By K.B. Shivuri | The Seasoned Hearth | Recipes, Beef, Oxtail, Slow Cooking, South African
There are cuts of meat that divide opinion at the butcher's counter. Oxtail is one of them. Those who know it, love it completely. Those who have never cooked with it look at the pieces — knobbly, bony, gelatinous — and are not immediately convinced.
Let me convince you.
Oxtail, cooked low and slow for three to four hours, produces a stew unlike any other. The bones surrender an extraordinary amount of gelatin into the braising liquid, turning it silky and thick and deeply rich in a way that no thickener can replicate. The meat — falling off the bone, tender beyond description — carries a flavour that is more intensely beefy than almost any other cut. And the sauce that forms around it is something you will want to eat with a spoon long after the meat is gone.
Oxtail stew is beloved across southern Africa, and with good reason. It is the kind of food that connects you to something older and more honest than most modern cooking manages. It is hearth food — made to be eaten around a table, slowly, with good bread and good company.
"Oxtail asks nothing of you except patience. In return, it gives you one of the great stews of the world."
Understanding Oxtail
Oxtail is exactly what it sounds like — the tail of a cow, cut into sections. Each piece consists of a central bone surrounded by meat and a generous layer of connective tissue and fat. It is this connective tissue that makes oxtail so extraordinary for slow cooking — it breaks down into gelatin over hours of gentle braising, enriching the sauce with body and depth that no other cut can provide.
Buy oxtail from a good butcher. The pieces should be meaty and well-trimmed, ranging in size from large sections near the base of the tail to smaller pieces from the tip. A mix of sizes is perfectly normal and fine.
For the best flavour, ask your butcher for grass-fed oxtail where possible.
Ingredients (Serves 4–6)
- 1.5kg oxtail pieces
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 250ml red wine
- 700ml good beef stock
- 1 x 400g tin whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice or mixed spice
- Salt and black pepper
- Fresh parsley to finish
Step 1 — Marinate Overnight (Optional but Recommended)
If you have time, marinate the oxtail the night before. Place the pieces in a bowl with the red wine, a few sprigs of thyme, the bay leaves, and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. This deepens the flavour considerably.
Remove the oxtail from the marinade before cooking and pat dry. Reserve the marinade liquid.
Step 2 — Brown the Oxtail
Preheat your oven to 150°C / 300°F.
Pat the oxtail pieces completely dry with paper towels. Season generously with salt and pepper on all sides.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven over high heat. Brown the oxtail in batches — do not crowd the pot. Sear each piece on all sides until deeply browned and caramelised. This takes 3–4 minutes per side per batch. Remove each batch to a plate.
This step takes time — 20 to 30 minutes for a full batch of oxtail. Do it properly. The colour and flavour you build here is the foundation of the entire stew.
Step 3 — Build the Base
Reduce the heat to medium. In the fat left behind, cook the onions, carrots, and celery for 10 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir in, and cook for 2 minutes until darkened.
Add the red wine (or reserved marinade) and scrape up every browned bit from the bottom of the pot. Let it bubble for 4–5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, beef stock, allspice, thyme, and bay leaves. Stir and bring to a simmer.
Step 4 — The Long Braise
Return the oxtail to the pot, nestling the pieces into the liquid. The liquid should come about halfway up the oxtail — add a little more stock or water if needed.
Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, then cover tightly and transfer to the preheated oven.
Braise for 3.5 to 4 hours. After 2 hours, check the pot — the liquid should be gently bubbling. If it is boiling vigorously, reduce the oven temperature by 10°C. Turn the oxtail pieces at the halfway mark.
The oxtail is ready when the meat is completely falling away from the bone and the sauce is thick, dark, and deeply fragrant.
Step 5 — Skim and Finish
Remove the oxtail from the pot. Skim the fat from the surface of the sauce — oxtail is fatty and will release a significant amount. You can do this with a spoon, or refrigerate the stew overnight and lift off the solidified fat the next day (which also improves the flavour considerably).
Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. If the sauce is too thin, simmer it uncovered for 10–15 minutes to reduce and concentrate.
Return the oxtail to the sauce and reheat gently if needed.
Step 6 — Serve
Ladle the oxtail and sauce generously into deep bowls. Scatter over fresh parsley. Serve with creamy pap, mashed potato, or thick-cut bread to soak up the extraordinary sauce.
Provide napkins. Oxtail is best eaten with your hands — pulling the tender meat from the bone directly. Do not be apologetic about this. It is part of the pleasure.
Tips for the Best Oxtail Stew
Brown deeply and patiently. The sear on oxtail is even more important than with other cuts because the long cooking time can make the exterior of the meat lose colour. A thorough initial sear preserves that deep caramelised flavour throughout.
Cook the day before. Oxtail stew is emphatically better the next day. The fat is easy to remove once cold, the flavours deepen and meld beautifully, and the sauce thickens to a perfect consistency. Make it on Saturday, eat it on Sunday.
Use the bones. After the meal, any remaining sauce clinging to the bones is worth spooning out into the pot. The very marrow inside the larger bones will have softened during cooking — scoop it out and stir it into the sauce or spread it on bread.
Add butter beans. For extra substance, stir in a tin of drained butter beans in the last 30 minutes of cooking. They absorb the sauce and become something extraordinary.
Oxtail stew is not a quick meal. It is a commitment — to your kitchen, to your pot, and to the idea that some things are worth waiting for. When you lift the lid after four hours and see what time and heat and a little patience have created, you will understand completely why this dish has been on tables across southern Africa for generations.
It is, in every sense, food for the soul.
— K.B. Shivuri, The Seasoned Hearth
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