Oxtail Osso Buco

hey everybody I'm chef tom with h-e-b BQ comm and this is oxtail osso bucco today we'll be preparing a variation on the Italian classic dish osso bucco now traditionally this dish is made with veal shank that's crosscut today we're going to be making it with oxtail which comes from the tail end of a cow so it looks kind of similar to a veal shank it's got the bone running through the center and it's crosscut but it is a different piece of meat entirely we're utilizing this kind of meat today because it's what's accessible to us and I think that that's probably what we got to do in most cases you have to cook what's accessible to you but whether you're using veal or you're using oxtail it doesn't matter in the end we're gonna have an incredibly tender piece of meat that's been braised down in a sauce of tomatoes and vegetables and wine it's gonna be incredible so let's jump right in by searing off our oxtail so here we have four and a half pounds of our oxtail we have some larger pieces which this is really where we're gonna get our meat from you see they've got the bone running through the center there a lot of fat in these they're gonna take a long time to braise to really break down over here we have the smaller end of the tail these will have some little chunks of meat on them but for the most part we're just gonna throw these in the pot for the extra flavor while we're not doing a traditional version of this dish today we are gonna take some of those really fantastic techniques that make the dish so great and utilize those so the thing we need to do with our ox tails is we need to get them dredged and a little bit of flour and sear it off in our Dutch oven so that puts a really nice crust on the outside of the oxtail also gives us a really nice Fond to start off all of our vegetables and all of that flavor profile that's going to come together in the in for the braise inside the Dutch oven before we get the flour on here we're gonna season the surface with just a little bit of smoked salt and some fresh cracked black pepper we'll just kind of press this into the meat and then flip these over and do the same thing to the other side and then we'll hit it with the flour and we'll do that again pretty basic but a really nice place to start now you'll want to have a large Dutch oven that's nice and hot for searing these off and I'm going to add some clarified butter to the Dutch oven and then over here we're going to take our oxtail just dredge it in that flour and then come down in the hot butter and when we're doing this we're gonna make sure that we're working in batches so that would get a good sear if you put these too close or crowd them you're just gonna start to cook the meat without getting real browning done all right so we'll take a look at this great browning going on nice sear that's what we're looking for so we're gonna flip that over and get the other side these ones on the outside they're coming along as well so that's the my yard reaction that's happening right there when that meat starts to brown gonna add so much flavor to a dish all right so that's looking good these are all coming along so we're gonna start to rotate these out for the ones that we haven't seared yet in the meantime these can just go back on to that sheet pan the last of the oxtail are being pulled out of the Dutch oven now we're gonna continue to cook these in the braids later on but for now we'll set them aside and prep the veggies so the base of this dish like so many other dishes is a mirepoix which is essentially two parts onion it's one part carrot in one part celery I've also recently learned that this is called sometimes a battuto in Italian if you guys have a grandmother that's Italian maybe ask her about that and make sure I got that right so for the onions we're just gonna go for a medium dice in the end we're not actually going to be serving any of these items they're just going to melt into the braise so the good news is you don't have to be super pretty with your cuts but it does help if they're all relatively the same size go ahead and get these carrots peeled and then we'll do a dice on them as well and then we've got our celery which I've already cleaned up a bit here so we're just gonna knock these down boom two parts onion one part carrot one part celery so we've got our pot where we seared off the oxtail we're gonna add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil to that and then our mirepoix let's just give that a stir will start to scrape up some of those browned bits from the bottom and we just want to cook these down until softened slightly about 10 minutes or so I'm also gonna throw in some cloves of garlic since we're doing a long braids time I'm not gonna bother to chop down the garlic I will just crush these up and throw them in honestly if you didn't want to you don't even have to peel the skins at this point because again we're not going to be eating this in the end well we've got our onions translucent everything is softening up here really starting to get all that fond off the bottom now what I want to do next here is go ahead and throw in some more aromatics so we're gonna add some parsley got some fresh thyme and 1 bay leaf so we're gonna mix those in now if I was fishing