Sauerbraten with Bread Dumplings and Red Cabbage

This is my mother’s variation of Sauerbraten, which can be made right away, as the meat is not marinated for days.

Ingredients:

•  2 – 3 lbs    Sirloin Tip Roast, Bottom Round Roast or Eye of Round Roast
•                   Salt & Pepper
•     1 large    Cooking Onion
•     1 stalk    Celery
•             1    Carrot
•    6 slices    Bacon
•     5 cups    Water
•             1    Bay Leaf
•           16    Juniper Berries
•      ⅓ cup    Vinegar
•        50 g    Sossenkuchen*

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Clean and slice onion and cut celery and carrots into pieces.
Place 12 of the juniper berries in a pouch such as tea bag or cheese cloth (a paper coffee filter works too) and tie the top closed, throw the remaining 4 in with the vegetables.
In a Dutch Oven fry the bacon until enough grease is released to be able to brown the roast in.
Season roast with salt and pepper, add to the Dutch oven with the vegetables, leaving the bacon in with the roast. Brown the roast on all sides, stirring the vegetables frequently so they brown, but do not burn.

Once the roast is browned on all sides, add the water, vinegar, bay leaf and the pouch of juniper berries and bring to a boil on top of the stove.
Cover and place in the oven for 2-3 hours. Uncover after 1½ hours and finish cooking. Sauce should be reduced by about ⅓ in this time.

Remove roast and set aside, keeping it warm, while making the gravy. Remove the bay leaf and the pouch with juniper berries and discard.
Strain the gravy through a sieve, pressing down  with a wooden spoon to force as much of the solids through as possible. (Use of an Immersion blender before straining makes this step easier)
Return the gravy to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil.
Place the Sossenkuchen in a bowl and add some of the hot gravy, mix until it is dissolved and return to the pot, simmer briefly. If needed add salt, pepper and more Sossenkuchen to taste.
Add a roux (browned flour with butter) if a thicker gravy is desired.

Slice the roast and arrange slices on a warm platter with some gravy drizzled over them. Serve the rest of the gravy in a separate bowl.
Generally served with Dumplings or Spätzle, Red Cabbage and Lingonberries (available at some supermarkets or IKEA).

*Sossenkuchen is a low sugar gingerbread (Lebkuchen) used in Southern German cooking.