Oxtail Stew - The Ultimate Finger Food

Late winter, or early spring, is not the greatest time of the year in Helsinki. After months of pristine winter weather, long brisk walks on the ice-covered sea become treacherous affairs. The snow turns into a dirty, shoe-ruining slush, and everybody seems to come down with a cold.

Hearty stews are a great antidote and a survival strategy. My favourite recipe for oxtail stew is from Claudia Roden's The Good Food of Italy, or rather from its Swedish translation, Det italienska köket från Piemonte till Sicilien, which has been a favourite of mine ever since I found it on sale in a department store in Stockholm years ago. I read somewhere that in Italy oxtail is above all a Roman thing, and that in Rome this stew, coda alla vaccinara or tail in the manner of the butchers, is known by its celery, half a kilo of it in this recipe, and by the raisins and pine nuts added at the very end. My nearly one hundred cookbooks have been in storage in Finland for almost three years, so finally being able to unpack them feels very special.

Even the bored-looking butcher at my local supermarket waxed poetic when I asked for two kilos (4.5 lb) of oxtail. It seems that few of his customers bother to prepare meals that require four hours of slow stewing. Actually, I have been pretty busy working and socialising myself, so I did the initial stewing two days ago and only finished the job tonight. I gather the Romans, too, make their stew ahead and reheat it. Two kilos of meat and bones sounds like a lot, but there were very few leftovers after Antti stopped by for dinner.

I boiled the pieces of tail for ten minutes first and rinsed them, and then they stewed in fresh water with the carrot, leek, celery, thyme and bay leaves for three hours. A five-litre pot is just right for this. The fourth hour they spent in a large saucepan in the company of bacon, onion, garlic and marjoram, until the meat started to fall away from the bones. The raisins went in ten minutes before serving, and the pine nuts not until the stew was on the plate.

Antti continues: Anna's stew was super delicious, but I want to share my own, different approach to oxtail. I skip the veggies and the bacon and add heaps of onions instead. My broth is also always tomato-based, that is, I add a can or two of crushed tomatoes and then top it up with water until the tails are covered. A splash of wine goes in too, and the juice and zest of a lemon to give it zing. The acidity of the tomatoes helps to balance the otherwise heavy, meaty taste of the beef.

Either way, you won't be disappointed. If your company allows it, add some decadence by grabbing the bones with your bare hands and sucking the fall-off-the-bone tender meat straight off them. Finger-licking goodness guaranteed!