The 5th Quarter : The Innard Limits: Meats You’ve Been Missing : Making Use of Oxtails

When I was a kid, my favorite soup was oxtail, made from that flavorful (because most heavily worked) part of the cow. Years later, I had a job where every week I had to cut up several oxtails into joints. Having mastered this Zen sort of skill, I started looking for recipes to make use of it. The most exotic I found was this one from Elizabeth David’s “French Provincial Cooking.”

QUEUE DE BOEUF DES VIGNERONS (Oxtail, Wine-Grower Style)

2 oxtails, cut into joints or sawed into 2-inch lengths

3 to 4 ounces salt pork, diced

2 onions, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon salt

4 to 5 black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs parsley

2 teaspoons crushed thyme

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 pounds seedless grapes

Soak oxtails in cold water 2 hours to remove blood. Discard water.

Place diced salt pork in bottom of heavy pot and sprinkle onions and carrots on top. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until fat runs. Add oxtail, salt, peppercorns, mace, bay leaves, parsley, thyme and garlic to pot. Cover and simmer gently 20 minutes.

Pick grapes off stalks and crush slightly. Add to pot. Cover pot with 2 layers wax paper and lid and bake at 300 degrees until oxtail meat is nearly falling off bones, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours.

Remove oxtail pieces from pot and reserve. Remove and discard parsley and bay leaves. Let pot sit at least 15 minutes (preferably overnight in refrigerator), then remove as much fat as possible with spoon. Puree remaining contents of pot in food processor. Pour over oxtail pieces and rewarm. Serve with boiled potatoes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Food styling by Minnie Bernardino and Donna Deane