The OG of great Oktoberfest foods has to be Sauerbraten. The long marinated beef dish is the national dish of Germany, however some places at the Jersey Shore do great versions!
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Firstly, what is Sauerbraten?
Well, the word sauerbraten is German for “Sour Roast”. Now while that may not sound appealing to your taste buds, don’t worry. Like many things in life, there’s more to this story than just the title. According to Wikipedia, Sauerbraten is a traditional German roast of heavily marinated meat, usually beef. Before cooking, the raw meat is marinated for three to ten days. The marinade is mixture of wine or vinegar, water, herbs, spices, and seasonings. Usually, tougher cuts of meat, such as rump roast or bottom round of beef, are used. The long marinating tenderizes the meat. Furthermore, a Sauerbraten dinner is almost always accompanied by a hearty gravy resulting from its roasting and is most often served with potato pancakes.
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Don’t forget the special ingredient!
Meanwhile, some of the “sour” aspect of meat is cooked off. Plus a special ingredient is added to not only thicken the gravy, but add a sweet and somewhat spicy aspect to the overall taste of the dish. In Germany they used gingerbread, however the Americanized version of the dish often uses gingersnap cookies! That’s right, good old gingersnaps!
I’m telling you, this dish is crazy. You have have to try it if you never have before. Although I love eating sauerbraten, as you can tell, preparing and cooking it takes a lot of time and effort.
Lucky for us sauerbraten lovers, there are places that do the work for us.
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Some restaurants only have sauerbraten on their menu this time of year. It’s October, Oktoberfest season here at the Jersey Shore. Thusly, many restaurants do a special “Oktoberfest Menu”, and many offer sauerbraten as one of the choices. Then there are restaurants that actually prepare and serve it all year long, either as monthly specials or everyday items. Moreover, as you can imagine, with the time it takes to make sauerbraten, it’s not cheap. Most dishes will range between 25 and 35 dollars a meal. However, if you are longing for the taste of Germany, or reading this has piqued your interest as well as your taste buds, I invite you to check out this list of great restaurants at the shore doing their version of this “sour (not really sour) roast”!
