Authentic Sauerbraten Recipe Germany, Europe

Slice the onion and the carrots, and coarsely chop up the garlic. Add them to a large pot together with all the other marinade ingredients, except wine. Bring to a boil, then set aside and wait until it cools to room temperature. Pour in the wine. Transfer the marinade into a large plastic or porcelain bowl, then submerge the meat in the marinade. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 3 to 10 days, depending on size and preference, but the longer, the better.

Pat dry the meat and filter the marinade. Keep the vegetables. Season the meat with salt and pepper, then sear in a large pot, or a Dutch oven. Add the reserved vegetables and spices from the marinade, then sauté them shortly until browned. Pour in a pint of the marinade and the red wine, then add the raisins, apple syrup, blackcurrant jelly, and half of the gingerbread cookies. Bring to a boil.

Cover with a lid and put in an oven preheated to 150°C to cook for two hours, adding water from time to time. Take the meat out of the pot and keep warm, preferably in the oven. Sieve the sauce into a large saucepan, then add the cream. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the sauce thickens a bit and add the remaining gingerbread cookies (crushed). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and if necessary, add more water and/or red wine.

For the schupfnudels. Wash the potatoes and cook them, peel on, in salted water. Once cooked, wait unit they cool a bit, then peel them, and leave them to cool for 14 minutes. Pass through a potato ricer, then leave to cool for 15 minutes more. Add the starch, flour, eggs, and mace, and knead. Flour your hands, and divide the dough into about 15 mm pieces of dough, then shape each piece of dough into thick rolls. During the entire process always take care your hands are adequately floured. Also, take care that the schupfnudels are not touching one another as they tend to glue together very easily. Cook in salted water for 3-4 minutes. They are cooked once they rise to the surface of the water.

Wash the cabbage, remove the outer leaves, and shred the cabbage. Mix the shredded cabbage with salt and vinegar, then pack it into a mason jar. Keep the cabbage in a closed mason jar for two to three hours. Wash, peel, and core the apples, then cut into small dices. Peel and chop the onions. Sauté the onions, apples, and half of the sugar in butter. Combine the cabbage from the mason jar with onions and apples in a large pot. Sauté shortly until the cabbage has softened. Add the red wine (the same kind as you used for sauerbraten), water, spices, and jelly. Simmer until the cabbage is tender, about an hour.

Serve slices of meat with the sauce and with a side of red cabbage and apples (rotkhol) and schupfnudels.