Day Four: Grand-Uncle's Meat Stew

Today was day four of my no-grocery-shopping week. It was especially easy to avoid grocery shopping - everything is closed on Sundays here in Germany! For lunch we had some Karelian pasties that I had made the day before - an excellent way to use any leftover mashed potatoes or rice porridge!

It is time for a confession: I admire, no, I envy those that are vegetarian because they don’t like meat. I’ve worked very hard for the last years trying to convince myself not to eat meat. I’d like to be able to say I’m 100% vegetarian. But I can’t. I crave meat! Especially when I’m cooking meat for the kids (about every 2 or 3 weeks). So I’ve told myself that I’m allowed to eat meat as well, provided it comes from animals I personally know (or knew, I should say). And as long as it’s not more than once a month.

Today was that once in a month. I cooked meat for dinner. And it was delicious!

When you eat meat rarely, it better be a perfect dish! This particular dish is one of the most delicious and one of the easiest dishes ever invented. The recipe comes from my grand-uncle, who was a great man - and a great cook. (By the way, today he’d be celebrating my grandmother's birthday, if they’d still be alive. A very suitable day indeed for writing about this recipe.)

Only four ingredients are needed: meat, swede, salt, and water. And a little magic. Or how else would one explain the most extraordinary transformation that takes place during the four-hour cooking of this dish? The chewy meat becomes tender, the slightly bitter swede develops a heavenly sweet taste, and the ensemble tastes much better than the simple combination of the ingredients.

For about 6 people you need:

• 1 kg beef, cut into cubes (here in Germany that kind of meat is called Gulasch)


• 600g swede, cut into cubes of the same size as the beef


• 2 tsp salt, or to taste


• water

Place beef and swede cubes into an oven pot in layers: first beef, then swede, then beef again. Sprinkle salt between the layers and on top. Pour cold water in the pan so that it just covers everything. Cover with the lid.

Cook in a preheated oven (200 C) about one hour or so, then reduce the temperature to 150 C and let cook for three hours more or so. Once in a while, it’s good to check that there’s enough water.

Serve with mashed potatoes or cooked rice.