Oxtail 'alla vaccinara'

Ingredients:

Oxtail and cheek 1.5 Kg
Lard                        as required	Bacon Fat                                                 as required
Salt and pepper       as required	Onion, garlic, yellow carrot, parsley              as required
Red wine                       1 glass	Tomato sauce                                    2 or 3 spoonfuls
Celery sticks                   plenty

Preparation 

For six people, a total of at least 1 and a half kilograms of meat is required, made up of tail and cheek. The tail should be cut, dividing the various vertebrae, the cheek chopped into regular sized pieces, and everything rinsed. 

Put a spoonful of lard together with mixed bacon fat, onion, garlic, yellow carrot and parsley, into a large saucepan. Fry a little and then add the tail and cheek. It should be seasoned with salt and pepper and browned until all the various pieces have become a light brown colour. At this point a glass of dry red wine should be added and, once evaporated, two or three spoonfuls of tomato sauce, the oxtail covered with boiling water and the gas turned down until the mixture simmers gently, and the saucepan covered. 

Meanwhile, boil the celery sticks, cutting into 6-7 centimetre long pieces and, when the oxtail is almost cooked, add, allowing the mixture to finish cooking all together. Cooking time is long, approximately six hours. 

This is the famous Roman preparation which, in the past, was the speciality of the Regola area, so much so that the 'Regolanti', the inhabitants of the area, were nicknamed 'mangiacode' (tail-eaters). 


THE DISH

Oxtail 'alla vaccinara' has always been a typically Roman dish. Although the least valued and least expensive part of the animal is used, its good preparation makes this dish extremely tasty. This is, in fact, a 'classic' Italian dish, which owes it success to an accurate preparation and expert cooking. 


THE WINE

This dish, apart from having a meat base, also includes red wine in the cooking. The choice, therefore, falls on a mature, velvety, only very slightly acidic red wine. 

It should not be overly tannic, contain a fair level of alcohol, be of an average structure with a persistent, only slightly bitterish, flavour. 


SUGGESTED WINES