For 4 people: 4 rump steaks á 200 g, clarified butter, 600 g peeled and diced, firm boiling potatoes, oil for deep frying. Pepper sauce: 1 tablespoon herb butter, 1 small onion, 6 tablespoons green pepper, 0.1 l dry white wine, 0.2 l cream, 0.2 l beef jus, salt and pepper.
Cut the fat edge of the steaks several times without damaging the meat. Fry steaks in hot clarified butter for 4 minutes on each side. Salt, pepper and let rest so that the meat juices are nicely distributed. Fry potato cubes slowly in hot oil (approx. 160°) until golden brown. Salt. Finely dice the onion and sauté in the melted herb butter until translucent. Add green pepper, deglaze with white wine. Add cream and jus and reduce a little. Add salt and pepper.
Sugary Schauferts beer - "an enjoyable madness"
."Eggs and milk", that's how Uli Scheib answers the question what you can buy on the farm in the idyllic Schaufertstal. "And honey, because our brewmaster is also a beekeeper", he adds after a moment's thought.
Then, organic meat from the herd of around one hundred Simmental cattle is available to order in advance. Of beef, even of ox and calf. Also from pork and in smaller quantities. Veal, however, only in quarters. There are five slaughter dates per year. As expected, ox meat is particularly popular. And the excellent beer brewed on the farm.
"Schauferts was originally a farmstead of the Arnstein monastery on the Lahn", tells Uli Scheib. The farm has existed since 1197; however, only its U-shaped basic form has been preserved, the oldest parts date back to the early 17th century.
After many ups and downs, the Luzius and Scheib families finally acquired the property in 1987. Thanks to the efforts of many friends, Hof Schauferts was preserved and once again became a destination for excursions.
Milk, meat and eggs are products of the farm's organic agriculture, not so the beer. The administrative and certification costs are so high that the four from the Schauferts farm prefer to do without the organic label. In any case, the popularity is enormous, "a delightful madness", Uli Scheib rejoices. The demand is so great that a more efficient brewing and bottling plant is already under construction and will soon be ready. Then people will be able to take the beer home in bottles.
There are good reasons why it is so popular. Above all, he says, it's the in-house water that tips the scales. "The extremely soft Schönborn water comes from an old gallery and is of particularly good quality", Scheib enthuses. Together with Hallertau hops and malting barley from a malting plant in Andernach, the result is a drinkable Schauferts beer. Three varieties: dark; light, unfiltered Kellerbier as well as Märzen run from the tap.
By the way, Märzen is understood to be a type of beer that resulted from the inadequate cooling facilities that prevailed in the past. In winter, brewing had to be different from the warmer season; Märzen was the name of the last bottom-fermented beer of the season (fermented for 8 days at temperatures of 4 to 9 degrees, the yeast settles at the bottom, hence bottom-fermented). The drinkable, low carbonated and therefore particularly stomach-friendly beer is today their most popular stuff, Uli Scheib knows to report.
The guests in the old, beautiful farmhouse (with a terrace) take strength in the form of meat dishes - especially the rest: Rump steak of pasture-raised beef with pepper cream sauce and fried potatoes - but also vegetable lasagna and salads to go with the home-brewed beer. If all this is not enough for you: There are nice rooms to stay in at Katzenelnbogen Castle, five kilometers away.
Hof Schauferts
BIOLAND farm and brewery restaurant
Oliver and Heidi Luzius & Uli and Lucie Scheib
(outside, direction Biebrich)
56370 Schönborn (near Katzenelnbogen/Taunus)
Phone: 06486-6208
Fax: 06486-902868
Internet: www.hof-schauferts.de
Opening hours: Restaurant: Wed to Sun from 5pm, hot food from 6pm to 2pm.
Sale ex farm by appointment; milk at barn time: mornings 7-9, evenings 7-8pm.
from Waldemar Thomas