Badisches Ochsenfleisch mit Meerrettichsoße

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6 to 8 litre stockpot
• •Fine sieve
• •Small saucepan for the plums
• •Box grater or fine grater for horseradish
• •Sharp carving knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the plums

   Put the dried plums in a small pan with the wine or broth, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a quiet simmer and cook 15 to 20 minutes, until the plums swell and the liquid turns syrupy but still runs from a spoon; stop before jam, because the beef needs fruit with bite, not dessert. Let them stand in their syrup while the meat cooks so the sweet-sour goes all the way through.

   If you have home-preserved Zwetschgen, warm the wine, vinegar, sugar, and spices first, then fold the drained fruit through at the end. Preserved fruit has already done its softening, and boiling it again tears it apart.
2. 2

   Start the pot

   Put the brisket and bone in a heavy pot and cover with cold water by about 3cm. Bring it slowly toward a simmer over medium heat. The slow climb pulls gelatin and flavour from the bone and meat into the broth; rush it to a boil and the grey foam breaks apart before you can skim it. Skim until the surface is clean.

3. 3

   Hold the simmer

   Add the browned onion, carrots, leek, celeriac, parsley root if using, bay, peppercorns, juniper, cloves, parsley stems or lovage, and salt. Lower the heat until the liquid only trembles, about 85 to 90C, and cook partly covered for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, topping up with hot water if the meat shows above the surface. Runter mit der Temperatur: a rolling boil tightens brisket and muddies the broth, while a quiet simmer melts connective tissue and leaves stock clear enough for sauce.

   Turn the meat once if one side rises above the liquid. Exposed meat dries at the edge, and this dish has no pan crust to hide that mistake.
4. 4

   Cook the potatoes

   About 30 minutes before the beef is done, put the peeled potatoes in cold salted water and bring them up gently. Starting cold lets the potatoes cook through evenly, so the outside doesn't split before the centre is tender. Drain them when a knife slips in cleanly, then keep them covered.

5. 5

   Strain and rest

   Lift the meat into a shallow dish and ladle a little broth over it, then cover loosely. Resting in its own liquid keeps the slices moist while you make the sauce; on a dry board, boiled beef cools and tightens. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, skim off excess fat, keep 600ml for the sauce, and save the rest for soup. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

6. 6

   Build the sauce

   Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook it for 2 minutes without browning. This pale roux takes away the raw flour taste while keeping the sauce light. Whisk in the hot strained broth a little at a time, because hot liquid loosens the roux without lumps, then simmer 8 minutes and stir in the cream.

7. 7

   Finish horseradish

   Take the sauce off a hard boil and stir in the freshly grated horseradish, lemon juice or vinegar, sugar, salt, and white pepper. Don't boil after the horseradish goes in; heat drives off the sharp mustard oils and leaves the root flat and cabbagey. Taste in order: salt first, then acid, then extra horseradish. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.

   Grate the horseradish just before it goes into the sauce. Prepared horseradish from the glass is already dulled by vinegar. Nicht aus dem Glas.
8. 8

   Slice and serve

   Slice the brisket across the grain into 1cm slices. Cut with the grain and the fibres eat long, even when the meat is tender. Lay the slices on a warm platter, spoon the horseradish sauce over, set the potatoes and sweet-sour plums beside them, and pass extra grated horseradish at the table. The broth made the sauce, the fruit cuts it, and the beef tastes of itself. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for brisket with fat and connective tissue, not a lean roast cut. Lean beef looks neat and eats dry here; brisket gives gelatin to the broth and slices cleanly once it has rested.
• •Fresh horseradish is the point. If your eyes don't water a little when you grate it, the root is old, and the sauce will taste polite instead of alive.
• •If fresh plums are out of season, the season is shut. Use dried Backpflaumen or home-preserved Zwetschgen, which is exactly what the winter larder is for.
• •Keep the leftover broth. Chill it, lift off the fat, and use it for Flädlesuppe, broth with pancake strips, or for cooking potatoes the next day. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

Advance Preparation

• •The sweet-sour plums can be cooked up to 5 days ahead and kept chilled in their syrup; they get rounder as the spice settles.
• •The beef can be simmered 1 day ahead. Cool it quickly in shallow containers with enough broth to cover, refrigerate within 2 hours, then slice it cold and warm the slices gently in broth before saucing.
• •Make the horseradish sauce shortly before serving. You can measure the broth and roux ingredients ahead, but grate the horseradish at the end because its bite fades fast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)