Rabo de toro (Cordoban oxtail stew)

Cordoba's great stew, born in the bullrings: oxtail braised for hours in red wine until the meat slips off the bone and the sauce turns dark and glossy. A dish of patience, ideal made a day ahead.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg oxtail, cut into pieces (ask the butcher)
• 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 leek, 4 garlic cloves, all chopped
• 500 ml red wine
• 500 ml beef stock
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, black peppercorns
• Olive oil and salt

Method

1. Season the oxtail, dust with flour and brown deeply in olive oil in batches. Set aside.
2. In the same pot, soften the vegetables for 15 minutes until sweet and golden.
3. Return the meat, add the wine and boil 5 minutes to burn off the alcohol. Add the stock, bay, cloves and peppercorns.
4. Cover and braise on the lowest heat for about 3 hours (or 45 minutes in a pressure cooker), until the meat falls from the bone.
5. Take the meat out, strain the sauce and reduce it until thick and glossy. Reunite, adjust salt and serve with fried potatoes. Better still the next day.

Tips

• The collagen in the tail is what thickens the sauce - never thicken it with flour at the end.
• Some kitchens finish it with a square of dark chocolate; it works.