Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [212]
4. When the meat has cooked for 1½ hours, add the chopped celery, stirring it thoroughly with the other ingredients. (If cooking in the oven, return the pot to the oven.) Cook for 45 minutes more, or until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork and comes easily off the bone. Turn the oxtail pieces from time to time while they are cooking.
5. Tip the pot and spoon off as much of the fat as possible, transfer the oxtail with the entire contents of the pot to a warm platter, and serve at once.
Note If you prefer to use the oven, you can put the pot into a preheated 350° oven after adding the tomatoes and bringing them to a simmer.
Ahead-of-time note You can complete the dish several hours or even 2 or 3 days in advance. Reheat it gently over the stove in a covered pot until the meat is very warm through and through; cold oxtail is not very appealing. If any meat is left over, it can be used with its juices to sauce pasta.
Honeycomb Tripe with Parmesan Cheese
AT ONE TIME tripe was so popular that restaurants used to specialize in it, preparing it in a score or more of different ways. One of the reasons it has become such a rare item may be that people no longer know how to prepare it. When you know how to go about it, tripe rewards you with tenderness so succulent, and a fragrance so appetizing, that more expensive cuts of meat cannot match.
Fortunately, we no longer need to go through all the preliminary soaking, scrubbing, and blanching that used to take up to twenty-four hours and made cooking tripe such a chore. It is now done by the packer, and the processed tripe you find in meat markets today, whether fresh or frozen, is all ready for the pot.
For 6 servings
2 pounds ready-to-cook honeycomb tripe, thawed if frozen
3 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup vegetable oil
½ cup onion chopped fine
½ cup celery chopped fine
½ cup carrot chopped fine
2 medium garlic cloves, mashed lightly with a knife handle and peeled
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Chopped rosemary leaves, 1 teaspoon if fresh, ½ teaspoon if dried 1 cup dry white wine
1 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice, OR, if very ripe and firm, fresh tomatoes, peeled and cut up
Chopped hot red chili pepper, to taste
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Salt
1 cup Basic Homemade Meat Broth OR ½ cup canned beef broth diluted with ½ cup water
¾ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1. Rinse the tripe very thoroughly under cold running water, then drain and cut it into strips ½ inch wide and more or less 3 inches long.
2. Choose an enameled cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pot that can later contain all the ingredients. Put in 1 tablespoon of butter, all the oil, and the chopped onion, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the chopped celery and carrot, stir to coat them well, and cook for about 1 minute.
3. Add the garlic, parsley, and rosemary, cook for another minute, stirring once or twice, then add the cut-up tripe, turning it thoroughly to coat it well. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, then add the wine. Bring the wine to a brisk simmer for 20 to 30 seconds, then put in the tomatoes with their juice, the chili pepper, black pepper, salt, and broth, give all ingredients a thorough turning over, and bring the liquids in the pot to a slow boil.
4. Cover the pot and cook for about 2½ hours, until the tripe is tender enough to be cut easily with a fork and has an agreeably chewy consistency when tasted. Control heat to maintain a slow, but steady boil. While the tripe is cooking, check the liquid in the pot from time to time; if it should become insufficient, replenish with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water; on the other hand, if it is thin and watery, continue cooking with the lid slightly askew.
5. When the tripe has become very tender, transfer it to a warm bowl. If you should find the juices in the pot to be too