The end of Oktoberfest meals

Well, I made all of 2 German dinners.  It didn't occur to me when I started this German once a week thing for Oktoberfest last week that it would only last 2 weeks.  I guess that's a good start to have never made German food though.  I'd make more next week but we've got Cubs games Tues-Thurs so that kinda takes out most of my cooking days.  Maybe we'll just eat some brats and kraut.

Anyway! So this meal actually began on Monday.  It apparently has to marinade for 72 hours so I bought the roast on monday and it sat in my fridge for 3 days.  Last night's meal was Sauerbraten with Hot German Potato Salad.

Sauerbraten went a little like this:

juniper berries

whole cloves

mustard powder

red wine vinegar

apple cider vinegar

bay leaves

peppercorns

salt

oil

carrots

onions

I didn't take pics of the marinade making process b/c all I did was take the carrots and onions and let them cook a bit and then added all the remaining ingredients and cooked until it boiled then simmered for about 10 min or so.

The marinade had to cool to room temperature.  So while waiting for that,  I coated the roast in oil and salted it.  Then browned it on all sides in a pan.

Once it was browned and marinade was cool, I put it in a dutch oven with the marinade.

 This sat for 3 days in the fridge...

3 days later...

The dutch oven went into the oven for 4 hours.  While this was happening, I made the potatoes.  The ingredients were:

flour

sugar

salt

pepper

potatoes

vinegar

celery seed

water

bacon

onion

To start, I boiled the potatoes for about 20-25 minutes and let them cool.  Once cool enough to handle, I sliced them thinly.  

Next, I worked on the sauce.  

To start, I cooked the bacon.  Once they were done, I crumbled it up and set it aside.  The chopped onions then went into the same pan with the bacon fat. 

Once these browned, I added the flour/celery seed/salt/pepper mixture and stirred it until incorporated.  Then removed from heat and added the vinegar and water.  Turned the heat back on and let it come to a boil, constantly stirring. 

Once the sauce is thickened, the potatoes and bacon are added.  I added them in batches so I could make sure to coat each potato with sauce.  You've gotta kinda be careful b/c the potatoes are mushy and you don't want them to fall apart and become mashed.

So once they potatoes are done, I worked on finishing the beef.

I removed the beef from the marinade and put it in the microwave to keep warm.

To make the sauce, the marinade was strained to remove the junk (carrots, onions, bay leaves, etc).  The liquid was then added back to the pot and about 5 oz of crushed gingersnaps were added to the liquid.

 

This mixture is continuously whisked until it thickens.  I didn't think it was ever gonna happen but eventually it does.  It gets pretty thick actually so be careful not to overdo it.

So 3 days later....we have sauerbraten!

 It doesn't look that appealing but it was pretty good! It's kinda just like sour roast beef...the potatoes were kinda awesome and even better cold this morning hehe.  The meat was cooked well and very tender which is good.  I always worry about cooking beef for long periods of time just b/c it seems to dry out but luckily, I haven't run into that problem yet ;)  The good thing about this meat is that even though it takes 3 days, it's really easy since most of the time it's just sitting in the fridge.  Once the marinade is made, you just have to let it sit and then put it in the oven.