Name: Oxtail Daube (Daube de Queue de Bœuf)
Yield: Serves 5 to 6
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 4½ to 5½ pounds oxtail, cut into pieces; Herb bouquet: 3 sprigs parsley, 1 sprig thyme, and 1 imported bay leaf tied together with string; 4 medium onions, coarsely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, peeled; 2 ounces jambon de Bayonne, prosciutto, or Serrano ham, cut into ½-inch dice; 1 bottle (750 ml) full-bodied red wine, such as Syrah; Salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 tablespoon olive or peanut oil; ¾-pound slab of lean salt pork; ¾ ounce dried French cèpes or Italian porcini, crumbled; ⅓ cup red wine vinegar; 1 calf’s foot or pig’s foot, split (optional; for extra body)

Preparation info

Serves
5 to 6

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

The Cooking of South West France

By Paula Wolfert

Published 1987

About

Consider a perfectly cooked prime-grade porterhouse steak. We know it is the marbling in the meat, the streaks of fat, that make it so succulent and delicious. We know it isn’t healthy to eat much meat fat, but for flavor’s sake we do. Here is a dish that uses fat to enhance its flavor but which is served close to fat-free because it is double degreased. In fact, when you read the recipe, you will see that I have actually added fat for extra flavor, but that is eliminated, too, before the d