Perfectly Seasoned
The podcast about all things culinary.
Perfectly Seasoned
S3 E46 Sauerbraten
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This classic German pot roast is marinated for several days in a mixture of vinegar and aromatic pickling spices. It is then slow-braised until fork-tender and served with a rich, slightly sweet-sour gingersnap gravy.
Hello and welcome to Perfectly Seasoned, the podcast about all things culinary. I'm your personal chef, Greg Strom. Often considered this country's national pot roast, it is one of the most iconic German comfort foods. What is it? Stay tuned! Welcome, fellow foodies. Being of German heritage, today's recipe is one of my most favorite childhood flavor memories. My maternal grandparents were first generation generation German American farmers. They had 11 children. So growing up, our annual family reunions were epic. But anyway, my grandmother was an amazing cook and she cooked for the entire family. And she cooked traditional German recipes because, as a first generation German, that's what she had learned. Among my favorite meals that she prepared was sauerbraten or German pot roast. Every country has its version of pot roast, and Germany is no different. Sauerbratten is a traditional German pot roast, and it's usually served with sweet and sour red cabbage or egg dumplings. That's how I grew up with it. And it's very simple. It's just made by marinating beef roast in a mixture of vinegar, water, wine, if you want to, onions, pickling spices for up to three days. And then you braise it in that same marinade, and the gravy is made from the marinade strained plus ginger snap crumbs and honey. Now I know that sounds a little bizarre, but the result is truly phenomenal. And it's gotten its roots in the Middle Ages. And since there was no refrigeration, German households had to figure out how to marinade so that it would keep the extend the shelf life of the meat. So it's usually made with beef bottom round, rump roast, or sirloin. However, historically, there were areas where it was made with horse meat. And this recipe, I guarantee you, is not made with horse meat. So on the on the phone here, joining me on the phone today is a good friend, Wayne Lewis. He's also, full disclosure, Wayne is a friend of ours. He's also an excellent cook and an all-around good guy. And also on the phone today with me is home from his travels, is my husband Tim. And actually, Wayne's husband David is in the air even as we speak. And Wayne actually took over the preparation of this recipe for the podcast. And I'm very grateful. Hello there, Wayne. Hello there.
SPEAKER_03Tim and Greg, it's nice, nice. Thank you for letting me participate in this. It's been fun cooking these recipes.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice. And just an FYI, I'm putting this out there. We're going to be going into, believe it or not, season four of Perfectly Seasoned starting. I don't know where I don't know where the time went. But I'm hoping that you and David will continue to participate because we've been to your house several times for dinner, and it's always phenomenal. And I'm, you know, I'm always asking you for the recipe. So this is a great way to get them. So let's do it. Let's do it. So have you have you ever made sauerbraten before?
SPEAKER_03No. This was my first time doing it. And so just so the listeners will understand, my husband, Dave, is Pennsylvania Dutch. Their families came to the United States back in the 1700s, and he he he does some fairly good accents, which are always entertaining to talk. Sour Sour Bratton, I took over cooking it because of Dave's travel schedule. So it's not something that's in my vocabulary of household cooking. My mother was a relatively southern cook. She was from Northern Florida. Her mother was from South Georgia. And there were there were always black ladies cooking in the house for her growing up as a kid. So my childhood was largely Southern cooking, with strangely a little bit of Jamaican, because my my father's mother came to the United States from Jamaica.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm actually glad to hear that you this is your first attempt at making sour bra. People who are not shy, don't shy away from trying new things. And since this is your first time, I always ask every one of the guest home cooks, it's the same question. Did you follow the recipe exactly as written?
SPEAKER_03I followed the recipe exactly as written. Oh, I asked me not to earlier. So I did, and I I cooked it, but there there might be a couple of I Mine turned out a little bit tough. And I think I would have cooked it in a pressure cooker if I had it to do again so that it would more things. Well, part of the problem could have been I couldn't find a six-pound rump roast. You shop in bougier stores than I do because the biggest I could find was a four-pound rump roast. Well, that would work perfectly. Yeah, it worked. It worked just fine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got mine at Publix. I got mine at Publix. So I just had them cut it. But the reason that I I'm I'm glad you mentioned the thing about the size of the roast because and also the toughness, depending on the type of beef, you can actually use more tender cuts like a pot a regular American pot roast, a chuck would probably work. A chuck shoulder would probably work. Oh, I'm sure it would. And it would definitely be it would definitely be more tender than a rump roast because there's not a whole lot of fat on a rump roast. It's very lean.
