Sauerbraten

5 lbs. beef chuck roast
1 clove garlic, sliced
Salt and pepper
3 large onions
4 cups water
2 cups vinegar
2 slices lemon
2 Tbsp. mixed pickling spices
Oil and flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup tomato juice
6 or 8 small ginger snaps, crushed
1/4 cup sour cream

Slash roast, insert garlic.  Rub with salt and pepper and place in bowl.  Cover with 1 onion, sliced.  Heat water, vinegar, lemon, and spices, and pour over the roast.  Cover tightly and let stand in refrigerator 2 to 3 days before cooking.  Turn occasionally.

When ready to cook, chop remaining onions and brown lightly in oil in  Dutch oven.  Drain roast, reserving marinade; rub with flour seasoned with salt and pepper and sear well on all sides.  Add to onions with 1 Tbsp. sugar and 1/4 cup tomato juice.  Add 1 cup marinade around the roast.  Cover tightly and bake slowly (325 degrees) 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  Remove meat.  Slice and place on platter.  Taste sauce for seasoning.  Simmer sauce and add the ginger snaps (optional) and 1/4 cup sour cream for thickening.  Pour over roast.  Serve with noodles or pinched noodles or potato dumplings.

My friend Marilyn Surdakowski invited me over for dinner to meet her mother, Ellen Lustberg, who was visiting from Long Island, New York.  Ellen had prepared sauerbraten and potato dumplings like she used to when her 12 children were at home.  This is Carolyn's recipe, but it tastes much like the wonderful dinner I enjoyed at the Surdakowskis that evening.  Carolyn's interest in German food stems from the years she and her family spent in Germany when Paul was stationed there in the Army.