Braised Oxtail

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy cast iron casserole with a lid, large enough to hold the oxtail in a single layer
• •Sturdy tongs for turning the oxtail
• •Large spoon for skimming fat

Instructions

1. 1

   Season and brown the oxtail

   Take the oxtail out of the fridge a good hour before you start. Cold meat in a hot pan drops the temperature and you'll stew instead of sear. Season the pieces generously with salt and pepper, then dust them lightly in flour, shaking off the excess. Get a heavy casserole pot properly hot with the olive oil and butter. Brown the oxtail in batches, giving each piece three or four minutes a side until the surface is deep and dark, the colour of old conkers. Don't crowd the pan. This is where the flavour of the whole dish is built. Set the browned pieces aside on a plate.

   Ask your butcher to cut the oxtail for you. You want pieces about two inches thick, through the joint. The thicker pieces near the base carry more meat; the thinner tail pieces give up their collagen and marrow into the gravy. You need both.
2. 2

   Build the base

   Lower the heat. There will be dark, sticky residue on the bottom of the pan. Good. That's flavour. Add the onions with another knob of butter and let them soften for eight to ten minutes, stirring now and then, scraping up those dark bits as you go. The onions should turn translucent and sweet, catching some of the colour from the pan. Add the carrots, celery, and garlic. Stir through and cook for another five minutes until everything starts to smell like the beginning of something worth waiting for. Stir in the tomato purée and let it cook for a minute until it darkens and loses its raw, tinny edge.

3. 3

   Add wine and stock

   Pour in the wine. All of it. Yes, the whole bottle. Let it come to a bubble and cook for five minutes, letting the alcohol burn off and the liquid reduce slightly. It should smell vinous and warm, not sharp. Add the stock, the bay leaves, and the thyme. Nestle the browned oxtail back into the pot. The liquid should come about two-thirds of the way up the meat, not quite covering it. If it doesn't, add a splash of water. Bring everything to a gentle simmer.

   Use wine you'd actually drink. Cooking concentrates flavour, so anything unpleasant in the glass will be more unpleasant in the pot. A decent bottle of something French and red is what this wants. Nothing precious, but nothing you wouldn't pour for yourself.
4. 4

   Braise low and slow

   Put the lid on and slide the pot into the oven at 150C/130C fan. Then leave it alone. The oxtail needs three and a half to four hours. Open the lid once an hour to check the liquid level and give things a gentle turn, but otherwise let the oven do its work. The kitchen will start to smell extraordinary after the second hour, a deep, winy warmth that fills the house and makes everyone ask what's for dinner. You'll know it's ready when the meat has pulled back from the bone and yields to a fork with no resistance at all.

   If the liquid reduces too far during cooking, add a splash of stock or water. You want a generous amount of braising liquid that will become your gravy. Too dry and you lose the silk.
5. 5

   Rest, skim, and finish

   Lift the oxtail pieces carefully onto a warm dish and cover them. The braising liquid in the pot is your gravy but it needs attention. Skim the fat from the surface with a spoon. There will be a lot. Take your time. What remains should be dark, glossy, and rich enough to coat the back of the spoon. If it's too thin, set the pot on the hob over a medium heat and let it reduce for ten minutes, uncovered, until it thickens to something that feels like it means business. Taste it. Season again if it needs it. Return the oxtail to the pot, scatter over the parsley, and bring the whole thing to the table.

Chef Tips

• •Oxtail varies in size. The thick pieces from the base of the tail carry most of the meat. The thinner pieces from further down seem like less, but they're rich in marrow and collagen, which is where the gravy gets its body. Don't discard them. They're doing the real work.
• •If you can make this a day ahead, do. Refrigerate the whole pot overnight. The fat will set in a solid layer on the surface and lift off in sheets, leaving behind a cleaner, more concentrated braise. Reheat gently, covered, in a low oven until everything is heated through and the gravy is liquid again.
• •Serve this with something that will catch the gravy. Mashed potato is the obvious choice, and the right one. Creamy, buttery, not too smooth. Or a pile of soft polenta. Or just good bread, torn, for dragging through what's left on the plate. The gravy is the point. Give it somewhere to go.
• •A glass of the same wine you cooked with, or something in the same family. A sturdy red, nothing too polished. This is robust, honest food and it wants robust, honest wine alongside it.

Advance Preparation

• •Best made a full day ahead. Cool, refrigerate overnight, skim the solidified fat, and reheat in a low oven (150C) for forty-five minutes to an hour until heated through.
• •The browned oxtail can be refrigerated for up to a day before braising if you want to split the work across two sessions.
• •Freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat gently in a covered pot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)