SPEAKER_03So now parts of the cut were were nice and tender. There were parts that were tougher. And I was discussing it with my husband, Dave, and he he thought maybe we could put it in the instant pot, the rest the rest of the leftovers, and cook it for a little bit longer just to soften it. Absolutely. We'll see whether that happens or whether we just please report back. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Well I I I also did it this week. We had company over on Thursday evening. So I served I I m started marinating on on I actually started marinating it on Monday. My grandmother used to actually marinate it for up to 72 hours.
SPEAKER_03But I I did two days.
SPEAKER_01That's usually what I do, but I thought I've got the time, I might as well just do three. So and it, I honestly, it didn't really make that much difference as far as the marinade goes. And you know, if it's two or three days, I because I normally have done it as two, but I thought, oh, I got the day, let's just see what happens. And I've made this recipe multiple times, and I I don't usually have to vary any anything. So what what what did you think of the the marinade?
SPEAKER_03When I was making it, I had my doubts because I I ended up using the the majority of an entire you know, whatever those are three-ounce jar of pickling spice. There was just a little bit left. And I thought, this is gonna be an assertive marinade. And but then when it was finally cooked, I I found it it mellowed out really nicely, and I I thought it it worked. And and also my gravy thickened with just one cup of the ginger snap cookies uh crumbs. So so that from a the perspective of quantities and thickening, the recipe definitely worked. My only complaint was that that I I think I could I would have used a a fattier piece of meat or one that or just changed the cooking method and then make the gravy on the stove with the juices that came out of the instant pot.
SPEAKER_01Well, I would uh I don't have a pressure cooker, but I do know uh I've used them when I worked in restaurants and they that would definitely that would definitely make a slight difference in the the texture. And it it it's the flavor, it's not necessary to have it so that it's perfectly sliced. It it's a pot roast. A pot roast doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be solid. So I've made pot roast depending on the cut of meat where for the same amount of time, uh but each uh cut of meat uh cooks differently, and fattier cuts of meat tend to fall apart in the same cooking time that you would a non-fatty cut of meat. So I think that could be, you know, if you if you ever decide to make this again, uh this is the reason that I ask people to do the recipe as written, because if anything that they don't care for, if they futz with it when they're making it, they'll never know whether or not the the what they did is the reason that it happened or uh what the original actually so you have a baseline. So now that you've followed it exactly, now you can actually you know try it in uh a pressure cooker, which I think is a great idea. Isn't an Instapot, that's that's a pressure cooker, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03Yes, that's what that's what we use, and they're really not terribly expensive. I I think on you know Amazon Prime Days you can get one for like $85 or so. We we use ours all the time and make ribs in them, and they're pretty versatile.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, the reason that I don't know, I guess I'm kind of an old-fashioned uh this because my grandmother's the one that taught really is the basis for why I cook and how I cook. My favorite cooking pot is a Dutch oven. That's what I've grown up with. I it's basically a slow version of an Instapot. And it yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. Well, I used a Lake Crusade Dutch oven that my daughter gave me for Christmas this last year. So I'm I I I smiled when I pulled it out and thanked Francine for that. So that's nice.
SPEAKER_02Isn't that great?
SPEAKER_01Well, let me just say about that. That's actually one of my favorite things about doing this podcast, is people discover the joy of something as simple as a gift pot. You know, it it's about cooking, cooking has become over the years, and I'm I'm sure you you will attest to this when you watch the food channel, it's it's become competitive, it's become kind of bizarre about ingredients and things. And people have lost the joy of just cooking. It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And the journey is using utensils that bring back uh m good memories of your grandparents or your daughter, or the types of food that you've eaten. It's more, it's for me, that's what cooking is about. And the whole idea of this podcast is to try to bring that joy back. That instead of having to say, oh my God, I have to cook dinner tonight. So it should be an occasion. That's that's my feeling about it.
