Welcome to Germany! I've been wanting to do Germany in October, but the last four years haven't allowed me to do that. This time, we barely made it! Germany is a bucket list country, and I think that may be the truth for many people. The country looks beautiful, and the history is fascinating. According to Google, the population of Germany is 84 million people and the capital is Berlin. Their national dish is...
Sauerbraten!
It literally means "sour meat". Sounds appetizing, right? Along with the sauerbraten, we made Kartoffelpuffer, which is a German potato pancake, Rotkohl, which is a red cabbage slaw, and a German apple cake with streusel topping. This meal took a while (2 weeks!) to get ready, so if you're going to make it, plan ahead! Here's what we did:
- In a large pot, combine all of the marinade ingredients.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, boil for 10 minutes, then cool completely.
- Put the pot roast in a freezer bag and pour in the cooled marinade to marinate for 10 days.
- Remove the roast from the marinade and pat dry using paper towels.
- Do not discard the marinade! Keep it for later.
- In a dutch oven, heat oil over high heat.
- When the oil is hot, sear the roast on all sides until it is browned, then pour the marinade into the dutch oven with the meat.
- Bring the liquids to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer for 3 hours, or until the meat is tender.
- Remove the meat from the dutch oven and set it aside to rest.
- Meanwhile, strain the marinade, discarding the solids and reserving the liquids.
- Return the liquids to the dutch oven.
- Add the crushed gingersnap cookies to the reserved liquid.
- Cook and stir over medium-low heat until the gravy has thickened.
- Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
- Slice the sauerbrauten into thin slices and serve with the hot gravy.
- Enjoy!
(Source: Sauerbraten)
- Thoroughly remove the liquid in the grated potatoes by putting them in a tea towel and wringing out the liquid.
- Place the drained grated potatoes in a medium-sized bowl with the grated onions, eggs, flour and salt.
- Use your hands to mix the ingredients together into a tacky mixture.
- Heat a few tbsp oil in a pan over medium-high heat and place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the mixture in the hot pan and flatten into pancakes.
- Fry on both sides for 3-5 minutes, until they are golden.
- Serve hot and enjoy!
(Source: Kartoffelpuffer)
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and apples and saute for 7-10 minutes, until soft.
- Add the cabbage to the onions and apples, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer for 1 hour until cabbage is soft.
- Serve warm or cold.
- Enjoy!
(Source: Rotkohl)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper.
- Add the flour, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine.
- Add the butter and pulse until fully incorporated and you get a mixture of smaller breadcrumb-like pieces.
- Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and press to compact it into an even layer.
- Put it in the fridge until later.
- In a large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, cinnamon, and applesauce.
- Spoon the apple filling in an even layer over the shortbread dough that was in the fridge.
- In another large bowl, cut the butter into the flour and sugar using a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Squeeze handfuls of streusel topping together to create larger clumps, then sprinkle the streusel over the apple filling.
- Bake for 45 minutes until lightly golden brown on on top and the apples are soft.
- Cool completely, and then cut into squares and serve cold.
- Enjoy!
(Source: German Apple Cake with Streusel Topping and Shortbread Crust)
The verdict? This was a favorite, for sure. Handsome Husband declared that the gravy for the sauerbraten was the best brown gravy he had ever had! We will be doing this roast again. The original recipe called for juniper berries instead of gin, so I will try those next time. I just couldn't find them in time. I also couldn't find gluten free gingersnap cookies, so I also made those on my own. We did have to plan ahead in order to marinate it for 10 days, but I think it was worth it. That meat was so tender! I subbed the juniper berries for gin in the rotkohl as well, and it worked well. I liked the rotkohl, but didn't care for the mushy apples in it. The textures were strange together. The kartoffelpuffer were not anything special - typical potato pancake, but they were very good with the gravy. It almost gave it an apple taste. We were disappointed in the apple cake. Usually apples, cinnamon and sugar go great together, but it just wasn't great. That said, we were compelled to eat it. Go figure! We ended up tossing the leftovers. The sauerbraten was the winner of this meal!
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