Old Munich Sauerbraten

Ingredients

240 ml vinegar
240 ml water
1 bouqet garni made
4 bay leaves
2 sprigs celery leaves
1 sprig thyme
3 juniper berries
1 slice onion
3 garlic
6 gr salt
1 slice lemon
2,300 gr bottom round roast of beef
2 bacon fat
230 ml tomato sauce
1 bouillon cube
120 ml wine
40 gr brown sugar
4 slices lemon peel
5 gingersnaps crumbled
16 ml worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 arrowroot approximately

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a porcelain-enameled container. Add the meat and for best results marinate for 10 days, if not more. Turn twice daily. When ready to cook, presoak a large clay pot, top and bottom, in water for 15 minutes. Remove the meat from marinade, put in a large frying pan, and sear on all sides in the hot bacon fat. Meanwhile, pour the marinade into a saucepan and reduce to one third its original volume by boiling rapidly, uncovered. Place the meat in the presoaked pot, then add the marinade and all the other ingredients except the arrowroot. Cover the pot and place it in a cold oven. Set the oven temperature at 425 degrees. Cook for 2 to 2.5 hours, until almost done, then remove the po from the oven and pour off the sauce. Return the pot to the oven, uncovered, for a final 10 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, put the sauce into a blender container and blend. Taste for seasoning; the sauce should be "sweet and sour." If not, add brown sugar and/or vinegar. Heat the sauce, thicken with the arrowroot, and serve over the meat and German potato pancakes.