I cannot believe I’ve never made colo de toro (oxtail) before but, as I couldn’t find any carrillada (pork cheeks) on New Year’s Eve, I decided to give it a go. It’s traditionally made with red wine but this time I opted to use oloroso sherry. It’s also traditionally made with carrots and other root veg, but I didn’t have any so I threw in some portobellos about half-way through cooking and I thought that worked out great. As with all braised meat dishes the idea is to take your time and go low and slow.
I think including prep time this took just over 5 hours, so clearly not a dish to make if you’re in a hurry. The good thing is once it’s simmering away on the top of the cooker you are free to do other things. And like many slow cooked meats, it is even better the next day. This recipe would easily serve four. For side dishes I made roasted potatoes, mini yorkshire puddings and an arugula salad.
Ingredients and instructions below…
- 1 oxtail, cut up (approx 3.5 kilos)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced
- 250 gr portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 300-400 ml beef broth
- 250 ml oloroso sherry
- thyme
- salt & black pepper
- olive oil
Rinse and pat-dry the oxtail sections with paper towels, then generously season with salt and black pepper. Set aside for about half an hour. Meanwhile, chop the onion and garlic and slice the portobellos.
In a large skillet add a good amount of olive oil, put the heat up to med-high and start browning the meat. Make sure there’s space so that the meat isn’t crowded. Once it starts searing, turn the heat down to medium and brown all over, adding more olive oil if necessary, until the surface of the meat is nicely caramalised.
Remove the meat to a dish, set aside, and in the same pan (again, you may need a bit more oil) add the onion and garlic. Sautée at medium heat until translucent, then put the heat up to med-high and add the sherry. Cook that off a bit and then add 250 ml of the beef broth and thyme. Once that is well mixed, pour everything into a large pot (large enough so that the oxtail pieces can all fit without being on top of each other). Turn the heat up to med-hight, add the oxtail, and when it starts bubbling turn it down to low. If you need more liquid to cover the meat, use the rest of the beef broth.
In that same skillet sautée the portobellos and put them aside. I added them to the oxtail at around the 1.5 hour mark.
Check on the meat every half hour and turn the oxtail pieces over each time. I half-covered the pot with a lid that has vents in it so that the meat can braise, rather than getting steamed. You could cook it uncovered, but then you would probably have to add more liquid at some point. Around the 3 hour point check for doneness. Ideally the meat should be easily pulling away from the bone and tender without being totally mushy.
