Sauebrauten A Classic Recipe-Perfect and Easy for October

I have a big weakness for Holliday themed and seasonal recipes.  I love making pumpkin for Halloween, turkey for thanksgiving, latkes for Channukah , roast for Christmas, corned beef for St. Patrick's day and so on.  There are just certain foods I have to have at certain times of the year.   October is no different,  in October I'm thinking pumpkins of course,

image source






but also Oktoberfest.

Image Source

I already have the perfect pumpkin recipe, Dorie Greenspan's pumpkin stuffed with everything good, but I was lacking an Oktoberfest appropriate recipe.   Of course it had to be German and preferably old fashioned.  I settled on Sauerbrauten, German Pot Roast, because there is nothing more reminiscent of a mid century family meal then a big delicious pot roast:

image source

During the coarse of my searching for an appropriate recipe I discovered that German's would never actually eat Sauerbrauten during Oktoberfest it being more of a sausage time.  However, I decided not to be dissuaded and to forge ahead with my own traditions.

October the perfect time for Sauerbrauten, image source

I choose Alton Brown's recipe as featured on kitchn.  Now Sauerbrauten takes some time to make, three days in all, but in all that time you barely have to do more then stir, this is a seriously easy recipe. 


Sauerbraten
2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped, or 2 to 3 small
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional for seasoning meat
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
12 juniper berries
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) bottom round
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
18 dark old-fashioned gingersnaps crumbled
a few handfuls golden raisins

You start by making a vinegar marinade.  To do this you combining the water, vinegars, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, and spices in a large pot which you bring to a boil and then simmer for ten minutes.  Set aside the marinade to cool while you season your meat with salt and pepper and brown I on all sides in a skillet coat with the vegetable oil.  It should take about five minutes per side.  Next add the meat to the vinegar marinade.  Cover the pot and store it in the refrigerator for three days.  During this time you will turn the roast once a day.

On the third day remove the pot from the fridge

 and preheat the oven to 325 Sprinkle the sugar over the meat and roast the meat in the pot for 4 hours until very tender.  Remove from the oven and transfer the meat to a platter.  Strain the vegetables and spices from the sauce in the pot and bring it to a simmer on the stove top.  Mix in the crumbled ginger snaps and stir well.  Just before serving stir in the raisins and pour the sauce over the meat.  Delicious!  This recipe is definitely going into my seasonal rotation, and I'm also sure I'll be making it after October is a distant memory.

Serve with ricotta spaetzle,  make sure to double the recipe,  German red cabbage, and of course plenty of Oktoberfest beer!


Note: Not pictured in the above photo is the dogs who where going crazy begging for a taste!

 

Cinema Spotlight-Brides of Dracula 1960

Hammer Horror the British studio that dominated horror films in the 1950s and 60s specialized in blending a certain aristocratic British air with B movie chills and made quite a few entertaining films.  My personal favorite of which is the somewhat hard to find Brides of Dracula, the 1960 sequel to the 1958 film The Horror of Dracula:

 

 

With its lush sets and beautiful costumes shot in bright technicolor Brides of Dracula is a feast for the eyes.

Despite the title Dracula actually no appearance in the film, he is recently dead as explained in the opening voice over spoken  by Peter Cushing's Van Helsing:

Translyvania, land of dark forests, dread mountains and black unfathomable lakes. Still the home of magic and devilry as the nineteenth century draws to its close. Count Dracula, monarch of all vampires is dead. But his disciples live on to spread the cult and corrupt the world..."

 

 

Instead of Dracula the film stars the pretty Yvonne Monlaur as Marienne a French school teacher

 

 

 

 

In the films opening Marianne is shown in a carriage barelling through the Translyvanian countryside in a ride reminiscent of Jonathon Harker's famed coach ride with the count.

 

This coat is absolutely gorgeous.

 

 

 

The coach stops at a local inn, again in a nod to the original Dracula, where the coach man tipped off by a mysterious figure in black abandons Marianne, much to the horror of the inn keeper and his wife.  

