Sauerbraten with Sour Beer



Sauerbraten and Potato Pancakes Mmmmm...



I am always surprised to see what a huge business cookbooks continue to be with the advent of the internet, but every time I go to Barnes and Noble (which I am also surprised to see still in business) there are oodles of them. As a fan of both cookbooks and bookstores, it is sad to think of them going by the wayside. I was pissed when large chain book sellers like Barnes and Noble were running out the small independent stores. That being said, I do enjoy browsing through the Wal-Mart of the book store world's aisles sipping an expensive coffee or lounging on a chair next to a cute girl and a strange man with an unlit pipe who curses under his breath every so often. I will be sad to see the big box book store go too. Not only do I enjoy book shops, I really like cookbooks--especially old cookbooks. They read like historical texts to me and I consider them primary source material on what people were eating at a certain time. I can get lost in a book with nothing but recipes using gelatin and the next thing I know I am making Tomato Aspic and a jello tuna salad in an artful mold. My favorite old cookbook is Cooking in Wyoming: South Pass City 1869-1969. The book is full of pioneer recipes that were the recipes of the grandparents and great grandparents of those providing them over 40 years ago. Man, did they cook with a lot of lard and suet back then. The recipe titles are something to behold even before digging into the sometimes horrifying contents of the recipes; Suet Pudding, Marrow Gut, Souse, Rolle-Pilser, Scrapple, Fracadeller, Hasenpfeffer, Dried Venison Meat Loaf, Wood Chuck Pot Pie, Savory Duck Faggots, Calves Brains, Bear Steaks, and many more. The recipe titles represent the varied immigrants who settled Wyoming, using old world cooking techniques and what was available--deer, antelope, pheasant, sage hens, elk, moose etc.--which is not unlike the brewing history in America.

My friend Lucy provided us with half a beef, in additon to Pronghorn and Elk meat this year. I thought I would look through Cooking in Wyoming and find an interesting way to prepare one of the antelope roasts and I stumbled on Sauerbraten. When I mentioned this to my mother, she told me how my grandmother would get so excited when their friends at a neighboring ranch would make Sauerbraten and the entire family would make the trip for the meal. It reminded my grandmother, who was German, of her childhood. This recipe hits home for me since both of my great grandparent's families on my mother's side emigrated from Germany to homestead in Wyoming, where they lived (barely) off of the land.

Sauerbraten is a roast that is pickled (sauer) for many days and then braised (braten) over a few hours. After doing a little research I had a lot of ideas on how to improve this basic recipe but then I decided to ditch them and stick to the guidelines in my cookbook, with the exception of incorporating some sour homebrew into the process. I have a number of sour beers around right now and finally settled on adding a Berliner Weisse to the brine, as well as the sour and smokey Lichtenhainer into the braising liquid, and finally using a Flanders Red to deglaze the pan and start the serving sauce. The marinade seems like it should have salt and sugar but I will leave as is. Also, I don't really like the looks of the Potato Pancake recipe provided, but I will stick to it. Hoping for the best as the sheepherder's mustard and pickled watermelon rinds from the book were tasty.

Sauerbraten with Sour Beer Recipe:



Roast out of the brine

 Day 1:

3 lbs. Antelope Roast

6 C water

1 C Vinegar

12 oz Berliner Weisse homebrew

1 large onion, sliced thin (from garden)

4 cloves garlic (from garden)

Several Bay Leaves

Dried Thyme (from garden)

Handful Pickling Spices

Black Peppercorns

Combine all ingredients and place in fridge to marinate. Make certain you use something non-reactive. The recipe says nothing about keeping the meat cool during the brining process, but I put it in the fridge. I would guess before refrigeration it was just kept dark and cool, and made only certain times of the year, not unlike historic brewing techniques.

Day 4:

22 oz Lichtenhainer homebrew

12 oz Flanders Red homebrew

15 apx. Ginger Snaps, crushed

Drain roast but SAVE THE BRINE. Pat roast dry and brown on all sides in oil in deep pan. Remove meat to roasting dish and add bottle of Lichtenhainer and enough of the original brine to braise. Cover and place in 325F oven until tender. In pan used to sear the roast, deglaze with Flanders Red. Simmer until reduced by 1/2. Remove from heat and set aside. When roast is tender, remove meat and cover with foil tent. Return Flanders mixture to heat and add strained braising liquid. Whisk in crushed ginger snaps until thickened. Slice roast and serve with sauce and potato pancakes. While there is nothing mentioned about ginger snaps in the original recipe, it is a common modern technique for thickening the sauce for this dish which interested me and I wanted to give it a shot. 



Cooked Roast



Potato Pancake:

3 C grated raw potatoes
3 Eggs (from back yard birds)

3 Eggs separated (from back yard birds)

Salt and Pepper

1 1/2 Tbs. flour

Add to the grated potatoes the yolks of 3 eggs, salt, pepper, and flour., fold in beaten whites and fry slowly in bacon fat until brown. (I added quite a bit more flower than called for and made sure to cook at a med-low heat. They were fantastic).

Tasting Notes:

The meal was absolutely delicious with the exception of overcooking the roast a bit. It was tangy and filling with the potato pancakes being a perfect accompaniment. My mother, my sister Juny, and my friend Quinn who recently relocated from Bozeman, MT, enjoyed the dish. We washed it down with a Korean pilsner called, Max, that Juny brought from the Korean market in Los Angeles.