Oxtail Potjie with a difference

Eating meltingly soft oxtail on the bone around a camp fire must be one of life's great traditional pleasures. The stout teams perfectly with the meat, and most importantly our secret tip, to cancel out the bitterness of the beer, add some dark chocolate! Pears give that lovely sweet/savoury balance that we South Africans enjoy so much.

You Will Need:

Main Dish

1,25 kg oxtail, trimmed of excess fat
500 g beef shin
Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning
olive or canola oil
3 large onions, chopped
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
8 cloves of garlic, halved lengthways
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into very small blocks
2 x 25 g Ina Paarman’s Liquid Beef Stock
660 ml bottle of Guinness stout beer
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
250 g dried pears, cut in half lengthways
45 g dark chocolate
1 T (15 ml) balsamic vinegar
250 g medium size brown mushrooms
garlic butter

Ina’s Tip

Speed up the cooking! Pre-cook the meat just in beef stock (2 cups of water and 2 x 25 g Liquid Beef Stock) in a pressure cooker for 1 hour, on two rings, but don't blow off the steam. Simply remove the pressure cooker from the heat and leave it to cool down. If you release the steam, you also blow away half the flavour. By cooling the pressure cooker slowly the flavour is forced back into the meat.

Method:

Season the meat with Garlic Pepper Seasoning and leave at room temperature while measuring the rest of the recipe.

Prepare a medium fire.

Heat the potjie over the fire, add some oil and brown the meat in two or three batches.

Keep browned meat on one side on a plate.

Add onions pre-seasoned with Green Onion Seasoning, to the remaining oil in the pot and stir-fry until nicely browned.

Add garlic and potatoes and stir-fry for another 5 minutes.

Add the undiluted Liquid Beef Stock, the beer, water and Tomato Pesto.

Bring to a brisk boil.

Return the meat and any left over juices to the pot.

Cover with a lid - pile some coals on the lid and leave the pot to simmer very slowly for 4 - 5 hours until the meat is fork tender.

Check the liquid level from time to time.

Add water if needed.

Spoon off any surplus fat, or blot it off with kitchen paper.

Add the pears, chocolate and balsamic vinegar.

Taste for seasoning.

Top with mushrooms, seasoned with Garlic Pepper Seasoning and dotted with garlic butter.

Cover with lid, pile some coals on the lid, and cook for a final 30 minutes. Serve with samp and salad.

For Travel

Vacuum seal the pre-cooked meat and any gravy, freeze it and travel with this absolutely sterile meat parcel.

To make a potjie follow all the steps, brown onions etc.

You simply just cook the meat for a much shorter period of time before adding the mushrooms. Leave out the water and stock.