Food historians sometimes try to rope Julius Caesar and Charlemagne into the invention of this thoroughly German dish, but we remain skeptical. As if those warring and wandering travelers could spare much time for puttering around the kitchen. We're pretty sure that the notion of marinating meat in a vinegary broth arose with the spoilage of Dionysus's first vintage way back in the ancient Greek archipelago.
Not that it matters today.
As served in our favorite German and Austrian restaurants, the marinated and braised whole rump roast known as Sauerbraten is nearly always too dry and too sour for our tastes. So when we cook it at home, we make two (probably sacrilegious) adjustments:
We start with steak tips from the sirloin and get these cut (while we watch) by our superb local butcher into 2- or 3-inch cubes.
For the marinade, we split evenly between any good red wine and a high-end red wine vinegar. Then, instead of the usual ho-hum sugar offset, add half as much again of a sweet, aged sherry wine like Marsala.
From there, it's all about the marinating—up to a week in the refrigerator, in a pre-boiled stew of chopped onions, carrots, leeks, celery (i.e., whatever we have) with salt, black pepper, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, ginger, cloves, or even caraway (i.e., whatever we want).
When we run out of patience, we dry, flour, and singe the meat over high heat, strain the marinade back into the pot, simmer at will (while we whip up the noodles or potato dumplings), and the rest is history.
As for measurements and specific quantities:
This dish has so many regional and international variations, that it really comes down to trusting your taste buds along the way. If worse comes to worst, you can toss out the disaster and grill up the hot dogs.
We understand that cooks sometimes need the reassurance of detailed recipes, but take our inspiration from the protests of one of the best professional chefs (and friends) we've ever known:
"I don't know how much of nothing! Whaddya want? I'm Sicilian! I just throw it in the pot ‘til it tastes good!"
Two slightly more conventional (but completely different) recipes for Sauerbraten:
From Kimberly Killebrew at The Daring Gourmet.
From Chris Simpler at AllRecipes.