Men Who Cook: The Recipe
Sep. 20th, 2009 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneSo the Men Who Cook event went well I thought. I got everything together, arrived on time, set everything up (pictures to come), got the first round of potato latkes into the mini-oven and was ready to serve at 5:30 when the first people showed up. Things were good--latkes in oven, out to cool, topped with the sauerbraten and ginger sauce--including my little spiel about why I was making German food (LOOK AT MY GERMAN BOOK!) . . . until the crowd became overwhelming and I lost the flow. Too many people came and snatched away what I had while a batch of latkes were still in the oven. I had to tell people they'd just have to wait. Some were not happy because their friends had told them the sauerbraten was GOOD and they needed to try it NOW. This is good. This is also why I was supposed to have an assistant (I had one, but she bailed out on me for a vacation offer). My assistant was supposed to be toasting the latkes while I topped them and did my spiel. But it wasn't a disaster. Most waited patiently or said they'd be back later. I missed replacing the latkes I'd taken out once, which is where the flow went wrong, but I recovered. alot of people were interested in the book and since the entire trilogy in hardcover was up for grabs in the silent auction, I think I got quite a few bids. I got a little worried because I began running out of latkes, but by the time the last one vanished the evening was winding down. I put some of the sauerbraten and gingerbread sauce on the plate by itself and handed those out for a while, then went off on my own to sample some of my competition. A few others had run out of food as well, so I didn't feel that bad.
I didn't win anything, but alot of people came back for seconds or thirds and said they'd voted for me, so that made me feel good. I wasn't expecting to win, honestly. (Well, I thought I might have a shot at the "Most Bizarre Food" title.) I went for fun, and fun is what I had.
And now the promised recipes! Here's what I made for the event:
First, you have to make the marinade:
2 cups water
1 cup wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
2 onions
1 carrot
5 peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
Three days before serving (or more), mix all marinade ingredients in large sauce pan. Bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer 15 minutes uncovered. Cool thoroughly.
Next, begin marinading the meat:
2 lb bottom round or rump roast (1 piece)
Pour some marinade in bottom of glass or ceramic casserole or bowl. Put meat in and pour rest of marinade over top. Cover and refrigerate. Turn meat in marinade twice every day for at least 3 days.
Then, you have to make the gingerbread:
8oz unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp WARM milk
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 300. Grease 9" square pan well. Melt butter, sugar, molasses over low heat in large sauce pan. Add eggs, flour, ginger, cinnamon, and mix well. Add milk and baking soda (as you stir in, it will expand rapidly). Remove from heat, pour in pan, and bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool thoroughly. Center will sink and it will be "sticky". Set aside for sauerbraten sauce.
On the day of serving, preheat oven to 350. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Brown on all sides in beef fat removed from roast (if not enough, you may use vegetable oil). Place meat in non-reactive pan or casserole (one you're able to put on top of burner for sauce). Pour marinade through a strainer over meat, roast 1 1/2 hrs and baste often. When meat is well done and very tender, transfer to warmed platter and loosely cover with foil.
Now make the sauce:
1 tbsp apple syrup or dark corn syrup
1 cup sour cream
Loosen drippings in baking pan and over medium heat crumble in pieces of the sticky gingerbread until sauce is thick. Stir in syrup and sour cream. Add more gingerbread if needed. Season with a little salt and pepper. (You may add a cup of raisins if desired.)
That makes the sauerbraten and the gingerbread sauce, which you can simply slice and serve with the sauce poured over the top as a main dish. For the Men Who Cook event, I shredded the meat as soon as it came out of the oven, then mixed the meat with the gingerbread sauce, so it looked like shredded pork BBQ. I then took a bit of this and put in on a potato latke so that it could be served up as a finger food. Here's the potato latke recipe:
1 lb potatoes, peeled, grated, and squeezed dry
1 onion, grated and squeezed dry
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Mix potatoes, onion, flour, egg, salt, and pepper together. Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, drop heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into the hot oil. Use back of spoon to flatten. Cook, turning once, until crisp and golden on each side. Drain on paper towels. Cool slightly before topping.
