Sauerbraten in Rhineland style with potato dumplings and red cabbage

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef (or oxen meat)
• 2 onions
• 1 bundle soup vegetables
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 1 tsp juniper berries
• 1 Garlic clove
• 400 ml dry red wine
• 100 ml white vinegar
• 40 g clarified butter
• flour (for coating)
• 250 ml meat broth
• 1 piece bread crust (or savory cookie)
• Salt
• ground pepper
• 30 g clarified butter
• 20 g sugar
• 40 g flour
• 4 tbsp raisins
• 1 tsp cornstarch (optional)
• 750 g red cabbage
• 1 onion
• 2 sour apples
• 50 g butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 150 ml water
• 50 ml red wine
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp currant jam
• Salt
• ground pepper
• 1 packet ready-made potato dumpling dough (for raw dumplings)
• 1 stale roll
• butter (for toasting)
• 1 tsp Cornstarch

Instructions

1. 1.

   Prepare the marination first. Clean the onion and soup vegetables and cut into cubes (~1 cm). Place the meat with the vegetables in a sealable container. Sprinkle the spices and peeled garlic cloves over it. Pour wine and vinegar over everything, seal, and let the meat marinate for at least 3 days, turning daily. Heat clarified butter in a braising pot. Remove the meat from the marination, pat dry, coat with flour, and brown on all sides in hot butter. Add some vegetables from the marination and brown them too. Then pour in a bit of marination liquid and meat broth, close the pot, and braise. Add more liquid as needed during cooking. Braising time is 1½–2½ hours depending on size. For the sauce melt fat in another pan, brown sugar until pale yellow, add flour, roast to golden, then pour in braising liquid. Simmer ~10 minutes. Strain if desired, add raisins, bring to a boil again, and thicken with a little cornstarch slurry. Clean, chop the cabbage head, removing the core. Dice onion and apples finely. Melt butter, brown sugar lightly, add onion and apple cubes, sauté briefly, then add cabbage, deglaze with vinegar (for color!), season, add remaining spices, cover with water and wine, and simmer on medium heat for ~45 minutes until tender. Add liquid if needed and finish with jam. For dumplings cut the stale roll into small cubes. Melt enough butter in a pan so the cubes can lightly absorb it. Toast the bread cubes golden brown, season lightly. Boil salted water in a large pot. Knead the ready dough slightly. With damp hands form 6–8 dumplings and press toasted bread cubes inside. Stir cornstarch with cold water, add to boiling salted water, drop dumplings, and cook gently for 10–15 minutes.