these out later I would probably tie them up to make it a little bit easier but we're not gonna need to do that is we're gonna strain off all of our solids in the end one more thing we're gonna throw in here is a little bit of our Tuscan steak seasoning this stuff is fantastic on beef and features some other flavors that you might consider throwing in anyway like rosemary and some of that chili flake right there that's gonna add just a touch of heat so let's roll that temperature up because the next thing we're gonna do is add some wine that we want to reduce down alright so you're looking for a white wine in this dish and we're probably gonna add about two cups here which will leave you about 1 cup of wine to sip on while you're cooking your osso bucco all right so we're bringing that up to a simmer now we're gonna let that reduce down just slightly and then we'll get our tomatoes in the pot as well alright so no need to let this reduce all the way it's going to continue to reduce while we're braising the next thing that we're gonna add are our San Marzano tomatoes these are fantastic product by Chau out of Italy obviously san marzano DOP certified the whole Tomatoes I'm gonna break them up a little bit but honestly these things are just gonna fall apart over a couple hours of braising so we don't need to worry about mashing those up too much right now so that's essentially our flavor base at this point I'd like to get our oxtail into that braise and we'll see how much liquid we have here once we get these all nestled in and if we need to we might just top this off with a little bit of beef stock as four and a half pounds is gonna be just about perfect so that I feel good about our liquids are already warm you can see it's bubbling a bit we could add just a little bit of beef stock but I think I'm gonna wait so at this point we're just gonna let it simmer away we're gonna transfer this over to the smoker we're gonna leave it uncovered that way it can pick up some of that smoke as its cooking we're gonna be cooking about 350 so it's not low and slow but enough that we can get a little bit of color and a little bit of smoke incorporated on that top layer there now what's going to happen over the next couple hours is that meats gonna start to break down the liquid level is going to start to decrease as well as it evaporates if we need to we can always add a little bit of beef stock but we're just gonna be mindful of that we're gonna keep an eye on it I'm gonna pay attention to what's going on for now let's get it on the smoker and let it do its work all right so we'll go right there right in the center and close this thing up and I probably won't even look at it for the first hour hey guys we're about an hour and a half into the cook now there's not much to report on as everything's just kind of rolling away as it should but I thought I'd give you a quick peek just to so you can see how it's progressing so as you can see we're bubbling away that liquid level is definitely dropped a little bit but we still have plenty to where our oxtail are mostly covered and that's how we want it and then our course on top we've got some really great color forming here wow that's just the color coming off the smoke as it passes over everything and moves its way through the pit so not much else to show here I guess we could go ahead and turn these over and get some even browning on them but otherwise we're just gonna let this continue to braise and break down that meat we're about three hours into the cook now the beef is getting really tender so what we're going to do is we're going to snatch those little ox tails out of the braising liquid we're going to set them aside in this little pan off to the side I want to strain off the liquid so that we can get rid of the solids that are in there then we're just going to reduce the braising liquid down a little bit over the next half hour while we make some polenta for a creamy base to set our oxtail on and then we'll bring it all together Oh check out the color going on there bright red and brown all around those edges and this stuff is just getting a really tender now you can see how it's separated from those bones keep an eye out for any of those little nuggets blending in with the veggies oh there we go get that right there that looks like a fantastic bite man it's so soft and juicy all right strained off just need like a fork or something to help work that liquid through I really want to utilize that liquid we've got hung up in those veggies and you know we ended up with even less liquid than I kind of expected out of here which is fine we didn't add any broth throughout the cooking process so maybe I should have expected that but because of that I think what I want to do is I'm just gonna pour all of this liquid back over the beef here and we'll just let this sit warm in the grill while we make our polenta now the points that we're gonna be making today is a very creamy polenta it's a fantastic base for a juicy braised beef like this it's essentially going to create a nice solid bed where all those juices can fall off of that oxtail and then you scoop it up all together and get just one incredible bite that warms your soul we're gonna keep it really simple with the creamy polenta