Coda alla Vaccinara

Oxtail braised four hours, with a great deal of celery added at the end.

Pork, Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, pork.

Ingredients

• 2 kg oxtail, in sections
• 150 g guanciale, diced
• 1 onion, 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 whole head of celery
• 300 ml dry white wine
• 800 g tinned tomatoes
• 4 cloves
• 30 g pine nuts and 30 g raisins, optional
• 20 g bitter chocolate, optional
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Blanch the oxtail 10 minutes and drain it. This takes off the scum that would otherwise cloud four hours of braising.
2. Brown the pieces hard in the oil with the guanciale, then add the onion, carrot and the OUTER celery stalks chopped small.
3. Add the wine, let it reduce, then the tomatoes, cloves and enough water to cover.
4. Cook covered on the lowest heat for 4 hours, until the meat pulls off the bone with a spoon. Skim the fat as it rises.
5. NOW THE REST OF THE CELERY, IN FINGER-LENGTH PIECES, FOR THE LAST 30 MINUTES — the pale heart and the tender stalks, a generous amount. Celery is not a background aromatic here, it is the vegetable of the dish, and added at the start it would have dissolved hours ago.
6. If using them, add the pine nuts, raisins and chocolate with the celery. They make it sweeter and darker, and the dish is made both ways.
7. Rest it off the heat 30 minutes and skim again. Better the next day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes