For The Best Pot Roast Of Your Life, Add In This Snappy German Ingredient

Pot roast is one of the simplest and most satisfying meat preparations: at its most basic level, it's simply a large piece of meat braised low and slow in a covered dish until it's perfectly tender (especially when cooked in this surprising appliance). The customizable comfort meal is prepared in myriad ways around the world, and one tasty and unique variation is a German-style pot roast enhanced by a classic Deutsch ingredient: gingersnaps. That's right, the crispy old-school cookies better known as lebkuchen in their native Germany. Combining gingersnaps and pot roast might sound a bit random at first, but hear us out.

Sauerbraten (which literally translates to sour roast) is a traditional German pot roast made from meat marinated in a slightly sour sauce, typically served with braised red cabbage and potato dumplings. The tangy flavor of the meat is balanced by a mildly sweet gravy, often containing, yes, crushed gingersnaps. Don't worry, there's a method to this madness: Thickening gravy with a starch is standard practice, and enhancing savory meat dishes with sweet ingredients is nothing groundbreaking. In the case of sauerbraten, the gingersnaps simply kill two birds with one stone, simultaneously thickening the gravy and adding a touch of sweetness that balances beautifully with the zesty, vinegar-heavy meat marinade.

You don't have to make a perfectly traditional German sauerbraten to upgrade your pot roast with gingersnaps (actually, it might be better that you don't, because sauerbraten was historically prepared with horse meat, which is now illegal in the United States). In fact, gingersnap sauce isn't just for pot roast – the cookies are a classic sauce thickener in German cuisine, acting as a sort of quick and convenient Deutsch roux. The key here is balancing the sweetness of the gingersnaps with acidic ingredients such as vinegar, wine, or citrus fruit in the meat marinade or brine.

The basic technique for adding the spicy-sweet German cookies to your pot roast sauce is simple: after you've finished roasting the meat, pour the remaining liquid into a small pot or saucepan with the crushed gingersnaps (about 1/2 cups of cookies for every 2 cups of liquid, or eight to 10 gingersnaps for every three to four pounds of meat). Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the cookies dissolve and the gravy thickens to your desired texture, mixing in more crushed gingersnaps as necessary. Finally, serve the subtly sweet and tangy sauce over your perfectly tender, sweet-and-sour pot roast. If you're looking for other ways to spice up this meaty comfort dish, here are 12 ways to make pot roast more flavorful.