Chinese Braised Oxtail

One might have thought that after the meatiness of the faggots, I'd balance it out with a somewhat lighter and vegetable-laden meal. Not so. Various tempting blog posts, like that of this and this, made me crave oxtail and it's fork-tender, fatty, gelatinous goodness. Having only ever cooked oxtail once before in a very British manner, I decided to go entirely the other way this time, and plumped for some Chinese flavours.

Of course, oxtail requires some long and slow cooking. Last weekend saw me sling some essential flavourings into a big stock pot. The browned oxtails went in next, and it was just left to do it's thing for 3 or 4 hours. The flat filled up with the warm and spicy smells of star anise, cloves and ginger and I was well rewarded for such little effort. The meat was soft, interspersed with unmistakably gooey tendon. My poor knife was unable to negotiate around the funny star-shaped bones, and in the end I picked it up gnawing away, making sure I got every morsel off. It was a rather grotesque sight to behold.

It's best to cook the oxtail the day before, so that you can easily lift the fat out but this is not essential - you just need rather a lot of patience to spoon the fat out instead.

Chinese Braised Oxtail

Serves 2 generously

4 large pieces of oxtail
8 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water
4 cloves of garlic, bashed roughly
6 slices of ginger
4 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp black vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 1/2 star anise
2 cloves
2 dried chillis
1 pint of beef stock
2 spring onions

In a large frying pan, season the oxtail with salt and pepper and brown. Remove and place in a big stock pot. In the frying pan, fry the chillis, garlic and ginger in the fat that was rendered from the oxtail. Add to the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients except the spring onions. If the stock doesn't cover the oxtail, add more. Simmer for 2 hours on a low heat. Then take the mushrooms, cut the stems off and add to the pot, along with the mushroom liqour, taking care not to add any grit. Braise for a further hour.

At this stage, you can leave it to cool and put it in the fridge to lift some of the fat out. Otherwise, take the oxtails out, and strain the liquid into a smaller saucepan, picking the mushrooms out. If you're doing this right away, spoon out as much fat as you can. Simmer this liquid fairly rapidly so that it reduces into a thicker sauce. This can take up to 45 minutes. Add the oxtails and the mushrooms back in, and simmer for a further 15 minutes, turning the oxtails around if they're not covered by the sauce. Serve, garnishing with spring onions cut diagonally, with some steamed rice and stir-fried spinach or steamed pak choi. Have wet wipes handy...