Good even if you don’t have a cold. Make twice as much as you need, because it’s better the second day. I adapted this from the “Joy of Cooking.”
Ingredients
2 pounds oxtail (about 6 pieces)
1/4 cup salt dissolved in about 1 gallon water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup plus 4 cups veal or beef stock, or water
2 bay leaves
1 small head garlic, halved
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons dried thyme leaves
A few grinds black pepper
Fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Soak the oxtails in salted water for one hour. Strain.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large oven-proof Dutch oven over high heat, brown oxtails in olive oil until caramelized on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add onions, carrots and celery, and cook until soft. Add 1 cup stock, scraping brown bits up into liquid.
Return oxtails to pot. Add bay leaves, garlic and wine. Add just enough stock to cover oxtails. Place pot in oven and simmer 4 hours. Each hour, skim foam and add stock if necessary to make sure oxtails are covered.
Remove oxtails from soup and remove soup to stovetop to cool for 2 hours. Carefully skim fat from top of soup. (Alternatively, refrigerate soup overnight and skim fat when soup has chilled.) Meanwhile, tear meat from bones. Discard bones. When ready to serve, return meat to soup and reheat slowly. Add pepper and parsley and serve piping hot with fresh crusty bread.
