Ox Tail Stew (photos)

Here is my take on a dish that goes back to times when no piece of the animal was wasted. This is without a doubt the best tasting dish I have made in a long time. Huge comfort food points with this one.

You'll need:



Ox Tails - This cut may be hard to find in your grocery. There is one in Meridian that always has them, and this is the classic way to use them.
AP Flour, black pepper, oil, carrots, celery, potatoes, beef broth, onions, red wine, bay leaf, rosemary, garlic and salt. This is not a quickly prepared meal and you'll also need about six hours time but this dish is worth every minute it takes to put it on the table.



Add a small amount of oil to the Pot and heat to medium high.



Season the Ox Tails with black pepper and lightly flour each.






Brown the Ox Tails at medium high heat, taking time to make certain all sides are browned.





Remove the lightly browned meat and set aside. Slice two medium onions and sauté in the pan. When the onion has caramelized add four cloves of minced garlic.










When the garlic begins to turn translucent return the meat to the pan.



Open the wine and add about half the bottle to the pan to deglaze:





Then add a couple of sprigs of rosemary, three bay leaves and two cans of beef broth. At this point, no salt has been added to this dish. Eventually I will taste for seasoning and decide that the beef broth provided plenty of salt and that none would be needed.



Finally, I add two carrots, a stalk of celery, a teaspoon of black pepper and the lid.





After taking the contents to a low boil, the meat will cook on low for about five hours. This time is needed to tenderize the meat. I checked it twice during the cook and added a cup of water each time. The results of the long slow cook are shown here.





I removed the carrot and celery and deboned the Ox Tails:



There is no way to describe how good this smells and the richness of the beef broth the long cook has produced.

Toward the end of the cook, I peeled and cut up (one inch chunks) three large carrots and cubed maybe six or seven of the new red potatoes into 1 1/2 inch pieces. I like the flavor of the skins of new potatoes, so after removing any questionable spots, I left most of the skins intact. There is also most of a stalk of celery diced and half of a small onion cut into large pieces.





Into the pot.



And after about thirty minutes at a low boil with the lid in place, it is finished.




My bowl.





Spoon view - can't have stew without crusty bread.







And a really good thing - Leftovers!



I do not have the words to describe what a rich beefy broth resulted from the slow cook of these Ox Tails.