SPEAKER_03Well, one of the nice things about the relationship, my relationship with my husband is we're both good cooks and we both enjoy cooking. It's part of our, you know, how we care for one another is to make ring food. And so in our household, whoever gets home first cooks that night. And there's there's often when we have dinner parties, a little bit of competition of who's who gets to cook that night. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I just remember the last time that we came over to your house, Virginia, and you did a delicious salmon dish. It was so awesome. It was unbelievable. For the night with oranges, and it was so delicious.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah, and you know, I created that. Yes, I know you were one that I kind of did over time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think we might have to put that out there for our other home guest home cooks next year. We'll try the recipe and then add that to the podcast. So yeah. So let me ask you, other than the timing or the uh the uh type of you know, like pressure cooking, was there anything about the recipe that you would like to change or might make it better?
SPEAKER_03I don't know that I would have browned if if I weren't following the recipe, I would not have browned the meat in bacon fat. I personally would only have done it in olive oil. I try to avoid those little daily additions of cholesterol into my diet. That's the only thing I would have done differently. It's okay to just lighten it up a little bit with olive oil instead of bacon fat.
SPEAKER_01And that's a very valid, very valid concern. Growing up on the farm, that's what they used for fat was beef tallow and and bacon fat. So it doesn't believe me.
SPEAKER_03As a child, as a child growing up, there was always a jar or can of a container of bacon grease next to the stove. Oh yeah. Um they they used to tease my grandmother that she started off a pound cake with bacon grease.
SPEAKER_01Okay, full disclosure here, I not only have one just the drippings from one pound of bacon, I have six six pints of homemade bacon fat that I save in the freezer. Yes, it does. I just can't further. I can't I can't bring myself to get rid of it. So I give it out to people if they want it. But that being said, there is absolutely no reason you could not use like a vegetable oil or a canola oil. Or I will say though, the bacon grease does add a certain layer, a small layer of flavor. But it's not necessary and it isn't going to change anything in the recipe if you decide to do that. So this is the one reason, again, that I like people to try the recipe as written so that they can actually make it their own if they decide to try it again. And hopefully they'll share that with somebody else. So there's kind of a method to the mass madness. What did you serve a c a wine, any kind of a wine with it?
SPEAKER_03No, I didn't. I I just I made it last night and I was home by myself, and so I really that's all I had for dinner was a couple of slices of of the the the pot roast with with the gravy, and it was delicious.
SPEAKER_01Oh well, you have a you have a lot of leftover meat, I can tell you that. If it was a four-pound roast, then yeah.
SPEAKER_03There is a there is a good bit, good bit left, but thankfully Dave's coming home this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, good. Did you serve any any did you just do the roast or did you serve any side dishes with it? Any no, since it was just myself, I really didn't make a new production with it.
SPEAKER_03I was I was testing a recipe.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that's perfectly valid. That's a you know, that's that's kind of what this is about. But traditionally, I know growing up, we had my my grandmother made uh sweet and sour red cabbage and also egg dumplings. And if it's basically uh the country version of Spetzel, which is more a more formal pasta, basically.
SPEAKER_03What we've been doing a lot at home rather than um say mashed potatoes is celery root, celerac. We'll just buy a buy a big celery root and slice it up and peel it, and then boil it, put it in the in the food processor with some half and half and a little white pepper and salt, and it makes a delicious substitute for mashed potatoes. And I honestly, you can whip it and whip it, and it does it never gets gummy, and it then you have a low-carb substitution for mashed potatoes. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01That would, you know, there again, I I did not make the egg dumplings, I just made mashed potatoes. But uh, I would certainly give that a shot because I I like celery roots.
