12397 Oxtail Daube Serves 5 to 6 Wed Aug 06 01:06:18 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 02:24:33 -0800 2009 Licensed http://www.chow.com/recipes/12397 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:24:33 GMT 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 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 Southwest 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 necessary—one would end up with a mushy, tasteless stew.

Serve with noodles, followed by a bitter green salad.

Begin 1 day in advance.

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  • 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.
  • 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 earthenware or enameled cast-iron 5- or 6-quart casserole with the pork rind, fat side down. Transfer the browned salt pork to the casserole.
  • Season the oxtail pieces with salt and pepper. Brown the 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.
  • Remove and discard half the fat in the skillet. Cook the onions in the remaining hot fat until golden brown. Add the onions to the casserole.
  • 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 1½ cups water. Bring just to a boil and skim carefully. Pour over the meats. Add the calf's foot, herb bouquet, and garlic. Cover tightly and place in the oven to cook very slowly for 3 hours without disturbing.
  • Carefully remove the oxtails to a deep bowl; cover and keep moist. Remove the meat from the calf's foot 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 2½ hours without disturbing.
  • Remove the casserole from the oven; transfer the oxtails to a work surface; discard any loose bones. Season with salt and pepper, pour into a bowl, and cover and refrigerate. Separately, cover and refrigerate the cooking liquid.
  • About 2½ 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 add the meat in the casserole, cover and reheat the daube without stirring for 1½ hours.
  • 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 the 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.
  • Double Degreasing for Added Flavor If you remove absolutely all the fat from a dish, there will surely be a loss of flavor. To compensate, I will degrease, then add more fat for more flavor, cook the dish some more, then degrease again. I call this technique double degreasing. A good example of this technique is in the Oxtail Daube recipe (above). I use the natural fat of the oxtail to enhance the flavor of the stew; then I totally degrease the sauce, add some pork fat for more flavor, and finally degrease the dish a second time before serving. The result is a really tender, meaty, and flavorful daube of incredible lightness. The best way to degrease thoroughly is to remove the meat from the sauce and refrigerate both separately overnight. The fat in the sauce will rise to the surface and congeal, which makes it easy to remove. Fortunately, most stews and soups improve with slow reheating the next day (and sometimes multiple reheating). There is another way to degrease thoroughly, when a dish is to be served the same day it is cooked. Meat and sauce are separated. The sauce is left to stand for a short time, so that most of the fat rises to the surface and can be skimmed off. While the meat is kept warm in a very low-temperature oven, the sauce is placed in a heavy pan on the stove, set half on and half off the burner. The flame is adjusted so that the side over the heat boils slowly, and the fat and any other impurities in the sauce rise on the cooler side and can be skimmed off. This process takes about 20 to 30 minutes, with frequent skimming to remove all the fat and impurities from the sauce. The resulting sauce is clear and shiny.
    • ]]>     http://www.chow.com Paula Wolfert 50 Main 4½ to 5½ pounds oxtail, cut into pieces

    ]]>     1 calf's foot or pig's foot, split (optional; for extra body)

    ]]>     ¾-pound slab of lean salt pork

    ]]>     1 tablespoon olive or peanut oil

    ]]>     Salt and freshly ground pepper

    ]]>     4 medium onions, coarsely chopped

    ]]>     1 bottle (750 ml) full-bodied red wine, such as Syrah

    ]]>     ⅓cup red wine vinegar

    ]]>     Herb bouquet: 3 sprigs parsley, 1 sprig thyme, and 1 imported bay leaf tied together with string

    ]]>     2 garlic cloves, peeled

    ]]>     2 ounces jambon de Bayonne, prosciutto, or Serrano ham, cut into ½-inch dice

    ]]>     ¾ounce dried French cèpes or Italian porcini, crumbled

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