A Roots Festival

For dinner last Sunday I made Rinderschmorbraten in Bier or, for you non-German speakers, Pot Roast in Beer. It's not too dissimilar from the pot roast that many of know and love – you brown a chunk of meat and throw it in a pot with liquid to cook for a while. The main difference here is that the roast is marinated in beer. For the occasion, I used Sprecher's Black Bavarian.

In addition to the familiar carrots and onion, I used some parsley root.



This was my first time cooking with it. I found it at a grocery store in Chicago and, never having seen it available in Madison, I bought a bunch. The store had celery root (celeriac) as well and I bought some but I am told it can be found at Woodman's.



The roast marinated overnight in the beer with the vegetables and seasoning which included bay and juniper berries. I've really grown to like the pungent sharpness of juniper. (In cooking, that is. I've been a fan of gin for some time.) I suspect that it was a much more common spice, especially here in Wisconsin, back in the day as it has a reputation for seasoning wild game very well. That and Northern Europeans are the juniper's biggest fans.



There's the final product: pot roast in beer with boiled potatoes and green beans. All swimming in gravy.