Cooking beef oxtail the Roman way

Oxtail (beef tail) is the culinary name for the tail of cattle, harvested from either sex. The tail of a steer typically weighs 2 to 4 pounds. Oxtail is a bony, gelatinous meat and is usually slow-cooked, often stewed or braised. It is a good stock base for a soup. Oxtail is the main ingredient of the Roman dish, Coda Alla Vaccinara. This style of cooking is associated with the neighborhood where the slaughterhouse and tanneries were located, Testaccio. It flanks the Tiber on the southern end of Rome.

Coda alla vaccinara

2 pounds beef oxtails, cut-up; 12 celery stalks; 1 clove garlic; 1 carrot; 1 medium white onion; 4 oz. pancetta, salted streak 'o lean); 2 tbs. fresh minced flat-leaf parsley; 4 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; kosher salt or coarse sea salt and fresh black pepper; 1 cup Italian red wine; 1 tbs. tomato paste; two 28-oz. cans Italian plum tomatoes; 6 to 8 cups boiling water; 5 cloves; 1 bay leaf.

Rinse the oxtail under warm running water and eliminate any fat or gristle with a paring knife and your fingers. Chop it into sections along the vertebrae. Pat them dry with paper towels.

1. Remove the stringy parts of the celery. Mince 1 stalk and reserve the rest. Peel and halve the garlic with a paring knife, removing any imperfections including the green shoot. Mince the garlic with the carrot and onion. Mince the pancetta; you should have 3âÑ4 cup. Combine the minced vegetables and pancetta with 1 heaping tablespoon of the parsley.

2. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high. Add the minced vegetable-and-pancetta mixture and sauté, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula until the onion becomes translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the oxtail, a generous pinch of salt and several turns of the pepper mill. Brown thoroughly, stirring, flipping and scraping for about 15 minutes.

4. Pour in the wine and boil to evaporate it, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add the tomatoes and their packing juices, crushing and stirring. Add just enough of the water to completely submerge the oxtail bones.

5. Wrap the cloves in a beggar's purse of gauze and tie it closed with kitchen string, leaving about one foot of string attached. Lower the purse into the stew and secure the string to a pot handle. Drop in the bay leaf and stir.

6. Lower the heat to minimum and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours.

7. Slice the remaining 11 celery stalks into sticks the size of an index finger. Add them to the stew and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes.

8. Remove and discard the purse of cloves and the bay leaf. Stir in the remaining 1 heaping tablespoon of parsley. Serve in soup bowls.

9. Note: Save any leftover oxtail meat and sauce to dress fettuccine or other pasta.