Sauerbraten

Sauerbraten is a German pot roast that can be prepared with a variety of meats. This recipe uses silverside of beef but it works equally well with pork, lamb, mutton, or venison. The key is in the lengthy marinading.

Ingredients:
1 kilogram silverside of beef
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 onion, sliced
115 grams smoked streaky bacon, diced
1 tablespoon cornflour
50 grams crushed ginger biscuits (think lebkuchen rather than McVities Ginger Nuts)
Flat leaf parsley to garnish

For the marinade:
2 onions, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
2 celery sticks, sliced
600 millilitres water
150 millilitres red vinegar
1 bay leaf
6 cloves
6 whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon soft dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt

To make the marinade place the onions, carrot and celery into a saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining marinade ingredients and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to cool.

Place the joint in a container into which it just fits. Poor in the marinade, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 3 days, turning the joint daily.

Remove the joint from the marinade and dry thoroughly. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and seal the beef over a high heat. Remove the beef and set aside. Add the sliced onion to the pan and fry until soft and lightly golden.  Put the onion and bacon in the base of a large flameproof casserole or saucepan then place the beef on top.

Strain the marinade and pour the liquid over the beef. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 1½ to 2 hours or until the beef is very tender. Remove the beef and keep warm. Blend the cornflour with a little water and add to the cooking liquid with the ginger biscuit crumbs, bring to the boil while stirring. Decant the gravy into a gravy jug.

Thickly slice the beef and serve on a bed of hot buttered noodles garnished with flat leaf parsley and serve the gravy separately.

(NB you can never have enough gravy)