Winter is upon us in the northern tablelands, and with it – the desire to slow cook some of the more interesting cuts of meat in the butchers. Whether it’s pies, stews or pasta – the weather is brutally cold and there’s nothing quite like gooey and thoroughly tasty bits of meat on our forks to cheer us up.
This winter was the first for many years at red grapevine that we haven’t had Osso Buco on our menu, instead choosing to have this classic slow cooked pasta sauce on our specials instead. It’s been a great success, so much so that we decided to post it as our recipe for this month.
There is something especially alluring about Ox, however for those who don’t know, this is the meat from the tail of the exact same domesticated & castrated Bovine creature that gives us Scotch Fillet Steak and mince beef. The term ‘Ox’ generally refers to a Bullock that has been trained to work as a draught animal, not commonly practiced in a country with thousands of tractors. If you were to purchase ‘Ox’ meat at a market stall in Mongolia then it would be almost certainly be Ox, but in an Australian supermarket chances are it’s come from the very same animal as the packet of T-Bone or topside beef it’s sitting next to. Why butchers and chefs refer to the tongue and tail as Ox is probably a result of culinary tradition more than anything else. I doubt ‘Eye Fillet of Ox’ would be particularly popular in restaurants.
Ingredients:
2kg oxtail or beeftail (You may find it described as either).
2 large brown onions
3 celery stalks
3 large carrots
500ml vegetable stock
½ cup red wine
1. Arrange a large roasting tin or ovenproof dish with some chopped carrot, onion, & celery pieces
2. In a hot frying pan with a small amount of oil, lightly brown your oxtail pieces on both sides
3. When finished, place the meat on top of the vegetables in the dish. Deglaze your pan with the red wine and pour this on top of the oxtail. Then add enough vegetable stock so that the liquid level goes up 1/3 to 1/2 of the meat. It needs to be sitting in the liquid, but not covered.
4. Cover the oxtail tightly with two pieces of aluminium foil. It is VERY IMPORTANT that it is tightly covered with no holes. The slow cooking will only work if there is little to no moisture loss at all. As the liquid comes to the boil, it will turn to steam, but then condense on the inside of the foil and go back to liquid again. It is this cycle that creates the combination of boiling, steaming & roasting which breaks the meat down, and makes it so flavoursome & tender.
5. The whole tray will need about 4 hours in an oven set to 150 degrees C.
There is a comprehensive description of this method (officially known as braising) and a video of us slow cooking lamb on one of our older posts here.
6. Take it out of the oven, and allow the meat to cool slightly.
7. Shred the meat from the bone, making sure you get all the gooey sticky yuminess from all the nooks & crannies.
8. Save the carrots and puree them thoroughly till smooth.
9. Strain all of the cooking liquid.
10. Mix through the meat & carrot with enough of the stock to make a thick sauce. If it is too runny, put it into a saucepan on a low heat and reduce it until it has reached a nice thick consistency.
11. Mix together with whatever pasta you choose. This month at red grapevine we have used tagliatelle.
Any question, or thoughts (or if anyone knows a little more about the Ox / Beef Etymology) please use the comment section below.
