like pizza doe ha ha.

[Cgrutt]

Well its bagged up and marinating... I couldn't resist putting a thumb in the marinade to test it out. So far it came out really, really good. Hope the rest follows suit. To be continued on Sat...

[24Pink14Stink]

Yep that's it. I don't do French, LMAO. Made it camping with Bacon and Flour for base of clam chowder. Comes out a bit like pizza doe ha ha.

My parents were big fans of the Emeril show. It's used as a thickening agent.

[phritz]

Love sauerbraten. Just be ready for your house to smell like vinegar while it cooks, and maybe for a while after.

[Cgrutt]

Came out pretty good for first time. Marinade was awesome. Slo cooked for 8 hrs. Meat was falling apart.

Browned meat on stove before putting it into slo cooker. After roast was browned, took it out of pan and added onions, garlic, celery and carrots. A little thyme and crushed cloves. Cooked until onions were tender. Threw everything in slow cooker for 8 hrs then strained the solids and put liquids in sauce pan. Added a little flower and a bunch of crushed ginger snap cookies (C'mon who doesn't like gravy made with cookies, lol). Whisked until it had a good consistency. It was a little too thick for my tastes, next time less cookies!

OK red cabbage was pretty easy. Sliced up a large head of cabbage, threw it in a large pot with cup of cider vinegar, about 1/3 cup of water, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, teaspoon of white pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves. Brought to boil, turned heat down, covered and let simmer for about 1 1/2. Came out really good.

Spaetzle was an experience I'm not sure I'd want to do again, LOL. Made the dough with 2 1/2 cups of flour, 5 eggs, little butter, a cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water. Salt, pepper and pinch of ground nutmeg. It was too thin and ended up putting a lot more flour in it, maybe twice as much as called for above. Tried pushing it through a colander to form noodles but it didn't work out to well. Ended up just spooning it into boiling water. Let cook for about 3 minutes and went on to next batch. Put it in a bowl with some butter and salt. Tasted good. Looked like a disaster, ha, ha.

We had it with some friends and their kids. The kids wound up with chicken fingers, ha, ha! Good times...

[harleyhutch]

sounds awesome. My mother escaped a train bound for Auschwitz in Nuremberg Germany and landed a job as a house cleaner and cook, so I grew up eating German and Polish, only wish I'd paid more attention to how she cooked as nothing was from an actual written recipes.
Roux, french that's why I couldn't spell it.

[harleyhutch]

I always called them dumplings, not the right name for what they are, my Mother always spooned them on top of what ever she was cooking 5-10 minutes before serving and covering with a lid. That way they would pull some of the juice/moisture from the main dish in to them.