Queue de Bœuf en Hochepot

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6½- to 7-quart / 6- to 6.5-L heavy pot or cocotte with lid
• •2-quart / 2-L saucepan
• •Fine-mesh skimmer
• •Rimmed broiler pan
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the cold broth

   Fit the oxtail sections, trotter pieces, and half ear snugly into a 6½- to 7-quart heavy pot. Add the 10 cups of cold water and the 24 g salt, preserving the source's proportion of roughly one-third ounce of salt per quart. Bring the pot slowly toward a boil over medium heat, allowing 25 to 35 minutes. As grey froth rises, remove it patiently with a fine skimmer without taking away more liquid than necessary. Do not brown the meat first; this hochepot builds its foundation by extraction into water, and browning would turn it into another dish.

   Cold water draws soluble proteins gradually to the surface, where they can be skimmed away. A fast start churns them back into the broth.
2. 2

   Hold the first simmer

   As soon as the first full bubbles appear, lower the heat until the liquid gives only an occasional lazy bubble. Set the lid slightly ajar and cook for 2 hours, turning the oxtail sections once with tongs but never stirring the pot. Skim away fresh froth or excess surface fat during the first half-hour. If the liquid boils hard, lift the pot completely from the heat for 2 minutes, skim the disturbed fat, then return it over a lower flame. Ça se rattrape: a clouded broth still tastes sound, and its serving liquor can be passed through a fine sieve after it settles.

   A bare simmer softens connective tissue without knocking the meat from its bones. Watch the surface, not the clock alone.
3. 3

   Parboil the cabbage

   Near the end of the first simmer, bring half the remaining water and half the remaining salt to a boil in a saucepan. Add the cabbage wedges and parboil for 5 minutes, just until the outer leaves become flexible. Lift them into cold water to stop the cooking, then drain thoroughly. Keep the core attached so each wedge survives its long finish. Prepare the whole onions and shape the carrots and turnips like large garlic cloves, broad enough to remain distinct after two hours.

4. 4

   Add the vegetable garnish

   After the meats have simmered for 2 hours, settle the drained cabbage, whole onions, carrots, and turnips among them. Return the liquid to its bare tremble, keep the lid slightly ajar, and cook for at least 2 hours more. Do not stir. Nudge the vegetables beneath the liquid with tongs and move the pot by its handles if anything needs settling. If a cabbage wedge or onion softens sooner than the rest, lift it carefully to a covered plate and return it for the last 10 minutes. Ça se rattrape, and the platter is better for one intact onion than six strands fished from the broth.

   The hochepot is ready when the oxtail meat yields readily to a fork but remains attached to the bone, and the trotter skin feels soft and gelatinous.
5. 5

   Cook potatoes à l'anglaise

   During the final 30 minutes, cook the potatoes à l'anglaise, plainly in water. Put them in a saucepan with the remaining cold water and salt, bring slowly to a boil, then simmer for 18 to 25 minutes until a small knife enters the centre without resistance. Drain them completely and return them to the empty warm pan for 2 minutes, turning gently so their surfaces dry. Keep them whole if they are modest in size; halve only a very large potato.

6. 6

   Grill the chipolatas

   Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches / 15 cm from the element. Arrange the chipolatas on a rimmed broiler pan and grill for 8 to 12 minutes, turning several times, until evenly bronzed and cooked to 160°F / 71°C at the centre. This household broiler performs the salamander's work without changing the source's intention. Lift the pig's ear from the hochepot and cut it crosswise into small, narrow strips. Remove the trotter bones, keeping any tender meat and skin for the central garnish.

7. 7

   Arrange the hochepot

   Warm a large deep platter. Arrange the oxtail sections in a circle, then mound the cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, and any tender trotter meat in the centre. Surround the vegetables with the narrow strips of pig's ear and the grilled chipolatas, following the source's generous service. Skim the cooking liquor once more and spoon enough around the meat to glaze it and pool shallowly in the platter. Bring the potatoes à l'anglaise separately in a warm bowl or timbale. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order the pig's trotter and ear from a butcher and ask for the trotter to be sawn into four pieces. The cut surfaces release the gelatin that gives plain water its body; leaving the trotter whole defeats half its purpose.
• •Choose meaty middle sections of oxtail with a visible ring of flesh around the bone. The narrow tip pieces contribute gelatin, but a pot filled only with tips leaves little meat for the table.
• •Chipolata means a small, mild fresh sausage. Use plain pork chipolatas without smoke, chilli, fennel, or heavy herbs; a small breakfast-sized pork sausage is the honest substitute when French chipolatas aren't sold nearby.
• •Do not replace the water with stock or add bouquet garni, wine, roux, or browned onions. Those can make fine stews, but this source builds its flavour from the meats, salt, vegetables, and patient extraction.
• •Pour a bière de garde or another dry, malt-led northern French beer. It suits the sweet cabbage, gelatin-rich pork, and grilled sausage without overpowering the clear broth.

Advance Preparation

• •For the cleanest make-ahead plan, stop after the first 2-hour meat simmer. Cool the meats in their liquor promptly, using an ice-water bath around the pot, then cover and chill overnight. Remove the set surface fat and continue with the parboiled cabbage and vegetables the next day.
• •The cabbage can be parboiled and the roots shaped one day ahead, then chilled separately in covered containers. Grill the chipolatas and cook the potatoes à l'anglaise close to serving so both retain their proper texture.
• •Leftover hochepot keeps for 3 days under refrigeration. Reheat it at the gentlest simmer, keeping the sausages and potatoes separate until the meat and vegetables are hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 1000g)