Queue de Bœuf Farcie

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5 to 6-inch flexible boning knife
• •Large poultry trussing needle, cotton butcher's twine, and kitchen shears
• •24-inch (60 cm) square of unbleached cotton muslin or tightly woven cheesecloth
• •Food processor with metal blade
• •7 to 8-quart oval cocotte or Dutch oven
• •Heavy shallow roasting pan or 12-inch ovenproof sauté pan
• •Fine-mesh sieve, ladle, and 2-quart saucepan
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the forcemeat

   Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 10 minutes, then squeeze them very firmly until no milk runs between your fingers. Pulse the cold beef and bacon in a chilled food processor until finely chopped and tacky, stopping before the fat turns greasy. Add the pressed crumbs, egg, truffle peelings, 1¼ teaspoons salt, pepper, and quatre-épices; pulse only until the mixture becomes cohesive. If the fat begins to smear, stop and spread the mixture in a shallow dish, chill it for 15 minutes, then continue briefly. Keep the finished forcemeat cold while you bone the tail.

   The processor replaces long hand-chopping, not judgment. Cold meat gives a close, juicy forcemeat; warm fat separates during poaching and leaves greasy hollows.
2. 2

   Bone the tail intact

   Lay the oxtail on a stable board with its thick end toward you. Working through the exposed base, circle the first vertebra with the tip of a narrow boning knife, scraping connective tissue away while keeping the blade flat against the bone. Flex the tail to expose the joint, cut through its cartilage, and withdraw that vertebra. Turn back only enough of the loosened meat to expose the next bone, then repeat, one joint at a time, all the way to the narrow tip. Never saw toward the skin, and keep your free hand behind the knife. If you make a small nick, stop. Ça se rattrape: close it at once with two or three stitches of butcher's twine; the muslin will support the repair during poaching.

3. 3

   Stuff and sew

   Turn the boned tail right side out and check the cavity for bone fragments. Feed the cold forcemeat down toward the pointed end with a spoon handle and your fingers, pressing out air pockets but never stretching the skin taut. The filling expands as it cooks. When the tail is naturally rounded, fold the thick opening neatly inward and close it with firm overcast stitches using a poultry trussing needle and butcher's twine. If the edges won't meet, remove a spoonful of filling rather than forcing them; an overfilled tail splits before it reaches the table.

4. 4

   Bind the galantine

   Dampen the cotton muslin and wring it nearly dry. Lay the stuffed tail along one edge, roll it snugly in the cloth, and twist and tie both ends. Add loops of twine every 2 inches (5 cm), close enough to hold the curved form but not so tight that they cut into the meat. The bundle should feel supported, not strangled.

5. 5

   Poach at a tremble

   Put the stock, water, halved onion, poaching carrots, leeks, celery, turnip, cloves, bouquet garni, and most of the remaining salt into the oval cocotte. Bring the liquid to a bare tremble, then lower in the wrapped tail and add enough water to cover it. Hold the liquor between 180 and 190°F (82 and 88°C) for 3 hours, turning the bundle every 30 minutes if it isn't fully submerged. A rolling boil drives out fat and can burst the wrapping; if the pot boils, lift it off the heat for 2 minutes and return it over a lower flame. After the full 3 hours, test through the sewn thick end: the forcemeat must reach at least 160°F (71°C), and the tail should yield when pressed with tongs. Continue for 15 minutes if either test is not met.

6. 6

   Build the braising bed

   Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Lift the bundle onto a tray and let it drain for 10 minutes. Strain the cooking liquor, discard the spent vegetables, and skim off excess fat. Measure 2 cups (480 ml) for braising, 3 cups (720 ml) for the sauce, and keep another cup nearby for loosening either one. Remove the outer ties and muslin while leaving the closure stitches intact. Spread the sliced onion, carrot, and celery in a heavy shallow roasting pan as a mirepoix, an aromatic vegetable bed. Set the tail on top and pour the 2 cups of liquor around it.

7. 7

   Baste to a lacquer

   Roast the tail uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes. Baste it generously with the pan liquor every 7 or 8 minutes for the first half hour, rotating the pan if the colour develops unevenly. During the final 10 minutes, baste every 2 or 3 minutes as the liquor concentrates and clings. This increasing rhythm is the dish. If the pan dries before the tail is deep chestnut and glossy, add reserved cooking liquor ¼ cup (60 ml) at a time. If the surface remains pale while the meat is already hot, reduce a ladle of the pan liquor in a small saucepan until syrupy, brush it over the tail, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes.

8. 8

   Reduce the sauce

   Move the glazed tail to a carving board and rest it uncovered for 10 minutes so the lacquer stays firm. Strain the braising liquor into a saucepan with the reserved 3 cups of poaching liquor, skim it carefully, and reduce briskly to about 2¼ cups (540 ml). Mix the arrowroot with the cold water until perfectly smooth. Lower the sauce to a gentle simmer and whisk in half the slurry; wait 30 seconds before adding only enough of the remainder to make the sauce lightly coat a spoon. Do not boil it hard after thickening. If it becomes too tight, whisk in reserved cooking liquor a spoonful at a time; if it forms lumps, pass it through the fine sieve again.

9. 9

   Dish and carve

   Spoon a light veil of sauce over the bottom of a warmed oval platter. Remove every closure thread and any repair stitches from the tail, then arrange it in its natural curve. Leave most of it whole and carve several ¾-inch (2 cm) rounds from the thick end to show the truffled forcemeat. Send the remaining cooking-liquor sauce in a warmed sauceboat, with a smooth purée or braised root vegetables served separately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order the oxtail whole and uncut. Explain that you need the entire tail from thick base to narrow tip with its skin intact; cross-cut pieces cannot be put back together for this preparation.
• •Fat bacon means fatty, unsmoked slab bacon, not smoky breakfast bacon. Its fat keeps the lean beef forcemeat tender without giving the finished tail an unrelated smoke flavour.
• •Fresh black truffle peelings are splendid when available, but good preserved peelings from a jar are the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain them well and keep the pieces; truffle oil cannot do this work.
• •Use unsalted stock. The cooking liquor is reduced twice, first around the glazing tail and then for the sauce, so an assertively salted carton becomes harsh before it becomes glossy.
• •A celery-root or potato purée catches the sauce beautifully, while braised carrots and turnips follow the source's own invitation. Pour a structured red Bordeaux with enough freshness to meet the bacon and truffle.
• •Save the extracted vertebrae for another beef stock. Freeze them if you aren't making it immediately; technique first, waste nothing.

Advance Preparation

• •The tail can be boned and the forcemeat mixed up to 12 hours ahead. Refrigerate them separately and stuff the tail only when you are ready to wrap and poach it.
• •For the calmest dinner party, complete the three-hour poach a day ahead. Unwrap the tail, cool it promptly, and refrigerate it separately from the strained cooking liquor; finish the braising and glazing before serving, allowing another 10 to 15 minutes for the chilled centre to become thoroughly hot.
• •The strained cooking liquor can be reduced to 2¼ cups (540 ml) ahead and chilled. Reheat it gently and add the arrowroot slurry only at the final moment, since a thickened arrowroot sauce should not be repeatedly boiled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)