French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [200]
This dish can, of course, be cooked all in one operation but, for those who don’t like very fat rich food, the system of getting rid of most of the fat from the sauce makes a better dish. The flaming with brandy also does much to strengthen the flavour of the sauce, but it can be left out if it seems a rather extravagant ingredient in a dish which should really be a cheap one.
These quantities should make plenty for six people, but the dish is one which can very well be made with one oxtail only.
For a good way of using up left-over oxtail see the recipe on page 350.
LA QUEUE DE BŒUF DES VIGNERONS
OXTAIL STEWED WITH WHITE GRAPES
Oxtail ‘as cooked by the winegrowers’ is a lovely dish made out of what should be inexpensive ingredients, but as in England grapes are not to be had just for the picking, one should perhaps only attempt it when imported grapes are plentiful and cheap. To make the lengthy cooking worth while buy at least 2 oxtails, cut into the usual 2-inch lengths by the butcher. The other ingredients are 3 to 4 oz. of salt pork or of a cheap cut of fat unsmoked bacon bought in one piece, 2 large onions, 4 large carrots and 2 Ib. of white grapes. Seasonings include, besides salt and freshly-milled pepper, a little mace or allspice, a bouquet of 2 bayleaves, parsley, thyme and 2 crushed cloves of garlic tied in a little bunch.
Steep the oxtail in cold water for a minimum of 2 hours, so that the blood soaks out.
Cut the bacon, without the rind, into little cubes. Chop the onions and dice the carrots. At the bottom of a heavy cooking pot put the bacon with the vegetables on top. Start off on a low flame and cook 10 minutes until the fat from the bacon is running. Now put in the pieces of oxtail, and put the bouquet in the centre. Season the meat. Cover the pot and cook gently for 20 minutes. Now add the grapes, which you have picked off their stalks and crushed slightly in a bowl. Cover the pot with 2 sheets of grease-proof paper and the lid. Transfer to a very slow oven, Gas No. 1, 290 deg. F., and cook for a minimum of 3 hours. Oxtail varies very much in quality, and sometimes takes a good deal longer, and unless the meat is so soft and tender it is almost falling from the bones it will not be good. Once cooked, quickly transfer the pieces of oxtail and a few of the little bits of bacon to another terrine or to a serving dish, and keep them hot while you sieve all the rest of the ingredients through the finest mesh of the mouli-légumes. Pour the resulting sauce over the oxtail. A dish of potatoes boiled in their skins, or a potato purée, should accompany the dish.
An alternative method is to cook the dish for half an hour less, take out the oxtail, and leave the sieved sauce separately so that excess fat can be removed from the top when it is cold. Having done this, pour the sauce, warmed, over the meat and heat on top of the stove rather than in the oven, because all-round heat tends to make the sauce oily, whereas with direct heat it will retain its consistency. The dish can, as a matter of fact, be reheated two or three times without damage.
Two oxtails should make six to eight ample helpings.
QUEUE DE BŒUF PANÉE
GRILLED OXTAIL
Oxtail cooked in the pot-au-feu (see page 156) or left over from a stew makes a good and useful hot hors-d’œuvre or luncheon dish. Paint the pieces with softened butter, coat them with breadcrumbs and bake them in the oven, finishing them under