Pfefferpotthast

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy lidded Dutch oven or braising pot, 5 to 6 litres
• •Wooden spoon with a flat edge
• •Pepper mill

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the beef

   Pat the beef dry and salt it lightly, then brown it in hot dripping in a heavy pot, working in batches so the pieces have space. Crowded meat throws water and boils grey; dry, spaced meat browns, and that brown layer is the first taste in the sauce. Lift the beef to a bowl as each batch is done.

2. 2

   Collapse the onions

   Add the onions to the same pot with a pinch of salt and cook them over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, scraping up the browned beef bits as they release their water. They should turn soft, gold at the edges, and almost slumped, not dark and bitter. This is the step that decides the dish: the onions become the body of the sauce, so they need time before the stock goes in.

   If the pot dries before the onions soften, add a splash of stock and keep scraping. That browned layer belongs in the sauce. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
3. 3

   Build the pot

   Return the beef and its juices to the pot, add the stock, bay leaves, cloves, crushed peppercorns, and freshly ground pepper, then bring it just to a simmer. Skim once if needed, because a clean surface gives you a cleaner sauce. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and cook gently for about 2 hours, until the beef yields when pressed with a spoon. Runter mit der Temperatur: a hard boil tightens shoulder before the collagen has time to melt.

4. 4

   Thicken with rye

   Stir in the crumbled pumpernickel and simmer uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often so the bread dissolves into the sauce instead of catching on the bottom. Do not reach for flour. The dark rye thickens, gives the sauce its Westphalian sour edge, and turns the broth into something that clings to potato.

5. 5

   Boil the potatoes

   While the stew finishes, boil the floury potatoes in salted water until they crack slightly at the edges, 20 to 25 minutes depending on size. Floury potatoes drink the sauce; waxy ones sit there looking tidy and doing less work. Drain them well and let them dry in their own heat for a minute.

6. 6

   Finish sharp

   Fish out the bay leaves and cloves if you can find them, then season the pot with vinegar, salt, and more black pepper. Add the sugar only if the onions need rounding, not because the dish should taste sweet. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: the sharpness and final pepper go in late so they stay alive. Serve with boiled potatoes, pickled cucumber or beetroot, and parsley if you're using it.

Chef Tips

• •Use shoulder or chuck, not lean steak. The connective tissue is what turns the sauce silky during the long simmer; lean meat only goes dry and expensive.
• •Grind the pepper fresh. Old ground pepper tastes dusty, and this dish is named for pepper, so don't insult it at the last minute.
• •Pumpernickel is the right thickener. If you cannot get it, use a dense dark rye, dried slightly and crumbled fine; soft sandwich bread gives paste, not sauce.
• •Make it a day ahead if the table allows it. The pepper settles into the onions overnight, and the sauce tightens enough to reheat cleanly over a low flame.

Advance Preparation

• •Cut the beef and slice the onions up to 1 day ahead; keep them covered and refrigerated separately so the onions do not sour the meat.
• •The finished Pfefferpotthast keeps 3 days in the refrigerator and reheats best slowly, with a splash of stock or water if the rye-thickened sauce has tightened too much.
• •It freezes well before the potatoes are added. Freeze the stew only, then boil fresh potatoes on the day you serve it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 640g)