I love braising. I particularly love braining meat with lots of bones, fat and collagen. Collagen is the connective tissue found in the muscle areas of the animal that does the most work - the neck , legs, shoulder. Collagen turns into gelatin when the meat is cooked slowly and gently and gelatin gives meat the silky and velvety flavour that comes from braising.
Tonight I braised oxtails.
Actually I braised them yesterday and we had them tonight with papperdelle.
Braising Oxtails:
We got the oxtails from Brian Quin"s Meats in Stone Mills ( Yarker), Ontario. Brian Quin's Meats is also a slaughterhouse.
I browned the oxtails in a deep frying pan (I was in Toronto and didn;t have my braising pot), removed them and then sauteed onions carrots ans a couple of cloves of garlic. I glazed the pan with a cup of white wine and a cup of canned tomatoes and reduced the liquid by half, I added the oxtails and some chicken stock (to almost cover the oxtails), seasoned and let it cook slowly in a 320 oven for 4 hours
The next day I stripped the oxtails of their meat, removed the solidified fat from the liquid and mashed the carrots, onions, garlic and tomatoes into the liquid while heating it up. (You could strain the liquid for a more sophisticated dish but I wanted the vegetables for a more rustic "ragu".)
Served with papperdelle (not home made but there is some very good artisanal dry papperdelle available in specialty stores and supermarkets.
No comments:
Post a Comment