Braised Oxtail

Written by
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Danilo Alfaro
Updated 09/17/20
Braised oxtail with peas, mashed potatoes and carrots
Joff Lee / Getty Images
  • Total: 3 hrs 40 mins
  • Prep: 10 mins
  • Cook: 3 hrs 30 mins
  • Servings: 4 servings

Oxtail is a peculiar and wonderful piece of meat. It's literally the tail of the steer, or any type of cattle these days, making it thick at one end and skinny at the other with a bone running down the center. Oxtail is sold cut into sections, which means you'll usually get a few big meaty pieces and a few really little ones. Although this used to be mainly eaten only by the poor, oxtail's appeal has been discovered by chefs and gourmands and is now an expensive item in the butcher shop.

The oxtail has a lot of cartilage and connective tissue, so it needs to be cooked slowly for a long time using moist heat. One such method is braising, which melts away all those sinewy bits and turns them into gelatin, yielding succulent meat and a really rich and delicious sauce. It is best served with something to soak up the sauce, like pasta, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta.

Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 pounds oxtail pieces
  • 1/4 cup canola oil or other vegetable oil
  • 2 to 3 medium onions (peeled and diced)
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves (peeled and crushed)
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 4 cups beef stock
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 2 to 3 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Preheat the oven to 300 F/150 C. Dry the oxtails well with paper towels. This will help you get a nice brown color when you sear them.

  3. In a heavy, cast-iron Dutch oven or brazier, heat the oil over high heat. Once hot, add the oxtails and sear them thoroughly, using a pair of tongs to turn them. When you've developed a nice brown crust on all sides, remove the oxtails from the pan and set aside.

  4. Add the onions and garlic to the pot and sauté for 5 minutes or so, or until the onion is slightly translucent.

  5. Add the wine and use a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula to loosen all the bits from the bottom of the pan.

  6. Return the oxtails to the pot along with the stock, tomato paste, bay leaves, peppercorns, and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

  7. Heat on the stovetop until the liquid comes to a boil, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and transfer the pot to the preheated oven. Cook for 3 hours with the lid on.

  8. Remove the pot from the oven and let the meat cool in the braising liquid while you make the sauce.

  9. Ladle out about 2 cups of the braising liquid and pour it through a mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup. Skim off any fat from the top.

  10. Heat the butter in a separate saucepan set over medium high heat, then gradually stir in the flour until paste forms. Heat for a few minutes, stirring until the paste (called a roux) is a light brown color.

  11. Whisk the hot cooking liquid into the roux a little at a time. Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes until thickened. Strain it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any lumps and season to taste with salt and pepper.

  12. Serve the oxtail with a generous portion of sauce.

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