And that was my dish! A little complicated, but I went with it because everything could be prepared and cooked ahead of time and then simply assembled at the event. The worst part was that I had to reheat the potato latkes so that they'd be crisp at the event. I kept the sauerbraten and gingerbread sauce warm in a chafing dish, although it could also have been served cold. The potato latkes . . . not so much.
In any case, I hope I get invited back again next year. I'm not sure what I'll make . . . but it will probably be something simpler than this. *grin*
I didn't win anything, but alot of people came back for seconds or thirds and said they'd voted for me, so that made me feel good. I wasn't expecting to win, honestly. (Well, I thought I might have a shot at the "Most Bizarre Food" title.) I went for fun, and fun is what I had.
And now the promised recipes! Here's what I made for the event:
First, you have to make the marinade:
2 cups water
1 cup wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
2 onions
1 carrot
5 peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
Three days before serving (or more), mix all marinade ingredients in large sauce pan. Bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer 15 minutes uncovered. Cool thoroughly.
Next, begin marinading the meat:
2 lb bottom round or rump roast (1 piece)
Pour some marinade in bottom of glass or ceramic casserole or bowl. Put meat in and pour rest of marinade over top. Cover and refrigerate. Turn meat in marinade twice every day for at least 3 days.
Then, you have to make the gingerbread:
8oz unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp WARM milk
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 300. Grease 9" square pan well. Melt butter, sugar, molasses over low heat in large sauce pan. Add eggs, flour, ginger, cinnamon, and mix well. Add milk and baking soda (as you stir in, it will expand rapidly). Remove from heat, pour in pan, and bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool thoroughly. Center will sink and it will be "sticky". Set aside for sauerbraten sauce.
On the day of serving, preheat oven to 350. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Brown on all sides in beef fat removed from roast (if not enough, you may use vegetable oil). Place meat in non-reactive pan or casserole (one you're able to put on top of burner for sauce). Pour marinade through a strainer over meat, roast 1 1/2 hrs and baste often. When meat is well done and very tender, transfer to warmed platter and loosely cover with foil.
Now make the sauce:
1 tbsp apple syrup or dark corn syrup
1 cup sour cream
Loosen drippings in baking pan and over medium heat crumble in pieces of the sticky gingerbread until sauce is thick. Stir in syrup and sour cream. Add more gingerbread if needed. Season with a little salt and pepper. (You may add a cup of raisins if desired.)
That makes the sauerbraten and the gingerbread sauce, which you can simply slice and serve with the sauce poured over the top as a main dish. For the Men Who Cook event, I shredded the meat as soon as it came out of the oven, then mixed the meat with the gingerbread sauce, so it looked like shredded pork BBQ. I then took a bit of this and put in on a potato latke so that it could be served up as a finger food. Here's the potato latke recipe:
1 lb potatoes, peeled, grated, and squeezed dry
1 onion, grated and squeezed dry
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Mix potatoes, onion, flour, egg, salt, and pepper together. Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, drop heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into the hot oil. Use back of spoon to flatten. Cook, turning once, until crisp and golden on each side. Drain on paper towels. Cool slightly before topping.
And that was my dish! A little complicated, but I went with it because everything could be prepared and cooked ahead of time and then simply assembled at the event. The worst part was that I had to reheat the potato latkes so that they'd be crisp at the event. I kept the sauerbraten and gingerbread sauce warm in a chafing dish, although it could also have been served cold. The potato latkes . . . not so much.
In any case, I hope I get invited back again next year. I'm not sure what I'll make . . . but it will probably be something simpler than this. *grin*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
German food is the best!
Date: 2009-09-20 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-09-26 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-22 02:42 am (UTC)One thing I've learned when doing these things: simple is always better. Running yourself to exhaustion just doesn't seem to pay off.
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Date: 2009-09-22 10:53 pm (UTC)At this moment, I want the gingerbread. And the latkes.
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Date: 2009-09-24 08:22 pm (UTC)One item of note is that due to everything else in there, the simmer temperature is a bit higher than what people might be used to.
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Date: 2009-09-26 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 04:58 am (UTC)Another thing I did differently -in deference to the kids- was that instead of using a ceramic tray for the marinading, I went ahead and double bagged the meat and marinade. The seal keeps the smell from escaping.
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Date: 2009-09-27 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 11:07 pm (UTC)I'll make sure I put a blog entry on this for more details.