This is a rich and comforting French-inspired oxtail stew, slowly braised in red wine with garlic and thyme until the meat is incredibly tender and falls away from the bone. Oxtail is perfect for slow cooking as the meat becomes beautifully tender and the bones add a wonderful richness to the sauce.

Braising comes from the French word ‘braiser’ and involves first searing the meat at a high temperature before slowly cooking it in liquid in a covered pot. 

• Serves 4
• 3 1/2 lbs oxtail
• 2 celery sticks
• 4 small red onions sliced
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 whole garlic bulb
• 1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 dozen thyme sprigs
• 4 carrots chopped chunky
• 3 tsp Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 60ml olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups good quality red wine (French if possible)
• approx. 1/2 pint of good quality beef stock

• Empty the flour into a bowl with the sea salt and pepper mix well. Coat the oxtail in the flour.
• Place oil and butter in a frying pan, add in the onions. Let these cook until golden.
• With a slotted spoon remove and place into the oven dish (or crock pot for hob)
• Using the same frying pan add in the oxtail keep the heat high, again you are searing this to get a good colour.
• Turn the meat so each side is browned. Once they all have a good colour remove and place with the onions in the pot.
• Tuck in chunks of celery, carrots, thyme and the garlic which I just chopped the whole bulb into half.
• Now splash some red wine into the hot frying pan to de-glaze and then pour over the onion and meat.
• Pour the rest of the wine to the pot.
• Stir in the tomato paste, sugar and add the stock. Just pour in enough stock to ‘just’ cover the meat.
• Cover well.
• OVEN: Heat oven to max. Cook on highest heat for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180 degrees. Cook for around 2/3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Once it is tender remove lid and let the sauce reduce and meat colour for another 20 minutes.
• HOB: With the heat on the highest get the pan to a boil then turn down and cook on low for about 3 hours. Keeping the lid on, until the meat is tender. Again, once tender un-cover, I removed the meat at this point and then turned the heat up and let the sauce reduce a little before adding the meat back to the pan.
• Half way through each of the above options taste the sauce and see if it needs anymore seasoning.