Sauerbraten (German Pot Roast)

• Day One-
• 2 Carrots, Chopped
• 2 Stalks of Celery, Chopped
• 1 Large Onion, Chopped
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1-2 tablespoons Pickling Spice
• 3 Dry Bay Leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 2 cups vinegar, white (more if needed)
• 4 cups water (more if needed)
• 1 Roast, Rump, Chuck, London Broil etc. (about 4 or 5 pounds)
• Day Four (The day You have waited so patiently for!)
• 4-6 slices of bacon
• 1 or 2 onions, sliced

1. In a large non metallic crock, air tight plastic container or air lock baggy combine all ingredients and allow to soak 4-5 days. Make sure not to use a metallic container, if your using a baggy insure that its resting in another vessel to prevent cross contamination. Depending on the size of your roast will determine how long it needs to soak. Anything above 5 pounds you will want to increase spices a bit and soak longer about 1 day per pound.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.rnrnAfter your roast has soaked strain the liquid, remove the roast from the soaking liquid and DO NOT throw away the liquid.
3. Pat the roast SUPER dry. (You can sprinkle it with flour or arrowroot powder to help with browning.)
4. In a large dutch oven or oven safe lidded pan, (cast iron preferably) cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan without discarding the grease.
5. Fry the roast in the bacon grease on both sides 4-8 minutes on all sides until it is evenly browned.
6. Strain the roast and vegetables from the liquid. Reserve about 1/2 of the liquid. You can discard the solids entirely but I toss them in the pot along with some extra pickling spice and ground cloves. rnrnFry the onion in the pan the roast and bacon were cooked in.
7. Place the meat in the pan (or crock pot set to high) and cover with about 1/3 of the soaking liquid. Cover with a lid and place in the oven for 4-6 hours adding more reserved liquid if necessary. (It will take about 3 1/2 hours for a 2-3 pound roast)rnrnIf you want boiled veg- toss in carrots or potatoes about 1 hour before your roast is due to be finished.
8. Once tender (we like it falling apart) remove the roast and strain the liquid. (reserve it for gravy)
9. Make your gravy with reserved cooking liquid. rnrnGingersnap Gravy:rnAbout 3 cups of reserved cooking liquid, 2 teaspoons raw sugar and 6-8 gingersnaps crumbled. Combine all ingredients in a pot and boil until thickened. rnrnIf you do not have gingersnaps on hand you can simply reduce the liquid until thickened or add some slurry. (about 1 tablespoon of arrowroot mixed with water)

one, carrots, stalks of celery, onion, salt, pickling spice, bay leaves, peppercorns, vinegar, water, bacon, onions

Taken from food52.com/recipes/19306-sauerbraten-german-pot-roast (may not work)