Bring the vinegar with water, salt, onions, bay leaves and the spices to the boil, allow to cool and pour over the meat. You can of course also use roast beef, in the student days I made this dish with pork nuts to save costs and this way I find it even more delicious and crumbly than with beef.
Cover the meat (I usually use a large Tupperware bowl with a lid, but an old rum pot or a casserole dish with a lid is also ideal) and leave to marinate for 3-5 days. It is enough if the meat is cool during the time, but it does not have to be in the refrigerator. Basement is enough.
Lift the meat out of the marinade, dry it, fry it vigorously in clarified butter, boil some onions and diced carrots from the marinade or, if you don`t like that, add fresh ones and fry them. Salt, pepper and gradually pour in the marinade. The taste decides how sour you want your sauce to be and how much of the marinade you use.
Pour in enough stock so that the meat is about a third of the liquid and simmer for 80 minutes.
After 50 minutes add the raisins to the sauce.
Take the meat out after the cooking time, keep warm and finish the sauce. In addition, crumble the gingerbread or breakfast cake (you can always get it in Holland under Ontbijtkoek) in the liquid and let it boil over with beet cabbage and cream. To taste.
The sauce does not have to be thickened any further; adding gingerbread thickens it.
If you prefer not to use the marinade, you can also add a mixture of vinegar, water and red wine to the meat.
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