Sauerbraten

Sauerbraten is beef marinated for days in vinegar and wine, then braised slowly into a sweet-sour sauce. It is the German Sunday roast, and the name says what it is: sauer for the marinade, Braten for the roast.

What it actually is

A joint of beef — topside or shoulder — sits for three to five days, sometimes longer, in a marinade of vinegar and often red wine with onions, juniper berries, cloves and bay. That long soak is the whole point: it seasons the meat right through and tenderises it.

The joint is then browned and braised slowly until it can be cut with a spoon. The strained marinade becomes the sauce.

The Rhenish version is the best known and the sweetest — its sauce is finished with raisins and a little gingerbread (Lebkuchen or Printen), which both thickens it and tips it sweet-sour. Other regions keep it sharper.

How it's served

• With potato dumplings (Klöße), Spätzle, or boiled potatoes to take up the sauce.
• With braised red cabbage (Rotkohl), almost always.
• Sliced thick, with the sauce poured over at the pass.

Writing it on a menu

• Say which regional style you make — the Rhenish one is noticeably sweet, and guests who expect sharp are surprised.
• Name the side: dumplings, Spätzle or potatoes. It is half the plate.
• Note the gluten if you thicken with gingerbread, and mention that it needs days of marinating if you sell it as a limited daily special.