Zuurvlees

My very first recipe here is the typical dish of Maastricht: Zuurvlees (literally: sour meat). I love it and it is ideal for the type of wheather here in Holland; it is cold and in my opinion in that case, nothing tastes better than a stew. So not a fast recipe but it can easily be frozen. So make a lot more than you need so you have a very fast dinner next time!

Ingredients:

1kg beef

3 onions, sliced

4 cloves

4 juniper berries

2 bay leaves

100 ml vinegar

100 ml water

3 tbsp apple butter (stroop in Dutch)

1 or 2 slices of ontbijtkoek (I think it is called ginger bread in English)
butter for baking

pepper and salt

Cut the meat into squares and put them into a dish. Season the meat with pepper and salt and add the water and vinegar. Make sure that the meat is completely covered.

If these measurements are not enough just add more water and vinegar in equal quantities. Add the cloves, berries and bay leaves and let it marinate over night (preferably 24 hours).

Drain the meat and save the juice.

Heat a large pot and melt the butter until brown and add the meat.

Quickly fry the meat until brown. It has to fry not slowly simmer so you should probably fry the meat in portions.

Take the meat out of the pot and fry the onions. Add the meat again and add the juice.

Let it simmer for around 2 hours. Add the apple butter and ginger bread in the end.

If you want it to be sweeter add more apple butter. For a thicker sauce you can add more ginger bread.

Serve it with fries and a green salad.