today we're bringing 4 cups of water up to a simmer to start things off nothing tricky here now once you have that simmer going you're gonna start adding your polenta in slowly whisking the whole time to make sure that we don't get any clumps polenta we have one cup of polenta to our 8 cups of water sorry 4 cups of water my bad sound it a little crazy so this polenta is essentially just a cornmeal and the way we're preparing is very similar to how the grits are made down south but of course this would be with a yellow corn rather than a white corn and the consistency is a bit thicker more coarse so pretty quickly here it's going to start soaking up that water our bubbles will get larger and larger and as they do we're going to turn this down so that it's not popping all over the place so now over medium-low heat we should have some bubbles not get too violent let's go a little bit lower but this is all there is to it at this point we're just gonna let it cook down we're gonna let the corn absorb the water it should start to get tender here in the next 15 to 20 minutes and in that time we're going to be stirring occasionally to prevent any scorching or sticking all right guys so this has really gotten nice and tender it took about 15 minutes pretty quick with a small batch like this one there's not much flavor to it at this point we used water we didn't bother going with stock or something like that because I don't want to overwhelm the final dish but there's not much flavor going on so we do need to help it out a little bit now Parmesan cheese is a great way to add flavor and a bit of salt to it and you can do as much or as little as you like we'll say we're going to do about half a cup 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of this Parmesan cheese I'm just gonna work that right in there a little bit more then you could use any cheese you like another great option would be like that pecorino that we've used on our prime rib that would also be a fantastic option also going to throw in here a couple Pat's of butter so two tablespoons of unsalted butter let those melt down and then we'll get a taste and adjust with salt if we need to alright so that needs quite a bit more salt we're gonna add some of our hickory smoked salt here like a lot of starchy dishes that can handle quite a bit of salt and then while we're at it I'll just add a little bit of fresh cracked pepper as well Oh that's right where it needs to be that's gonna be the perfect base for our osso bucco now no osso bucco authentic or otherwise is complete without the grim alotta topping this is the thing that really brightens stuff up you see that beef or veal no matter which one you're using it's been in there braising for a long time with some really rich flavors and you know what it could use to brighten everything up right there at the end a bit of citrus a bit of garlic a bit of a fresh herb so we're making our gremolata starting with the zest of this lemon we're gonna add to that some grated garlic and then we'll work into that a little bit of fresh parsley it will just take the delicate leaves here leave the stems behind for this application and since everything else is mince down so fine we're gonna do the same thing with the parsley there we go now I've kind of eyeballed this but I'll be sure to give you guys some exact measurements for your recipe in the link well we made it guys it's time to bring everything together let's start with our polenta base get our oxtail on top and finish it off with that beautiful gremolata there's the one this is the one this is the one feeling it that Nestle that right in there got a lot of fat left in our sauce here but if we get down underneath that we can grab some of that really tasty braising liquid just like a little bit of gravy for you right there on top of your oxtail and then just that dusting with a grim alotta beautiful all right guys let's grab a taste look at that just comes right off the bone I'm gonna need some of that polenta oh my gosh just falls apart the fat just coats your mouth so much flavor and that tomato it's like it's caramelized tomato on the outside but man that bright bite from the lemon zest on top that pops out for sure you know the creamy base of the polenta almost gets lost because the oxtail itself is so impressive that's probably a good thing it's definitely in a supporting role there but it all works together fantastic thank you guys so much for watching be sure to check out a tbq calm for all of the products featured in today's video if you enjoyed the recipe hit that subscribe button and if you have any questions or comments or there's anything you'd like to see me cook let me know in the comment section down below and let's be good to one another for more recipes tips and techniques head over to 80 BB q comm slash the sauce all things BBQ or barbecue legends are made

Channel: allthingsbbq

Views: 111,294

Keywords: atbbq, allthingsbbq, all things bbq, all things barbecue, bbq, barbecue, recipes, recipe, grilling, braised, braising, osso buco, Italian, polenta, beef, oxtail, yoder smokers, ys640, ys640s, pellet grill, Lodge, cast iron, dutch oven, the sauce, chef tom

Id: PxbG9ZJWYSs

Length: 18min 20sec (1100 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019