This is amazing but takes a long time to make. The problem isn’t the cooking time, the issue is the amount of time you are supposed to marinate it. Generally you want to use a crappier cut of beef roast (there’s no reason to use a tenderloin here), and if you want to be authentic, it should marinate for at least a week. It’s not that big a deal if you have room in your fridge. Once you get the meat marinating, you just turn it once or twice a day. But it takes up a decent amount of space, so bear that in mind.
Fun little bit of trivia from when I was researching this: the origin of the dish comes from roman soldiers marching through germany. They wanted to eat meat, but it would spoil after too long, so they started bringing it with in sealed jars full of wine. But since preservation technology wasn’t so great back then, the wine would end up as vinegar. The people living there liked it, so they adopted the technique, and after a few thousand years, we ended up with this.
Also, comes out fantastic. As good or better than any german restaurant you’ve ever been to.
Ingredients
For the marinade:
2 cups either red wine or apple cider vinegar
2 cups water or broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon salt
10 cloves garlic, smashed
15-20 juniper berries
12-15 cloves
12-15 black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 tablespoon rosemary
For the rest:
1 3-5 pound beef roast (bottom round, top chuck, rump roast, etc. There’s a ton of different roasts like this.)
10-15 gingersnaps, crumbled (the dark ones if you can get them) (but don’t go smashing cookies right away, you don’t need them until the stuff is done marinating).
1/2 cup sugar
Directions
Okay. So, take that beef roast. Rub it down with salt, get a pan nice and hot, and brown it on all sides. Set aside.
Now, take everything under the “marinade” heading and dump it in a pot. Bring it up to a boil, simmer for ten minutes, and set it aside to cool. Once it’s cool enough to dip your finger in without burning, place the meat in a big bowl or a giant plastic bag and pour the marinade over it. It doesn’t have to be something you can seal, just something you can cover. The amount of vinegar in the marinade is going to keep it from going bad while it sits.
Anyway, seal or cover whatever the meat is in and throw it in the fridge. Turn it in the morning and at night if it isn’t fully submerged. After at least 3 days, but preferably 7-10, transfer the meat and the marinade to a baking dish, add the sugar, and roast for 3-4 hours at 350. It might go faster than that, check the temperature after 3 hours to see. Once it’s done, transfer the meat to a plate. Be careful with this step, because the vinegar will tenderize it to the point that it may fall apart if you just use a meat fork. Use tongs to help yourself out.
Pour everything left in the pan in to a saucepan, whisk in the ginger snaps, and simmer for ten minutes or so until they are fully dissolved. If you want a thicker gravy, this is the point to beat in some flour as well. Strain the gravy to get rid of the solids. Slice the roast and serve with gravy, spaetzle, red cabbage, and probably some antacids, honestly. It’s great but you’ll eat yourself into a coma.
eatbensmeat 