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This melt-in-your-mouth Rabo de Toro oxtail stew recipe from Jerez in Southern Spain is a classic slow braised dish that requires a long cooking time, but rewards with rich, robust flavours. It’s inspired by the rabo de toro that we ate at Bar Juanito here in Jerez.
Over the past few years I’ve developed an obsession with what different cultures do with cheap cuts of meat. The stewing, the braising, and simple slow-cooking of often tough, sinewy or bony meats that people originally ate out of financial necessity is fascinating. This rabo de toro oxtail stew recipe from Jerez in Spain is one dish that really fits the bill.
It’s interesting how many slow cooked dishes have risen above their station and become regional specialties. Bœuf bourguignon from Burgundy in France, osso bucco from northern Italy, tajine from Morocco, and beef rendang from Indonesia are all examples of dishes that began quite humbly and developed into taste sensations – as did this rabo de toro oxtail stew.
These are dishes that generally taste better coming out of the kitchen of a skilled and experienced home cook than they do from a chef in a restaurant. So let me tell you more about this home-cooked rabo de toro oxtail stew recipe from Jerez in Southern Spain.
And if you love a good old-fashioned traditional stew, do check out our collection of our best stew recipes for more hearty winter warmers.
Rabo de Toro Oxtail Stew Recipe from Jerez in Southern Spain
So what does our oxtail stew recipe and the other hearty dishes have in common besides big earthy flavours? Mainly their slow cooking – and by this we mean many hours of slow cooking – and often an overnight stay in the fridge to let the flavours come together.
Just like the Moroccan tagine I made in Essaouira, this rabo de toro oxtail stew recipe is not a dish you start thinking about making at 6.30pm and expect to serve the same night.
If you attempt this dish at 6.30pm, you had better have the number of a pizza place on speed dial. However, while these are dishes that do take time, they don’t necessarily require effort, or the expertise of a Michelin-starred chef.
After ten days of eating out in Jerez, and savouring an especially tasty rabo de toro at Bar Juanito here, I decided that the oxtail stew was going to be the quintessential dish of Jerez that I was going to learn to make.
Most people will know that a toro is a bull, and, well, an ox is a bull with its privileges removed, so to speak. Here in Jerez, oxtail stew is a very common dish, both cooked at home and on menus in Jerez restaurants.
Oxtail is readily available in every butcher shop, as are many other cheap cuts of meat. For this oxtail stew recipe, with generous portions for two, the oxtail cost €10 for a whole tail cut into portions.
Tips to Making This Rabo de Toro or Oxtail Stew Recipe
After researching countless regional oxtail stew recipes and talking to locals, I came to the conclusion that it closely resembles bœuf bourguignon, only it is tastier because the marrow from the ox tail adds depth to the gravy or sauce. The bone and the marrow aren’t used in bœuf bourguignon.
Both dishes require the meat to be browned, a mirepoix (a mix of diced onions, celery and carrots) to be sautéed, and the two to be combined. Then wine and tomato paste are to be added. Other ingredients are optional.
Interestingly, bœuf bourguignon generally has a mirepoix au gras – mirepoix with ham or bacon, as well as leeks, parsnips, garlic, or shallots. To me these are also fine additions to rabo de toro too.
In many an oxtail stew recipe I found that Spanish chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) was added to the rabo de toro. But in my opinion, if you’re doing it right, the dish needs no such unnecessary complication of flavours – and I love Spanish chorizo!
I’ve found the best way to cook this dish is in a Dutch Oven as the wide base and heat retention promotes even cooking. If you want to make a version in a pressure cooker, just half the time and test to make sure the oxtail is fall-apart cooked.
Rabo de Toro or Oxtail Stew Recipe
Rabo de Toro (Oxtail Stew) Recipe
Author
Terence Carter
This Rabo de Toro Oxtail Stew recipe from Jerez in Spain is a classic slow braised dish that requires a long cooking time, but rewards with rich, robust flavours.
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Prep Time 1 hour hr
Cook Time 3 hours hrs
Total Time 4 hours hrs
Servings made with recipeServings 2
Calories 977 kcal
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 kg oxtail -
usually comes sliced through the bone in 5cm/2in pieces
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 onion - sliced
- 1 celery stick - diced
- 1 carrot - diced
- 1 leek - sliced (optional but delicious)
- A dash of sherry - or two — one for the pot and one for the chef!
- A few black peppercorns
- 2 cloves garlic - crushed — but not with one of those stupid garlic crushers
- 1
bottle Rioja – preferably a bold one
- Bunch of parsley – stems chopped into small pieces up to the leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion - finely chopped
- 1 carrot - finely chopped
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- ½ tsp hot paprika or dried red chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
STAGE ONE/DAY ONE
Heat oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat. When hot add the oxtail and brown the pieces all over. Add some salt and pepper while it’s cooking, not before.
Remove the oxtail and add the onion, celery, and carrots — and leeks, if you’ve taken my advice.
Add a dash of sherry and scrape the browned bits of meat off the bottom of the pan as the sherry evaporates. If you don’t have browned bits, you’ve not cooked the oxtail at a high enough heat.
After the mix starts to colour, add the garlic, parsley stems, the peppercorns, the sweet paprika and hot paprika or dried red chilli flakes, and then, after a couple of minutes, the oxtail.
Add the Rioja. Yes, that means the whole bottle. Drink the sherry if you want a tipple.
At this stage you’ll probably need to add water to cover all of the oxtail — this is important so that the oxtail cooks properly.
Bring to a decent simmer and reduce the heat to low.
You now need to leave the oxtail for at least a couple of hours, but check every now and then that the water is still covering the meat.
At two hours the meat should be cooked to the stage where it falls off the bone when provoked. If not, leave it on low heat until it does.
When it’s ready, remove the oxtail pieces from the sauce and place them in a well-sealed container ready for the fridge. Strain the sauce through a sieve (it doesn’t have to be too fine) and pour it over the meat. When it’s cooled, refrigerate overnight.
STAGE TWO/DAY TWO
On day two, heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onion and carrot, cooking until they have colour.
Add the oxtail and some of the sauce. Cook until the meat is warmed through and then add the tomato paste and some more of the sauce.
Check the sauce for seasoning; you may need to add some salt at this stage.
Cook this for 15 minutes or so, adding some more of the sauce as you go. If you don’t have enough sauce for a nice pool around the oxtail when you serve, you may regret it — it should be delicious!
Check the seasoning again before serving with the fried potatoes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1gCalories: 977kcalCarbohydrates: 18.9gProtein: 80.9gFat: 48.1gSaturated Fat: 15.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 32.6gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 281mgSodium: 551mgFiber: 3.4gSugar: 6.6g
Do let us know if you make this rabo de toro oxtail stew recipe and if you like this, see my other posts in The Dish series in which I searched for and learned to make quintessential regional dishes, including a chocolate snack with a Michelin-starred chef in Barcelona, lamb tagine in Morocco, and cassoulet in Ceret.
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