Sauerbraten - German pot roast 

This recipe is Grandma Heddy's favorite thing to cook!

Ingredients:

Beef - a 4 to 5 pound bottom round roast or equivalent

Marinade:

  1½ cups cider vinegar
  ½ cup red wine (not red wine vinegar, actual vino)
  2 cups water
  ¼ cup sugar
  half a large onion, sliced
  1 tablespoon pickling spices
  1-4 bay leaves

2 ounces gingersnap cookie crumbs (8 Nabisco gingersnaps, crushed)

Put the roast in a large cast iron Dutch oven. Put all marinade ingredients
in a small saucepan and bring to a boil and pour over the meat. Put the meat
away for 3-4 days turning daily. Remove the meat from the marinade and dry
it, then brown it well on all sides, starting with fat side. Strain the
marinade, discarding solids. Put the browned roast and some of the marinade
(enough to cover the meat halfway) into the Dutch oven and cover and put in a
medium oven for 2-3 hours until it is very tender. Remove the meat and keep
warm. Put the Dutch oven on the burner with the pot liquid and heat it,
adding the gingersnap crumbs (and maybe a flour/water slurry) to thicken to
make gravy.

Serve with: red cabbage (available in jars), potato dumplings or any kind of
potatoes, baked apple dish or applesauce.

NOTE: Nabisco ginger snaps are real wimpy. The recipe in new JOC is good but
not nearly gingery enough. Try grated real ginger next time.

NOTE: I have found that *really* searing the meat (right to almost tripping
the smoke alarms) helps a lot to darken the sauce and intensify the flavor. Some
bacon grease helps. But if a solid black layer is left in the pan, that's too
long and the heavy black stuff needs to be removed and tossed.

NOTE: I now bake the JOC gingersnap recipe but double the ginger. Need to try
cutting that recipe in half, since frozen gingersnaps never seem to last very
long around here!

NOTE: need to find extra-large size ziploc bags as that would be a much
better marinade solution.