Sauerbraten / Sour Beef Roast
4 to 6 pounds beef roast or flank steak
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon crushed cloves or 3 whole cloves
5 peppercorns
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
2 onions, sliced
Trim meat and place in a large (nonmetal) bowl or crock. Combine vinegar, water, bay leaf, peppercorns, and cloves and pour over meat. Cover and refrigerate two days. Every so often, turn meat and baste.
Drain meat, reserving liquid. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour, teaspoon salt, and dash pepper on meat, all sides. In a roasting pan or large skillet with lid, melt shortening and sauté sliced onion. Add meat and brown. Add marinade and cover. Stew on top of stove, covered (low heat), or roast, covered, at 325° about 1 ½ hours.
Before serving, remove meat and slice. Pour off all but 2 or 3 cups marinade. Heat the marinade and blend in 2 to 4 tablespoons flour to thicken. While stirring, heat gravy until bubbling hot. Add slice meat and serve very hot with potato dumplings, Spӓtzle, or noodles.
Serves six to eight.
This recipe comes from the cookbook Seasons of Plenty: Amana Communal Cooking and is posted with the permission of author Emilie Hoppe. Learn more about the book and how to purchase it.
