Three meat stew with vegetables (pichelsteiner)

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 tablespoon Lard
1¼ pounds Pork and beef as well as lamb or mutton (mutton gives
An excellent flavor), cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 mediums To 3 md onions, diced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Crushed marjoram
3 mediums Potatoes, peeled and finely diced
1 small Celery root, peeled and diced, OR 4 celery
Stalks, diagonally sliced
½ pounds Carrots, peeled and diagonally sliced
1 large Leek (white part only), washed and sliced
2 cups Beef stock
Chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Heat the lard in a heavy bottomed pot (or ovenproof Pyrex casserole or the like). Lightly sear and mix together the meat cubes and the onions; season with salt, an ample amount of pepper, and a very little bit of crushed marjoram. Remove two thirds of the meat and onions from the pot and set aside.

Mix the potatoes and vegetables together; spread a third of these over the bottom layer of meat cubes in the pot or casserole. Sprinkle with salt and a little pepper. Alternate 2 more layers of meat with 2 more layers of vegetables. Each layer should be separately seasoned with salt and pepper; the top layer MUST consist of vegetables and potatoes. Pour in the beef stock. Cover tightly and cook over medium-low heat for just about 2 hours. Cooking in a 350 degrees F oven is also possible. You should not stir the stew, but you can tilt the pot back and forth to circulate the liquid and prevent the bottom layer from burning. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Variations:

Savoy cabbage is frequently added to the roster of vegetables, and it tastes delicious. Sliced kohlrabi would be fine as well.

For a truly gourmet 'Pichelsteiner', 6 to 8 slices of bone marrow should be briefly sauteed with the onions at the beginning, then added to one of the in-between layers of meat. Doubling of ingredients is advisable. Pichelsteiner tastes excellent reheated.

Makes 4 servings.

From: THE CUISINES OF GERMANY by Horst Scharfenberg, Simon & Schuster/Poseidon Press, New York. 1989 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 8/92

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