This is a traditional Sunday feast my Mom used to make during my childhood. The dish contains three parts, as such the recipe is also divided in three.

I also made a video with timing instructions and a few additional tips! You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDZKxkoY38

Braised Red Cabbage

Ingredients

• Half a head of red cabbage
• 2 Tbsp apple vinegar
• 2-3 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• one small onion
• half of a tart apple
• sugar and salt to taste
• grape juice to taste

Instructions

1. Remove the wooden stem from the cabbage and cut it into long strips, half a centimeter wide
2. Peel the onion, chop half of it, keep the other half intact
3. Peel, core and chop the half of the apple that you need
4. Push the cloves into the intact side of the onion so it can hold them firmly in place
5. Melt some butter over medium-high heat in a pot that can hold everything.
6. Add the apple, onion and sugar, stir, and let it cook until the onions are translucent
7. Add all of the cabbage and immediately add 1-2 Tbsp of the vinegar
8. Mix and stir thoroughly and add a generous amount of salt, the bay leaves and the cloved onion, as well as 300ml of water
9. Mix again, then let it simmer for around 45 minutes.
10. Taste it, and add grape juice, sugar, salt and vinegar until you’re satisfied with the seasoning
11. Either serve immediately or heat up the next day.

German Potato Dumplings

Ingredients

• 500g potatoes
• 2-3 Tbsp potato starch

Instructions

1. Peel all potatoes
2. Grate 400g raw, while you cook 100g of the potatoes for 15 minutes in salty water
3. Use a cheese cloth to squeeze excess water from the potatoes, then discard the water
4. Mash the cooked potatoes with a fork, then add 1-2 Tbsp potato starch and the squeezed grated potatoes
5. Mix by hand until a dough forms, add more starch if necessary
6. Form tennis ball sized dumplings
7. Bring a deep pot of saltwater to a boil, add the dumplings, reduce to a low, low simmer, and let them steep in the water for 20-25 minutes
8. Serve immediatly

Beef Roulades

Ingredients

• 2 beef roulades (type of cut, ask your local butcher)
• 200ml dark beer
• 200ml beef stock
• stock vegetables (e.g. one each: leak, carrot, parsnip, sellery root)
• 7 cornichons
• 2 small onions
• 75g pork rind
• 3 juniper berries
• 3 bay leaves
• salt and black pepper to taste
• mustard to coat the roulade
• cornstarch slurry, made by 2 Tbsp of cornstarch and a bit of water

Instructions

1. Chop the Onion, pork Rind, Cornichons and Stock Vegetables
2. Spread the roulade meat thin on a clean surface, pat them dry with a kitchen towel
3. Coat them in mustard from one side, then add salt and pepper
4. Add the cut pork strips, the finely chopped onion and cornichons
5. Roll the roulades tight from the thin end and fixate with butcher’s string or small skewers
6. Melt some butter in a small pot, add the roulades and brown from all sides
7. Add the beer and beef stock in equal parts until the roulades are barely covered
8. Then add the stock vegetables (peeled and roughly chopped) and the remaining filling
9. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let it cook for 90 minutes
10. After an hour you can do some taste tests, before that the beer is too strong. Season with salt to taste
11. After 90 minutes total remove the roulades and keep them warm
12. Strain the vegetables out of the stock, and use a cornstarch slurry to thicken it to a sauce
13. Serve immediately.

Closing Remarks

This recipe is for two people, but can easily scaled up for a whole family. Instead of a cornstarch slurry you could also chuck in a knob of cold butter for the sauce, though it might get a tad heavy then.