How to Cook Oxtail in Spain: Rabo de Toro, the Córdoba Way

Oxtail in Spanish: the names you will meet

On menus the dish is rabo de toro. On a label the name can change with the animal: rabo de vacuno means beef tail, rabo de vaca is from a cow and rabo de ternera from a younger animal (in shops, ternera usually means yearling beef). More vocabulary is in beef cuts in Spanish and how to read a Spanish meat label.

If you have made a British oxtail stew, the method will feel familiar; the Spanish version braises in red wine over a slow sofrito of onion, garlic and peppers.

What to ask for at the counter

The thick rounds from the base of the tail carry the meat; the small ones from the tip are mostly bone.

The Córdoba method, step by step

The classic version comes from Córdoba, in Andalusia. For four people: 1.6–2 kg oxtail; salt, pepper and plain flour (US: all-purpose flour); olive oil; 2 onions, 2 carrots, 1 leek, 1 green and 1 red pepper (US: bell peppers), 4 cloves of garlic; 2 ripe tomatoes, grated; 2 bay leaves and a few peppercorns; a bottle of red wine, plus water or stock.

1. Season and flour. Salt and pepper the pieces, roll them in flour and shake off the excess. The flour will thicken the sauce.
2. Brown. Heat olive oil in a heavy casserole (US: Dutch oven) and brown the pieces all over, a few at a time so they fry rather than steam. Lift them out.
3. Make the sofrito. In the same oil, soften the chopped vegetables and garlic over a medium-low heat for 15–20 minutes. Add the tomato and cook until it darkens.
4. Add the wine. Return the meat, pour in the wine and let it bubble for a few minutes. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns, then enough water or stock to just cover the meat.
5. Cook slowly. Cover and keep the liquid at the barest simmer (times below). It is ready when the meat comes away from the bone with a fork.
6. Finish the sauce. Lift out the meat and the bay leaves. Blend the sauce or pass it through a food mill (pasapurés), then reduce it until it coats a spoon. Put the meat back.

Timings: pot, pressure cooker, oven

In a pressure cooker

Do steps 1 to 4 in the open cooker, with liquid only halfway up the meat: almost nothing evaporates under pressure. Time it from full pressure and let the pressure drop on its own. Electric cookers work at a lower pressure: add about 10 minutes.

In the oven

Bring the pot to a simmer on the hob, cover it and move it to the oven. Use conventional heat without the fan, calor arriba y abajo on a Spanish dial. Turn the pieces once, halfway through.

Make it the day before

Oxtail carries plenty of fat. Overnight in the fridge the fat sets in a layer on top that is easy to lift off, and the meat takes in more of the sauce. Ox cheek (US: beef cheek) needs the same slow treatment: see how to cook ox cheek.

Serving, and how much to buy

In Córdoba, rabo de toro usually comes with chips (US: fries) and bread for the sauce. Leftover meat, pulled off the bone, makes a good filling for croquetas. Allow 400–500 g raw per person, as much of the weight is bone.