SPEAKER_03So it's yeah because we it's become our uh we we actually prefer it to mashed potatoes these days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we've actually used the uh used cauliflower as a substitute for potato as well. So both of those both of those are excellent substitutions if uh and it and there again, the side dishes are uh whatever you want to do. I mean, you can make them or not make them, but I'm I have to be honest with you, I am very impressed. You might be the only guest home cook and that has followed the recipe to the letter. So for that, you you you you get a gold star, a gold star. I'm I'm a good boy. Yeah, yeah, you so it uh we actually served, I think we did we we served a Pinot Noir, I think, didn't we?
SPEAKER_02It was a Beaujolais. A Beaujolais. Yeah, I mean it was yeah, it was French. It was the Louis Jadeau, and that was that went really well. Actually, you and our guests had that. I actually was drinking a white Bordeaux, which really did well, especially with the gravy and the meat, and which really shows you that you don't need to really pair red with red meat or white. This the white Bordeaux did stood up really well. Well to the meat.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I told you, Wayne, but we have uh uh a resident Somalier, a friend of ours who is going through the the uh international somaliers courses and training training, yeah. And she's in her third year, so she's our resident Somalier. And so what I always do is ask the guests what they served, and then we always have to go to our segment called Wine O'Clock, and we will see uh if if we hit the mark or miss the mark, but just uh full there again, full disclosure. Cynthia always does say drink what you like. So you don't necessarily yeah, so well.
SPEAKER_02I've I have a question for the marinade. What kind of wine did you use? It didn't have any wine in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, not in my recipe. No, it didn't my recipe doesn't either, but uh traditionally the oh you can use you can use everybody ha has had pot roasts. So there are as many pot roast recipes and marinades for pot roast as there are grandmothers.
SPEAKER_02So I mean well, the reason I bring it up is one of the things that Greg Greg's mom used to say, because I know this was a flavor memory for me, just over the years when you would cook for your mother whenever we would visit her, or if she came down to Florida. And her comment is that Greg is a fancy cook because he uses wine. And that was always just that that tickled us because we said, Well, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. The great thing about having my mother was also an excellent cook. Yes, but and she had six other sisters. There were 11 kids, uh, seven, seven girls and four boys. And of course, living on the farm, all the girls knew how to cook just like grandma. So so growing up, even after grandma died, it was still we were still eating grandma's cooking. So mom was an excellent cook, and I learned from her and from from my grandmother. But when they all they all use basically the same recipes and I tweak some of them here and there, but the it's it's all just a it's all just handed down in the family. And this recipe in particular, I've discovered that uh recipes in general that are handed down from families start with the basic traditional recipe, and then each family makes it their own. And sauer bratton is no different than any other family recipe that's been handed down. It gets tweaked over the years to make it to your taste. So this recipe in particular, if there's anything that you don't particularly care for or would want to add, it doesn't, it's it's not so much about following that rest, you know, the recipe forever. It's about following it the first time and then making the changes that you would require to make it yours. Well, listen, we're going to head over to wine o'clock. I just want to thank you once again, Wayne, and say hi to David when he gets home. And I can't wait to see you guys. And we'll and we could actually do um a joint venture and have a have like a pot luck, would be fun. That'd be great. Thank you very much for having me. It was it was a lot of fun. Oh, thanks. And we will talk to you again soon. Bye now. Okay. Okay, now we're gonna head over to Cynthia and wine o'clock. Hey, Cynthia.
SPEAKER_00Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_01Hello, hello. Well, this recipe has a very special place in my heart because I grew up with this, and this is the same recipe that my grandmother made. I there are no changes whatsoever. It's a very hearty, rich, creamy, uh spicy, sweet, sour. It has all of the things that I can't wait to hear what you're gonna recommend.
SPEAKER_00So this one, I really went off the beaten path here with this dish. So I chose for the white a Sauvignon from Noura in eastern France. Yes. So it's a white variety, it produces grapes with a nice thick skin, high acid. It has a little bit of earth, spice, citrus, white flowers, nuts, lemon, apple. So it kind of covers all the bases.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say it kind of has as many ingredients as the sour broth.
