Weinbraten is essentially a piece of meat that you braise in an aromatic bath of wine, onions, bacon, pickling spices (cinnamon, cloves, mustard, bay leaf, etc.), brown sugar and wine vinegar. For hours. Did I tell you how wonderful my house smells?
Grandma learned to cook from her mother who had worked as a cook for some nobleman before she was married, so her recipes are also a true piece of German history. Here is how to make your own house smell like a German Christmas:
Auntie Norma's Weinbraten
1 silvertip beef (sirloin tip roast) or rump roast, washed & patted dry and then larded with hickory-smoked bacon
2 onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
-
Pour some oil in a pot and cut 3 slices of bacon into parts and fry.
-
Put in the meat and brown on all sides.
-
Slice in two onions and cook over med. high heat.
-
Make sure meat is browned on all sides and remove from pot.
-
Lower heat to med. and add brown sugar and stir with the onions till the sugar caramelizes.
Add:
½ bottle of dry white wine
1 c. wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. whole juniper berries
salt to taste
1 Tbsp. Pickling spices, making sure it includes bayleaf
Browned silvertip beef
-
Cook SLOWLY -- 3 hours on low heat on top of stove.
-
Taste and add 1 beef bouillon cube.
-
Keep adding wine as you go and before the roast is finished you should have used the whole bottle (not in you -- but in the pot).
-
Refrigerate for 2 days.
-
On the day of serving, put the braten in the oven -- covered -- at 275° or lower and cook slowly for 2 hours. If liquid is lost, add more wine.
-
Take the meat out and thicken the gravy with flour or cornstarch. Add 2 Tbsp. currant jelly for flavor.
Serve with potato dumplings, and red cabbage or weinkraut. Use the same wine as was used in the cooking.
