OXTAIL
Paolo learned of this recipe from a friend in Italy … it will go against what you have heard before!
Recipe:
Buy one oxtail but get the butcher to cut it into pieces.
Out the oxtail in a large heavy pot.
Make up enough beef stock to cover the oxtail pieces.
Simmer with the lid on for 3 hours – the liquid will reduce.
Take the lid off and simmer for another hour or so.
The liquid will have reduce enough into a thick syrup substance.
Turn the oxtail at this stage and shallow fry in the juice for a while longer.
Serving:
Serve with mashed potato or rice.
HAM HOCK
Find a pot that will hold two ham hocks and cover them with water.
Add some peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves.
Bring it up to the boil, then put a lid on and turn the heat down until the water just simmers.
Let the hocks cook for about four hours. You’ll know they’re cooked when you see the bone sticking out well away from the meat.
Now leave the pot simmering and remove the hocks. Pull off the skin, the bones and any fatty bits and put them back into the still simmering pot.
You should be left now with just meat, so shred it as fine as you can, using a knife to cut up any stubborn bits.
Find a bowl or baking tin that will fit the amount of meat you have – I use a Teflon coated loaf tin – and put a few bay leaves on the bottom.
Now put in a shallow layer of the shredded meat.
Take a jug and remove about a pint of liquid from the simmering pot, trying to pick up only liquid and no bits.
Stir two tablespoonfuls of your favourite mustard into this.
Pour enough into the tin to just cover the meat.
Add more meat, more liquid, more meat until you’ve used it all up.
Level off the top with your mustardy liquid and put the whole thing in the fridge for 24 hours.
The liquid will have set into a clear jelly, holding all the meat together. Turn it out and serve it in slices with a dollop of mustard.
