Rabo de Toro (Oxtail Stew) Recipe

5 from 8 votes

This Rabo de Toro Oxtail Stew recipe from Jerez in Spain is a classic slow braised dish that requires a long cooking time, but rewards with rich, robust flavours.

Prep Time1

Cook Time3

Total Time4

Course: Main

Cuisine: Spanish

Servings:

Calories: 977kcal

Author: Terence Carter

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 kilo of oxtail — it usually comes sliced through the bone in 5cm/2in pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion sliced
1 celery stick diced
1 carrot diced
1 leek sliced (optional but delicious)
A dash of sherry or two — one for the pot and one for the chef!
A few black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic crushed — but not with one of those stupid garlic crushers
1 bottle Rioja — preferably a bold one
Bunch of parsley — stems chopped into small pieces up to the leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
1 tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp hot paprika or dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp tomato paste

Instructions

Stage one/Day one

Heat oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. When hot add the oxtail and brown the pieces all over. Add some salt and pepper while it’s cooking, not before.
Remove the oxtail and add the onion, celery, and carrots — and leeks, if you’ve taken my advice.
Add a dash of sherry and scrape the browned bits of meat off the bottom of the pan as the sherry evaporates. If you don’t have browned bits, you’ve not cooked the oxtail at a high enough heat.
After the mix starts to colour, add the garlic, parsley stems, the peppercorns, the sweet paprika and hot paprika or dried red chilli flakes, and then, after a couple of minutes, the oxtail.
Add the Rioja. Yes, that means the whole bottle. Drink the sherry if you want a tipple.
At this stage you’ll probably need to add water to cover all of the oxtail — this is important so that the oxtail cooks properly.
Bring to a decent simmer and reduce the heat to low.
You now need to leave the oxtail for at least a couple of hours, but check every now and then that the water is still covering the meat.
At two hours the meat should be cooked to the stage where it falls off the bone when provoked. If not, leave it on low heat until it does.
When it’s ready, remove the oxtail pieces from the sauce and place them in a well-sealed container ready for the fridge. Strain the sauce through a sieve (it doesn’t have to be too fine) and pour it over the meat. When it’s cooled, refrigerate overnight.

Stage two/Day two

On day two, heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onion and carrot, cooking until they have colour.
Add the oxtail and some of the sauce. Cook until the meat is warmed through and then add the tomato paste and some more of the sauce.
Check the sauce for seasoning; you may need to add some salt at this stage.
Cook this for 15 minutes or so, adding some more of the sauce as you go. If you don’t have enough sauce for a nice pool around the oxtail when you serve, you may regret it — it should be delicious!
Check the seasoning again before serving with the fried potatoes.

Nutrition