Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe.
Slow-cooked recipe in a pot and with the Thermomix
Typical Roman dish that requires long and patient cooking times.
It’s a dish for meat lovers, you can eat it in pieces with your hands or have it deboned after cooking as I show you.
A Little History
The oxtail alla vaccinara is named as such because it was meant for the butchers, namely the residents of the Roman district of Regola, where the recipe was so widespread that the residents were for a long time nicknamed “vaccinari-mangia-code” (tail-eating butchers).
Originally, the oxtail alla vaccinara recipe had a secret ingredient, but today we’ve revealed the mystery: it’s “cocoa.”
All thanks to Sora Ferminia, daughter of the founder of the restaurant, the host Checchino.
In 1890, the workers of the Testaccio slaughterhouse would give Ferminia the pieces of oxtail received as pay and she prepared this dish.
Over time, the dish was enriched with raisins, pine nuts, and cocoa, which add a delicate touch to the flavor.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Slow cooking
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Lazio
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring
- Energy 727.48 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 23.72 (g) of which sugars 15.18 (g)
- Proteins 50.42 (g)
- Fat 44.53 (g) of which saturated 14.14 (g)of which unsaturated 26.13 (g)
- Fibers 7.38 (g)
- Sodium 1,063.57 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 300 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe
- 2.2 lbs oxtail (in pieces)
- 2.2 lbs peeled tomatoes (or diced)
- 1.76 oz lard (or guanciale)
- 3.5 oz onion
- 1 carrot
- 7 stalks celery
- 7 oz white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt
- 1 chili pepper (or black pepper)
- 2 cloves
- 1.06 oz pine nuts (toasted)
- 1.41 oz raisins (soaked)
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe
Tools
What we need to make
- 1 Pot large with double bottom
- 1 Pressure Cooker or the Thermomix
- 1 Knife
- 1 Small Pot
Steps
Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe
Oxtail is sold in pieces, but if it’s not, cut it where the vertebrae join one another.
With the large parts, we’ll make this recipe, and with the small parts, we’ll make a good broth.
Wash the oxtail pieces and dry them with paper towels.
In a very large pot, place the guanciale or lard and oil, and let it melt slightly,
then add the onion, garlic, carrot, and a stalk of celery coarsely chopped, and if you like, a little fresh chili pepper. Let it sauté for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add the oxtail pieces and the cloves.
Cook until the oxtail pieces become light.
Deglaze with the white wine and let all its alcohol evaporate
Add the peeled or chopped tomatoes, I preferred the chunks I make in summer preserves.
Cover with a lid and check occasionally until the meat starts to fall off the bone. It will take about 3 hours.
In the meantime, wash the celery, remove the strings, and cut it into regular pieces of about 1 centimeter. Place it in a pot with a little water and let it simmer for a few minutes.
When the oxtail alla vaccinara is almost ready (you’ll know because it falls off the bone), add the celery to the sauce along with a handful of toasted pine nuts, a handful of raisins previously soaked in water, and 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa.
Let the sauce simmer for a few more minutes so that the ingredients blend well together, and serve the oxtail alla vaccinara
With the extra sauce, you can dress the pasta.
To cook the oxtail alla vaccinara in the Thermomix, we need a pre-cooking.
In a large pot, cook the oxtail for 10 minutes in plenty of water. Drain and set aside. Do not discard the water as we will need it later. Put the onion in the bowl and chop: 5 sec./speed 5. Bring down with the spatula.
Add the extra virgin olive oil, lard or guanciale, and garlic, flavor with the basket on top: 3 min./120°C/speed 1.
Add the blanched oxtail, 1 pinch of salt, cloves, and pepper or chili pepper, flavor with the basket instead of the measuring cup: 5 min./120°C/reverse/speed spoon
Add the wine and flavor without the measuring cup: 10 min./120°C/reverse/speed spoon. Carefully remove the oxtail from the bowl, place it inside the Varoma container and close with the lid.
Add the tomato pulp to the bowl, I used my homemade chunks from summer, water, and 2 pinches of salt,
close with the lid, place the Varoma and cook: 40 min./Varoma/speed 1. Carefully remove the Varoma.
Add the pre-cut 1 cm celery pieces, after removing the filaments, and place the Varoma, continue cooking: 40 min./Varoma/reverse/speed 1. Carefully remove the Varoma.
Add 700 g of water, the one set aside from the first boiling of the oxtail, place the Varoma and continue cooking: 40 min./Varoma/reverse/speed 1.
Carefully remove the Varoma, and at this point, transfer the oxtail pieces to a bowl, remove the bony part of the tail leaving aside the meat.
Add raisins, pine nuts, and cocoa to the sauce in the bowl, mix: 2 min./100°C/reverse/speed spoon. Transfer to the bowl and mix.
Serve the oxtail alla vaccinara very hot.
With the excess sauce, you can dress the pasta
Storage
Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe: 2 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Oxtail alla Vaccinara Recipe
How can I make a quicker cook?
In a pressure cooker, you need a 5L pot. Procedure:
In the pot cooking, after adding the peeled tomatoes, add the celery pieces and 700 g of water, close the lid and cook. From the moment of the whistle, count 1 hour, and then let off steam and continue the recipe as above.