SPEAKER_00Yes. They actually use this to make vinjones, or please excuse my French pronunciation of the word yellow, but a yellow wine. So they actually make a sherry out of this wine. It's not fortified, but they age it under yeast and they do all of this stuff. It's very famous, but they also use this grape to make just a dry, nice white table wine. So maybe not one that your listeners have sought out or looked for, but we are all about branching out, you know, and trying and trying new things. So Sauvignon and Sablanc are genetically related, but they're very, very different in the glass. So yeah, yeah. So, but I think everyone would uh, you know, they're adventurous and give it a try.
SPEAKER_01Well, if you text me, I'll include it up a link on with some information about that as well. And uh honestly, you know what I thought you were gonna suggest? Only because I'm German. And I know I'm I just have to say, I I thought it was probably gonna be a Gewürt's demeanor or you know, like a German white, but I'm pleasantly surprised. That'll keep you on your toes. I know, I know. But I'm glad I honestly I'm glad you didn't because I am not I'm really not a fan of the German wines, but just because they're a little too sweet for me, just a little too sweet. But this this wine that you were talking about, definitely I want to give this a shot. So now was that the Can you guess what my red suggested? No, I was just gonna ask you what your red was. I'm as I'm can I guess? I'm gonna I'm I am gonna say a Pinot Noir.
SPEAKER_00Oh well no, but I like it.
SPEAKER_01I I think you're rubbing off on me. You're rubbing off on me.
SPEAKER_00I because I love to say this grape, and I've talked about it before, but blaufronkish.
SPEAKER_01You have talked about this. I don't remember what you said, but you have talked about it.
SPEAKER_00Have you had a blaufronkish?
SPEAKER_01Not that I remember.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So blaufronkish is the parent grape of Gamay and Zwitecout. And Blau, blue references a deep inky color. So it's really, really beautiful in the glass. You know, it's it's it is similar in a lot of ways to Pinot Noir, but with maybe more, slightly more acidity, a dark bit more darker fruit, really more of a death of floral and and spice as well. So, you know, it's maybe one that a Psalms community we really love and we geek out over. You know, it has high tannins and it's you know, it's just really great. So yeah, give Blau Frankish a try.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And you can also text me that one because uh you know I I do more research on these once you send them to me so I can uh understand them and and make sure that the uh listeners ha have a good link to go to to try these things because I'm always encouraging them to branch out.
SPEAKER_02So now question is this also is this from France? Do they also grow it in other places like Hungary?
SPEAKER_00Yes, they do, but you're gonna find, you know, Austria is really kind of like where you're gonna find the the best, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_02Got it. Okay.
SPEAKER_00And it's an Austrian grape. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Go crazy.
SPEAKER_01No, that that's terrific. No. You never cease to amaze me. You always come up with something that it's kind of a curveball.
SPEAKER_02We served a pinot noir, Greg, when we had this. We we did the Louise Vadeau, and we we also had Death Sover, and they enjoyed it. They enjoyed it with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I do love Louis Jigel. They're a great producer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's one of our favorites. But the other thing, too, with this, it's not just the sauer broth and this is actually an entire event. It was kind of Oktoberfest in July, is what it turned out to be. Yes, it was. But I also served my grandmother's uh sweet and sour red cabbage. And instead of making the egg dumplings, uh, I kind of ran out of time. So I just used uh mashed potatoes, which worked actually well because you've got something a nice vehicle for the gravy, which is quite phenomenal. So but yeah, the the wine, everybody enjoyed it, and this dish, if anything, I I hope the listeners really try this dish because it does. It's basically German pot roast and it's elevated. It's really elevated, and these wines will be fantastic with it. So once again, Cynthia, thank you. If you have any questions about today's recipe, or if you would like to be a guest at home cook on Perfectly Seasoned, please email me at thesilvershef.net. And I'd like to thank today's guest home cook Wayne for stepping up and preparing this recipe. And he will be back next season, actually, to be doing uh some more recipes. And you can listen to perfectly seasoned on my website, thesilverchef.net, my Facebook page, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcast. Until next time, this is your personal chef, Greg Strom, thanking you for joining me today on Perfectly Seasoned. And remember to eat fresh. May the fork be with you, and may all your days be perfectly seasoned.