Name: Oxtails Braised in Red Wine
Yield: Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients: 5 pounds oxtails cut at least 1 inch thick; 2 large bay leaves; 3 cups canned diced tomatoes with their juice; ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms (optional); 3 cups homemade chicken or beef stock or your favorite canned broth; 1 teaspoon juniper berries, slightly crushed (see Note); 6 garlic cloves, peeled and quartered; 2 medium fennel bulbs, cored and cut in wedges; 6 cups hearty, full-bodied red wine preferred; 1 cup sliced celery; 2 cups quartered crimini mushrooms; 4 cups pearl onions or cipollini, peeled; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 2 cups carrots, sliced on the diagonal (for looks); Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 cup flour, for dredging

Preparation info

Serves
8 to 10

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Cooking One on One

By John Ash

Published 2004

About

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