To celebrate Juniper Day of Frimaire, I made what Alton Brown names “the greatest meat and vinegar dish of all time.” Sauerbraten marinates for three days in a vinegar and juniper berry solution (and other spices as well). Juniper berries are not actually berries, but inverted pine cones. Juniper trees have an extremely slow growth rate and there are some in a juniper forest in Pakistan that are thought to be over 5,000 years old. Wired had an article about the 10 oldest living trees and included the Jardine Juniper in the Cache National Forest in Utah. The tree had been thought to be over 3,000 years old, but in the 1950’s, scientists took a core sample that downgraded the age to around 1,500 years.

Sauerbraten

2 cups water

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 tbs and 1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 bay leaves

6 whole cloves

12 juniper berries

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 – 3 lbs bottom round

1 tbs vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

5 ounces dark old-fashioned ginger snaps, crushed

1/2 cup golden raisins

Add the water, vinegars, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves and mustard seeds in a large pan and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Let the mixture cool while you prepare the meat.

Rub the bottom round with oil and salt it on all sides. Heat a large pan over high heat and brown the meat on all sides. When the marinade is cool, add it and the meat to a container that can hold both comfortably. Refrigerate it for 3 days.

Heat the oven to 325 and add the sugar to the meat and marinade. Place in an oven proof dish, cover with foil and cook for 4 hours, until tender. When it’s finished cooking, remove the meat from the pan and strain the marinade liquid to remove the solids. Put the liquid in a sauce pan and place over medium-high heat. Add the crushed ginger snaps and cook until the sauce has thickened. Add the raisins. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce (and red cabbage and spaetzle).