Oxtail Gravy

Oxtail is the best value cut in the butcher's window for anyone who cares about gravy. It is bone, marrow, fat and slow twitch muscle all in one, and after four hours in the oven the braising liquor is halfway to a sauce before you have done anything to it. The meat you pick off is a bonus dinner.

Ingredients

Makes about 500ml of very rich gravy, plus a bowl of picked meat

• 1.5kg (3lb 5oz) oxtail cut into sections, the butcher will do this
• 2 tbsp beef dripping
• 2 onions sliced
• 2 carrots chunked
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 300ml (10fl oz) red wine something you would drink
• 1.2 litres (2 pints) beef stock or water
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 tsp cornflour only if it needs it, which it usually will not
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Heavy casserole with a lid
• Tongs
• Fine sieve
• Wide reduction pan

Method

1. Pat the oxtail sections dry and season them. Heat the dripping in a heavy casserole and brown them hard in batches over medium high heat, 4 minutes a side, until each piece has a proper crust. This takes 20 minutes and you must not rush it or crowd the pan, because the browning is where most of the colour in the final gravy comes from.

2. Lift the oxtail out. Drop the heat, add the onions, carrots and celery and cook for 10 minutes until softened and taking colour, scraping the base as you go.

3. Stir in the tomato purée and cook it for 2 minutes until it darkens, then pour in the wine and let it bubble down by half. Scrape everything off the bottom while it does.

4. Return the oxtail, add the stock so the pieces are just covered, drop in the bay and thyme, and bring to a bare simmer. Lid on, into a 150C fan oven (170C conventional, gas 3) for 4 hours. Low and slow, because oxtail collagen needs time and temperature, not fierce heat.

5. It is ready when the meat slides off the bone with no resistance at all. Lift the pieces out with tongs and pick the meat off while still warm, which is far easier than when cold.

6. Strain the liquor through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing the vegetables gently to get the last of it. Leave it to stand for 15 minutes so the fat rises, then spoon it off. There will be a lot, so be thorough.

7. Pour the defatted liquor into a wide pan and reduce at a steady simmer to about 500ml, roughly 20 minutes. It will thicken visibly on its own as the gelatine concentrates, and it should coat a spoon without any help.

8. Only if it still feels thin, slake the cornflour with a tablespoon of cold water and whisk it in, then simmer for 2 minutes. Taste, season and serve. The picked meat goes into a pie or on toast.

Tips worth knowing

• Braise it the day before. The fat sets solid overnight and lifts off in one piece, which is far easier and more thorough than spooning it warm.
• Do not skip the browning. Grey oxtail gives grey gravy and no amount of stock will fix it afterwards.
• Oxtail carries a lot of natural gelatine, so taste and feel the sauce before reaching for thickener. Most of the time it needs none at all.
• The bones are worth a second pass. Cover the picked bones with water and simmer for two hours for a light second stock, the way frugal kitchens have always done.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge, where it will set solid, and freezes for six months. Reheat gently with a splash of water, whisking as it loosens.

Questions people ask