Stewed beef tail with red wine

This recipe, traditional in the south of Spain, used to be cooked with the tail of fighting bulls. It was one of the least noble and cheapest parts... but a dish was cooked to say “Olé, olé and olé!”

Nowadays, it is impossible to get bull meat, so we can replace the bull with cow and the result will be just as spectacular. I recommend that you use cow's tail and not calf's tail, because the latter is less tasty. I had to order it from my butcher's because it is not a product they usually have.

It's a dish that requires time and care. In total, the oxtail will need to cook for about 3 hours to achieve a tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture . But you don't need to keep an eye on it all the time! In addition, the meat needs to marinate for 12 hours in red wine to make it more tender and tasty... you see, it's a dish that requires a little forethought.

To cook it, I recommend doing it in a cast iron cocotte . The one you see in the photo is the low saucepan-style cocotte from Le Creuset , and it works very well for these stews (it's also perfect for stewing pork cheeks). And once it's cooked, you can bring it to the table in the same cocotte. It's so pretty that all your guests will love it as much as the recipe for oxtail stewed with red wine that I'm going to explain to you now.

Le Creuset low casserole dish

Ingredients

• 2 oxtails
• 1 leek
• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 L of quality red wine
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 ounce of dark chocolate
• Flour
• Olive oil
• Salt

Elaboration

1. Place the cut oxtail in a cocotte . Also add the vegetables cut into large pieces and the garlic head cut in half. Cover with the red wine. If necessary, add water to cover it completely. Leave to marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
2. The next day, remove the pieces of oxtail from the marinade, lightly salt and flour them. Cut the vegetables into small cubes and set aside for later. Reserve the marinade liquid, you will need it for cooking the stew.
3. Pour a drizzle of olive oil into the cocotte and brown the pieces of oxtail on all sides. Once browned, add the vegetables, rosemary and thyme and cover with the marinade liquid. Cover and simmer for 3 hours.
4. After the time has passed, remove the pieces of oxtail and strain the liquid through a sieve . Squeeze well to extract all the juices from the vegetables. Return the sauce to the cocotte and let it reduce until it thickens. Add the ounce of chocolate and stir well.
5. Return the pieces of oxtail to the cocotte and let everything cook together for another 10 minutes. Baste the pieces of oxtail with the sauce to make them shiny.

You can serve the oxtail with some fried potatoes, boiled basmati rice or boiled quinoa.

Le Creuset low casserole dish