Brazilian Oxtail Soup

A South American slow cooked oxtail stew, bursting with flavour. Well worth the wait., with very little effort.

Everyone has an opinion of Oxtail Soup, ranging from what is it? To yeah well I couldn’t eat cow tails I’m sorry. To wow, it’s good. To meu deus with arms raised aloft, and head tilted to the heavens.

We’re in the meu deus category. It’s likely you will be too if cook this dish. But be sure to invite some friends over, on a cold night, when the forecast is for snow. Light the fire, share a bottle or two of Pinot Noir, and talk and chat a little while sharing the cooking duties. The Oxtail deserves it.

We made a version a few steps away from the classic recipe, by adding carrots and chuck steak. Mushrooms, and yams would work well too. Whatever’s fresh.

It isn’t really a soup. It’s more like a stew, swimming in juices.

Oh by the way, it’s possible to cook this dish in 20 minutes in a pressure cooker. But we would steer you away from this, preferring the slow cook method which hopefully extracts more flavor. Besides this dish is a classic, a “distinguished lady” who doesn’t like to be rushed.

Brazilian Oxtail Soup with Watercress and Potatoes

Serves 4 to 6.

Utensils

Clay or ceramic cooking vessel that absorbs heat, cooks evenly, and asists in the slow cooking process.
Large wooden spoon.
Chef’s knife.
Ladle.

Ingredients

1 clove of garlic.
3 onions roughly chopped.
50 grams of black pepper, or peppercorns.
300 mls of Tomato Puree.
2 kg’s of Oxtails, or 1kg of oxtails and 1 kg of chuck steak.
1 bayleaf
8 Potatoes washed and quartered.
4 carrots washed and cut into large rounds.
1 large bunch of watercress.
Salt to taste ( or 1 heaped tbs of cheiro verde)

Method

Prepare the ingredients.
Wash the oxtails, chop the onions, and weigh the ingredients. If you’re using chuck steak cut into large chunks, and remove any excess fat tissue.
Fill the kitchen sink with water, and add the watercress.
Wash, remove drain and set aside.
After you’ve prepared the ingredients, wipe down the kitchen before you start cooking.
Add onion to pot and sweat the onions over a moderate / low heat
Add the garlic, black pepper, tomato puree.
Sweat to fuse the flavours.
Add oxtails, and continue to cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
Cover with water, or wine, or stock.
Add bayleaf.
Leave to simmer at 150C for 2 hours with the lid on.
Add potatoes and carrots (skins on), remove lid.
Cook twenty minutes, stir.
Cook twenty minutes and stir again. As the juices reduce keep stirring to ensure the surface meat doesn’t dry out.
Cook for a further 20 minutes or so, and remove from the oven.
Cut the thick stems off the watercress, roughly chop, add, and put the lid on.
Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Take the cooking dish straight to the table and serve, with a ladle.
Garnish with lime quarters.

Sides

Steamed white rice.
Kale lightly fried in bacon, and garlic.
Orange slices
Pilao sauce, made from the oxtail cooking liquor,and the addition of mandioc flour. The best time to do this is after about 2 hours, just before the reduction process.

Accompaniments

Hot marleguetta pimenta sauce.
Garlic Sauce.
Extra lime quarters.

Cheiro Verde

Cheiro verde is a combination of fresh herbs. Spring onions (green onions, or cebolinhas), coriander (or cilantro or coentro), and parsley (salisfy). It can be finely chopped, added to salt and macerated in a pirao or pestal and mortar to form a paste. We used the salt paste version in our recipe here, when we added the flavourings.

If you can’t find fresh watercress, replace it with fresh cheiro verde roughly chopped. It will do just as well. Perhaps better.

Bom apetite.