Meat and Ginger Snaps?

[Ken]

Hi. I'm looking for a recipe involving meat and ginger snaps. It's a
sweet and sour dish. My mother-in-law used to make it, and now her
daughter (my wife) is trying to find the recipe.

Thanks!

Ken

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rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
<http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj>
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[arlene]

That sounds like saurbrauten. Not hard to find.

Arlene

[Ken]

Ken wrote:
> Hi. I'm looking for a recipe involving meat and ginger snaps. It's a
> sweet and sour dish. My mother-in-law used to make it, and now her
> daughter (my wife) is trying to find the recipe.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Ken
>

Here's a follow-up. I just found out that the recipe uses ground beef.
Perhaps that doesn't matter, though, since the sauce would probably be
the same?

Thanks again,

[The Old Bear]

"Ken" <kena...@yahoo.com> writes:

>From: "Ken" <kena...@yahoo.com>
>Newsgroups: rec.food.cuisine.jewish
>Subject: Meat and Ginger Snaps?
>Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 07:24:36 CST
>
>Hi. I'm looking for a recipe involving meat and ginger snaps. It's a
>sweet and sour dish. My mother-in-law used to make it, and now her
>daughter (my wife) is trying to find the recipe.

You should be able to use these two variations of "sauerbraten" (see
below) to come up with something to your liking.

As you can see from these recipes, there is a lot of room for
improvisation, innovation, and interpretation. There are literally
hundreds more sauerbraten recipes which you can find in the various
online recipe databases and in published cookbooks, old and new.
Most do not use "ginger snaps" but many do.

(I suspect that the use of "ginger snaps" is a 20th-century American
idea -- just a clever way to use readily-available commercial cookies
from the local supermarket to add flavor and sweetness and to thicken
the gravy.)

SOUR BEEF WITH GINGER SNAP GRAVY (GERMAN)

1 1/2 pounds less expensive cut of beef
equal parts water and vinegar (sufficient to cover meat)
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons mixed pickling spices (tied in cloth bag)
3 Tablespoons shortening
12 crushed ginger snaps (or more)

Place meat in large bowl and cover with equal parts vinegar
and water. Add onion and spices. Let stand overnight or
longer (as much as several days). Remove meat from liquid.
(Save liquid). Brown meat in heavy skillet in 3 tablespoons
shortening.

Cook meat slowly for 2 hours or more until tender in the
saved pickling liquid. Remove meat, add ginger snaps which
have been dissolved in cold water. Cook until thickened.
Slice meat and return to gravy.

POTATO DUMPLINGS (To serve with Sour Beef and gravy)

2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
flour
croutons or crisp squares of toast

Mix and add enough flour to keep from sticking to hands.
Form into balls and use approximately 4 small croutons or
toast squares in center to form balls. Boil in salted
water (tightly covered vessel) for 20 minutes. Serve with
sour beef and gravy.

Serves 4.

source:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1727,149173-249207,00.html

------------------------------------------------------------

SAUERBRATEN, LOUISIANA-STYLE

Sauerbraten, or sweet and sour roast beef, is normally made
with a beef top or rump roast. When the Germans settled
Louisiana, they altered the recipe slightly in some
neighborhoods and used cubed beef rather than whole roast
in the recipe.

5 pounds beef rump roast, cubed
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
10 whole cloves
6 bay leaves
6 whole peppercorns
1 purple onion, sliced
2 slices lemon
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup Ginger Snap cookies, broken
1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup parsley, chopped
hot cooked noodles

In a crock or large bowl, combine water, wine vinegar, sugar,
salt, ginger, cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, onion and
lemon slices. Stir well to incorporate all spices. Add beef,
coat well with marinade and refrigerate overnight, turning
meat occasionally.

In a large heavy-bottomed dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high
heat. Remove meat from the liquid and reserve marinade. Place
meat in the dutch oven and brown well. Add onions, celery,
carrots, garlic and green onions. Sauté into the meat mixture
for 3 to 5 minutes, or until vegetables are wilted. Add
reserved marinade, bring to a rolling boil, cover and reduce
heat to simmer. Allow meat to cook approximately 2 hours,
checking occasionally for tenderness. Add additional liquid,
beef or chicken stock to help flavor the sauce.

Using a slotted spatula, remove meat from the liquid and set
aside. Stir in ginger snaps and raisins and cook until sauce
is thickened. Return meat to the pot and blend well into the
mixture. Season to taste with salt and cracked black pepper.

Serve over hot noodles and garnish with parsley.

source:
http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/meats/beef60.htm

If your grandmother came from northern Europe, she probably had her own
favorite recipe for this dish. This is your opportunity to experiment
and come up with your own version which will become your family
tradition.

Have fun and enjoy!

Cheers,
The Old Bear

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -
... and with a resounding splash, Noah sent forth from the ark a Dov ... ©
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -

[Jens Richter]

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 17:43:45 -0600, The Old Bear wrote:
[...]

> POTATO DUMPLINGS (To serve with Sour Beef and gravy)
>
> 2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
> 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
> 1 large egg
> flour

better: potato flour (2 parts of potatoes, 1 part of potato flour)
and add 1-2 tsp of sunflower oil.

Shabbat shalom

Jens

[W. Baker]

Ken <kena...@yahoo.com> wrote:
: Hi. I'm looking for a recipe involving meat and ginger snaps. It's a

: sweet and sour dish. My mother-in-law used to make it, and now her
: daughter (my wife) is trying to find the recipe.

: Thanks!

: Ken

My Mother made, and now, I make a gingersnap sauce tht can be (with
adjustments) be used either on poached salmon slices(using some of the
poaching water) or on doked tounge(using some of the tounge cooking
water). I don't have the recipe at my vacatin home, but the ingredients
are onions, a thinly sliced lemon, brown sugar(just a little) the dooking
liquid and as a final ingredient, the ginger snaps. I can't give the
exact quantities, but it is not a terribly precise recipe. Yu put the
sauce on teh hot fish or meat and can serve the disy either hot of cooled
inthe sauce.

Hope this helps.

Wendy Baker