Oxtails Braised in Red Wine

This is one of those warming, old-time winter dishes made with an inexpensive cut of meat that many cooks have forgotten about. “Oxtails” don’t actually come from oxen (which are castrated bulls used mainly as draft animals). They are the tails of ordinary beef cattle. Oxtails are very high in collagen, which when cooked breaks down into a mouth-filling, unctuous texture. Dried porcini add a wonderful flavor note to this and almost any recipe in this lesson, but if you can’t find them or if