Oxtail Daube - Daube de Queue de Bœuf

[Wolfert]

Oxtail Daube - Daube de Queue de Bœuf

Serves 5 as Main Dish.

From The Cooking of Southwest France, published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2005 by Paula Wolfert

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 which 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 dish is served. The result is a very soft, fleshy oxtail daube of incredible lightness and flavor.

The secret is long, slow cooking in a closed pot. During this time the meat is never moved, and the juices are never allowed to boil. (If they did boil, the fats would bind with the wine and the sauce would be muddy.) Through long, slow cooking the meat renders out all of its fat; the meat and sauce retain the flavor of fat, which is water-soluble, but not the fat itself.

This dish, like many stews and daubes, benefits from being made one day in advance. In fact, some of the salmis (stews of wild birds and domestic barnyard fowl) and daubes of tough cuts of meat of the South-West are slowly reheated and cooled each day for a period of four or five days so that, with each reheating, the flavors grow stronger and deeper. For our cuts of meat this is not possible—one would end up with a mushy, tasteless stew.

Serve with noodles or amottes and a bitter green salad.

Click here for a discussion of "The Cooking of Southwest France," complete with recipe notes and photos.

• 4 1/2–5 1/2 pounds oxtail, cut into pieces
  
• 1 calf’s foot or pig’s foot, split (optional for extra body)
  
• 3/4 lb slab lean salt pork
  
• 1 T olive or French peanut oil
  
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
  
• 4 medium onions, coarsely chopped
  
• 1 bottle full-bodied red wine such as Syrah
  
• 1/3 c red wine vinegar
  
• Herb bouquet: 3 sprigs parsley, 1 sprig thyme, and 1 bay leaf, tied together
  
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  
• 2 oz chunk jambon de Bayonne, prosciutto, or Serrano ham, cut into ½-inch dice
  
• 3/4 oz dried imported French cèpes or Italian porcini, crumbled
  

1. The day before you plan to serve the daube, preheat the oven to 275°F. Trim off all excess fat from the pieces of oxtail.

2. Blanch the calf’s foot and salt pork in a saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes; drain. Slice the rind off the salt pork and reserve. Cube the salt pork and divide into 2 batches. In a heavy nonreactive skillet, heat the oil and slowly cook half the salt pork, stirring often, until the cubes turn golden brown and a great deal of their fat has rendered out, about 10 minutes. Line a flameproof ceramic or enameled cast-iron 5- or 6-quart casserole with pork rind, fat side down. Transfer the browned salt pork to the casserole.

3. Season the oxtail pieces with salt and pepper. Brown oxtail pieces over moderately high heat in batches without crowding in the skillet used to cook the salt pork, about 10 minutes per batch. As they brown, transfer the pieces to the casserole.

4. Remove and discard half the fat in the skillet. Cook onions in remaining hot fat until golden brown. Add onions to casserole.

5. Deglaze the skillet with 1 cup of the wine. Boil down to a glaze. Add another 1 cup of wine and repeat. Add the remaining wine, vinegar, and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring just to a boil and skim carefully. Pour over the meats. Add calf’s foot, herb bouquet, and garlic. Cover tightly and place in oven to cook very slowly for 3 hours without disturbing.

6. Carefully remove oxtail to a deep bowl; cover and keep moist. Remove the meat from the calf’s food while still warm and place in a food processor. Add the remaining salt pork cubes, the cooked pork rind, cooked garlic, and the ham. Grind to a smooth paste.

7. Strain the cooking liquid, pushing down on the onions to extract all their juices. Remove as much fat as possible and pour the juices into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to moderate, and boil slowly, skimming from time to time, until reduced by one third.

8. Carefully return the pieces of oxtail to the casserole and spread the meat paste on top. Add the reduced liquid. Rinse the cèpes under running water, drain, and add to the casserole. Cover and bake in a 275°F. oven for 2 ½ hours without disturbing.

9. Remove the casserole from the oven; transfer the oxtails to a work surface; discard any loose bones. Season with salt and pepper, place in a bowl, and cover and refrigerate. Separately, cover and refrigerate the cooking liquid

10. About 2 ½ hours before serving, preheat the oven to 275°F. Remove the jellied liquid from the refrigerator and lift off all congealed fat. Combine liquid and meat in the casserole, cover and reheat the daube without stirring for 1 ½ hours.

11. To serve, remove the oxtails to a deep heatproof platter. Cover with foil and keep warm in the turned-off oven. Strain the sauce into a small saucepan, pressing down on solids. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook at a slow boil, half over the heat, skimming, until sauce lightly coats a spoon about 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Pour over the meat and serve hot. Inspired by a recipe from Lucien Vanel, a now retired two star chef from Toulouse.

Keywords: Main Dish, French

( RG1485 )