Pull up your chair to the German dinner table and you’ll likely eat a heaping plate of meat and potatoes. You might even encounter a crunchy gingersnap or a soft, spicy gingerbread cookie [Recipe]. What you might not expect, however, is that your cookies could be in your meat dish.
That’s right.
The German dish called Sauerbraten is a slow-cooked pot roast, loaded up with vinegar and a rich, brown gravy thickened with nothing more than cookies. But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
- First, the meat hangs out in a vinegar bath for a week and a half, along with a healthy sprinkle of pickling spices.
- Second, the meat is slow-cooked with the vinegar mixture in a hot oven.
- Third, the vinegar mixture is strained and simmered with finely crushed gingersnaps to make a spicy, tangy brown gravy.
Amazing. I must eat this dish as soon as possible.
What about you? Would you try it?
Happy Fun Fact Friday!
Have a great weekend… hope you have something fun planned.
I would totally try this! Sounds awesome.
I have made a cabbage soup recipe that was thickened with crushed gingersnap cookies and it was phenomenal. Maybe the inspiration comes from this dish.
Perhaps! I have a box of gingersnaps in the pantry and plan on trying something like this soon. Too interesting not to!
I never heard of this method- sounds excellent!
It never fails to amaze me how many interesting techniques are out there in our world… with many of the same ingredients, just different applications.
Wow, I’m not usually someone who cooks multi-day recipes, but this is too intriguing to pass up. I must try making this!
Here’s a video I found of someone making it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3Ov92vMPo Pretty awesome how quickly the cookies thicken the gravy!
One side of my family is German and at least once a year, when we’re all together, my mom makes sauerbraten with potato pancakes (kartufel pfancuken, I believe) and while I like the meat, the pancakes are to die for! And there’s no way in the world my mom has used cookies in her gravy, but I think she should try it!
Yes, show her the video I linked to (above in the comments).. you just might end up with a new family favorite.
I probably live in Sauerbratenland, but in one year and a half I never thought about trying it, although you can find it ready in supermarkets. Now the cookie detail puts those offputting pieces of brown meat in a totally different perspective. I can’t believe how lazy I’ve been when it comes to German food!