Roman ox butchers, known as i vaccinari, have been attributed authorship for this most characteristic dish of la cucina povera romana. Honored as savvy, inventive cooks, the butchers were and are wont to pot up the most particularly toothsome nuggets plundered from the great beasts. The tail of an ox, though it surrenders inconsiderable flesh, is of the tenderest texture and most delicate savor to be gleaned from the whole hulk of him.
Coda alla Vaccinara Oxtails Braised in Tomatoes and White Wine in the Manner of the Roman Butchers)
Introduction
- Portions
- 4
- Partner
Ingredients
- 1 oxtail (about 2-1/2 to 3 pounds), whacked into 2- to 3-inch pieces
- 3 ounces salt pork
- 1 large bunch of flat-leaf parsley
- 4 fat cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and minced
- 2 small carrots, sliced
- Hearts and leaves of 2 large bunches of celery, the hearts sliced, and the leaves chopped
- 1 small, dried red chile pepper, crushed, or 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon dried chile flakes
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 1/2 cup tomato puree
- 1 cup water
- 1-1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- Freshly cracked pepper
Steps
- Rinse the oxtail and place it in a large soup pot, covering it with cold water. Over a lively flame, bring to a full boil. Immediately drain the oxtail, setting it aside and discarding the water.
- With a mezzaluna or very sharp knife, mince the salt pork with the leaves of the parsley and the garlic to a fine paste. In a large terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole, over a medium flame, warm the aromatic paste. In it, brown the pieces of oxtail, turning them about in the fat, sealing them well.
- Add the onion, carrots, celery leaves, and the crushed chile, sautéing them a bit in the hot fat before adding 1/2 cup of the white wine and permitting it to evaporate. Add another 1/2 cup and, again, let it evaporate. Add the remaining wine, the tomato puree, water, sea salt, and generous grindings of fresh pepper, bringing the mixture to a quiet simmer.
- Cover the pot tightly and very gently braise the oxtail for 4 hours, stirring every H hour or so. Add the celery hearts and continue to braise, the pot covered, for 1/2 hour.
- Permit the oxtail to luxuriate in its bath for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight in a cool place or in the refrigerator. Slowly reheat the oxtail and present it in shallow bowls with oven-toasted bread and cold white wine.
- Excerpted from A Taste of Southern Italy by Marlena de Blasi . Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
