Chapter 27 - Sauerbraten at the Robinson's

According to Boy: The name for eating horse meat is hippophagy. I am glad that the Robinson family was not a traditional German family—they were a generation or two removed. Were they traditional Germans, the wonderful Sauerbraten they served would have been made from horse-meat or venison. Instead, Mrs. Robinson’s recipe called for roast beef.
 
 

Some of the other ingredients in real German Sauerbraten are raisins and a sweet bread known as Lebkuchen. Lebkuchen contains, among other things, honey, cloves, ginger and various nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts).

One of the reasons that horse-meat was originally used was because horsemeat is a naturally sweet meat, and tends to be more lean than beef. The same is true with deer meat (venison).

Like so many ethnic foods, one of the greatest charms of Sauerbraten is lost when you examine too closely what actually goes into it. The same can be said about the process of making laws in the US Congress. In fact, I think making laws and making Sauerbraten have a lot in common—neither one is a very pretty thing to behold.