 

 

 

 

 

Not long after a handsomely dressed old woman, the Baroness arrives,

 

 

 

 

 and invites Marianne back to her home for the night.  The cultured Marianne agrees, despite the protests of the inn keeper and his wife. 

 

 Brides of Dracula has some of the most beautiful Gothic sets in vintage horror and the Baroness's castle doesn't disappoint

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over dinner the  Baroness eats nothing, preferring, unlike Dracula, to drink only wine. 

 

 

 

I love this very 1960s meets Victorian  hair and the  60ish take on Victorianna  in the  grey dress with tartan trim.

 

 

as she regales Marianne with tales of her handsome son Baron Meinster , glimpsed by Marianne earlier.  According to the Baroness he is insane and must be confined, but its pretty clear to even the most amature horror film viewer that the Baroness has sized Marianne up as a snack for her son.

 

Marianne however is sympathetic to the young man's plight, when she sees him chained up in the castle.  She rushes to his aide, in a lovely 1960s meets Victorian lilac night gown

 

 

 

 

 

 

and releases him.  The distraught Baroness berates her for what she has done.

Marianne listens to her pleas from the protective embrace of Baron Meinster

 

 

 

and when he orders her to her room she readily complies.  When she returns she finds the Baron gone, the Baroness dead with two puncture holes in her neck, and the Gypsy servant Gretta in the midst of one of horror's great hysterical rants. Apparently the Baron might be a monster but his old nanny has his back.

 

 

 

 

 

Marianne flees the castle and is found collapsed in the woods in the morning by Dr. Van Helsing who has been called to the area to investigate suspicion of Vampirism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Van Helsing takes Marianne into his carriage and listens to the story of her adventure.  He explains he is a Doctor studying a strange disease, affecting members of the cult of the undead.  Sizing the pretty Marianne up as prime Vampire bate and the Baron's  next intended bride he asks for her help.  Marianne readily agrees despite remaining unaware of the Baron's condition.  Her promise of help secured, Van Helsing drops Marianne off at the school where she will be teaching,

 

 

 

an institution clearly stuffed to the gills with Vampire snacks.

 

 

While Marianne settles into her new job Van Helsing confers with the local priest who is dealing with the problem of a young girl who has been bitten by the Baron.  Her distraught father is unwilling to accept that she is undead and has buried her on church grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Van Helsing attempts to stake her but with the assistance of the Baron's Renfield like servant Gretta she escapes. 

 

 

 Meanwhile the Baron arrives at the school and proposes marriage to Marianne who eagerly accepts.  However, he is interrupted before he can bite her and must settle for her jealous starry eyed roommate Gina, whom he easily transforms from an innocent young teacher to a bride of hell.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Van Helsing is putting an end to the Baroness who has been transformed into an unhappy member of the cult of the undead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He returns to the distressing news that Marianne is engaged to the Vampire Baron and Gina is dead.   Van Helsing orders the school staff to keep a watch over Gina's coffin and while Marianne is on duty Gina rises from the grave

 

 

apologizes for stealing her boy friend and suggests they "kiss" to make up.

 

 

 

However, before Marianne can be bitten, Van Helsing arrives to save her and once he gains the information he needs to find the Baron he again takes care of the local Vampire issues.

 

 

 

 

All in all Brides of Dracula is an entertaining film with a good story line and a fantastic Victorian Gothic meets early 1960s style.  Its not available for rent or instant viewing on Netflix or Amazon Prime but it is a part of the Hammer Horror Series, a box set eight films available for the bargain price of $15.99





Not Quite Wordless Wednesday-Sleepy Hollow

Last weekend we took a day trip to Sleepy Hollow, New York.  I wanted to see the Sleepy Hollow cemetery, though I never located Washington Irving's tomb, and the Stone Barns farm. Stone Barns was beautiful, even, or perhaps especially, on a rainy day,  but the one big disappointment was I thought they didn't allow dogs and it turned out they do!  We will back soon with our dogs in tow.  Stone barns and Sleepy Hollow are about an hour away from the Jersey City/NYC metro area.