girl in a food frenzy

I love the silky texture of the marrow and collagen that thickens this braise slowly overtime. A really beautiful and economical cut I think we sourced a kilo of oxtail for just under $10 so it’s super on so many levels.

The star anise buds are a Heston tip, to get more meaty flavours into a braise he adds them to bring the sweetness out in the onions and yes, it works!

Time: 3-4 hrs

Ingredients:

1 kilo of oxtail or similar cut,
A few pieces of decent marrow bones (these too are offcuts and relatively inexpensive)
Plain Flour to coat the meat
Cube of butter
Drizzle of oil
3 carrots,
1 onion,
2 star anise buds
2 sticks of celery
4 garlic gloves,
4 large tomatoes
5 or 6 large mushrooms,
1 beer or cider, you can use red wine if you prefer
1 cup of Tomato paste
Boiled water fresh from the kettle
Salt & pepper to season
Parsley or your herbs of choice to garnish,

Mash potato to serve, I always add some butter & cream to mine. If you’re going to eat it, you might as well enjoy it!

You’ll need a very large pot for the braise,

Method:

Dust the meat pieces in some plain flour, add some oil to your pot and wait until it starts to smoke.

Add the meat and brown lightly all over. Once it has achieved a nice colour, remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same braising pan, add some chopped onion, celery and star anise along with the cube of butter. Bring up to a fairly hot heat,

Add the garlic, carrots & mushroom, this is a good time to add some seasonings in too.

Remove the star anise buds from the pan and add the chopped tomatoes & tomato paste,

Stir to combine, simmer on a low heat.

Add the cider at this stage and cook out the mixture for the next three hours. Time to wash up and put that mash on (or rice etc, whichever you prefer.) Once the sauce & meat has reached the consistency you desire, plate up & serve…