Instructions: To make the brine, boil onion, celery, carrots, pickling spice, vinegar and water together. Let cool.

Cut any fat from beef. Slice slits in the beef with a sharp pointed knife and stuff bacon into the slits. Place the beef in a deep dish and pour the cold brine over the meat. Make sure the meat is covered. Marinate in refrigerator two days up to a week (depending upon freshness of meat). The longer the time, the more tender the meat and better flavored.

Remove meat from brine and reserve the brine. Place in roasting on rack to collect pan drippings. Bake at 350 degrees F. until done. Pour the reserved brine into a saucepan and bring to boil. Remove the sachet of pickling spices.

When beef is cooked and browned, remove beef from roasting pan. Add boiled brine to the roasting pan to collect pan drippings. Bring this mixture to a boil, scrapping spices and pan drippings. Remove and let cool to remove all fat (my mother never did this, but I do, nor did she use fat-free sour cream). Slice beef (My mother sliced it thin, but the restaurants sliced the tenderloin bigger than 1/4-inch slices and not quite 1/2-slices. (My mother never used tenderloin for this dish. She use rolled beef roast or a rump.). Reheat brine mixture. Add flour to sour cream. Gradually add sour cream mixture to the hot brine mixture, slowly so your don"t curdle the gravy. You can add more vinegar if you like it on the tart side. My sister always did. Serve with potato dumplings or bread dumplings.

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