Sunday Night: Sauerkraut and Brisket

We picked up some more fresh sauerkraut from the market on Saturday and this time I successfully resisted the temptation to throw a bunch of pork in it and call it choucroute garni. Instead I modified a recipe from How to Cook Meat:

500 gm beef brisket (Siedfleisch), cut into 4 cm chunks.
peanut oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
100 ml dry white wine (I used Riesling)
4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
4 bay leaves
6 juniper berries
6 allspice berries
beef boullion cube
chicken stock

Season the beef and brown it well in the peanut oil. Set the beef aside and pour off the oil.
Add the butter and onions and cook, deglazing as you go, until the onions start to brown (about 10 minutes). Sprinkle over the flour and cook for another 5-10 minutes until it too starts to brown.
Stir in the wine and make sure all the good bits are dissolved from the bottom of the pot.
Add back the beef and all the remaining ingredients (add enough stock to get a stew consistency).
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer covered for a couple of hours, until the beef is nicely tender.
Serve hot.

I actually made the stew in the morning and let it sit all day. After reheating it, I added a small amount of fresh wine to brighten it up a bit (I actually forgot to do this in the pot and did it at the table instead, but that works too).

We ate the stew over spaetzli with some caramelized carrots on the side and big green salad.

Wine: Baron de Höen Beblenheim 2005 Riesling (from Alsace). This is the same stuff I cooked with.