Serious French Cottage Pie

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 17:03:20 GMT

Gracias

Baldo

Mon, 9 Jul 2012 14:36:01 GMT

Una contundente y buena receta invernal, en Espa�a el rabo de toro se consume s�lo, con unas patatas fritas de acompa�amiento, cocinado con vino tinto, o blanco (en C�rdoba, donde es famoso se usa vino de Montilla-Moriles). Y queda espectacular, cocin�ndolo como en su receta, con m�s caldo y haciendo despu�s un arroz, seg�n la receta de arroz caldoso espa�ola (de grano redondo, tipo bomba o carnaroli, arb�reo o baldo). Un saludo

anamaria

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:23:25 GMT

Amazing dish!!! Love the oxtail (my granny used to make an amazing soup from it and I loved to eat the fat and gummy stuff - taste like marrow a little - another great thing!!!!)
No more recipes lately?
Ana

ToasterKitchen

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:09:13 GMT

Wow awesome food for the winter! Probably put a toll on my cholesterol but it would be worth it. I also love cheese, and a meal like this would be great with a nice bottle of shiraz classic.

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:15:17 GMT

Indeed it is, read article 7 to see where and how I bought this knife!

ricardo

Tue, 3 Aug 2010 01:50:55 GMT

Great recipe! I have to try it at home!

By the way, the knife you used to cut the meat... Isn"t it meant to cut salmon? :)

fx

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 20:35:45 GMT

Marc, there are loads of variations of this dish, it was made to use leftovers of stewed or roasted meats and you can perfectly use butter and breadcrumbs instead of cheese. The spirit of this dish is to make something new and tasty from what you have in the fridge.

Marc

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 20:32:10 GMT

Impressed! Would never have thought about using the oxtail. Great idea! They are readily available here (Spain) as it�s a national dish (rabo de toro)

One question, I have always made Hachis Parmentier with breadcrumbs and butter on top and not cheese. Am I completely wrong? Cheese is more commonly used?

fx

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:19:16 GMT

Thanks and hope you can try this with some Mexican beef!

jorge Moctezuma

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:38:01 GMT

Looks just delicious! Congratulations!

fx

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:19:12 GMT

Xavier, I wish you success with your hachis! For the butcher just don"t go to Globus, my experience is that meat is expensive and not always fresh there. Not sure whom to recommend, I don"t buy my meat in Lausanne...

Xavier

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:41:48 GMT

Hi fx !

What a better dish than a "Hachis Parmentier" for a confortable dinner with a bunch of friends. I"m planning to prepare one next week and was wondering how much oxtail I would need for 10 guests. It"s hard to assess how much muscle you can extract from an oxtail.
And do you have any advice for a good butcher in the Lausanne area who could have great oxtail ?

Thanks again for your fantastic site and articles !

fx

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:23:04 GMT

Toaster ovens, thanks for visiting and I hope you"ll get to try a couple of my recipes!

Toaster ovens

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:08:41 GMT

Awesome!.....
I like it,I actually may want to cry at how gorgeous everything appears and definitely going to experiment and test out some of your fantastic and unique recipes.

fx

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:24:08 GMT

Laura, thanks for visiting my site! The oxtail simmers for so long that even the most resistant prions might not survive, although you do raise a valid point and we might check with some health scientist to be certain. As for the type of potatoes, be calm, the problem rests not with your cooking skills but with my English! I have now corrected the recipe to "starchy".

Laura D.

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:18:50 GMT

Looks fabulous. I love oxtails, though I have to admit that since mad cow disease has surfaced, I am more hesitant to eat them (you know, brain and spinal cord tissue--sorry to be a crepe-hanger). In U.S. stores, I"ve only ever seen cut up oxtail, though when I worked as a cook, the restaurant sometimes got whole ones from the meat wholesalers--when we forgot to ask to have them cut.

One question though--why waxy potatoes? I have always used starchy/mealy potatoes for mashing and was under the impression that the texture is better (lighter, mealier, not so dense). Have I been wrong all these years?

Cynthia

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:09:22 GMT

...the things I do for my readers - that is why we keep coming back and we know that the pot was really heavy and having to balance and focus the camera in the other hand - you are a master indeed!

fx

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:27:16 GMT

Michael, you"ll learn everything about this knife in my article: Paris Oldest Kitchen Equipment Shop.

fx

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:23:37 GMT

Manda, thanks for your kind words! Many times too I have tears come to my eyes when looking at a still life, and a few times this happens when looking at my own pictures. Then I know we have, for a moment, managed to show the miracle of life in a rectangular frame.

fx

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:46:25 GMT

Janet, I am so glad you got around to try this long-simmered dish and even thought about it during the day! Well done!

Janet

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:45:49 GMT

Fx what a wonderful recipe! I enjoyed every minute of the cooking process. There is nothing like being at work and knowing that at home the dish is quietly evolving and gathering its flavours. On the night of "the simmering" I could hardly wait to get home and begin! Thank you for all the fun.

Manda

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:17:56 GMT

Every image you capture of each step of the dish preparation captures more than one could ever imagine. Upon the revelation of the finished product, I"m awestruck. It"s amazing how something so simple as Cottage Pie can be beheld as a masterpiece.

As peculiar as this may sound, I think I actually may want to cry at how gorgeous everything appears. I"m so happy I"ve stumbled upon your blog; definitely going to experiment and test out some of your fantastic and unique recipes - I"m always trying to find ways of making the common quite the contrary.

Michael

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:57:07 GMT

Love the post - love the knive you cut the oxtail with. I can"t recognize its brand on the photo, could you give me a hint?

fx

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:57:30 GMT

Rosedarpam, thanks for your kind words! You could use other meats as well but a cut oxtail is just perfect, I used the whole thing because I could and it looks more dramatic, but hey, it doesn"t even fit in my fridge, let alone in a bowl for marination!

Rosedarpam

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:55:14 GMT

Only my second visit to your website and find myself entranced once again. Oxtails are one of my many favorites. This recipe is so elegantly simple, yet I can tell by its careful preparation that it must be wonderful. The supermarkets in Honolulu only have cut oxtails, but if I go to Chinatown, I"m sure I can convince the butcher to supply a whole one.

BerlinKitchen

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:58:21 GMT

Thank you Francois for your reply. How much is one oxtail? 2 kg??
In Berlin they sell only pieces.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:57:51 GMT

Bitrboy, indeed you could skim the fat off the top for a leaner dish, but with the amount of potatoes it worked well.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:56:25 GMT

Richard good luck with the Parmentier!

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:55:18 GMT

Gary, it"s not that long. Preparing the marinade takes 10 minutes, then braising. The potato pur�e takes some time, but most of the recipe is spent waiting as it cooks.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:54:37 GMT

BerlinKitchen, I only used one oxtail.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:53:59 GMT

Berlinkitchen, the cheese is nice and given the small amount really doesn"t hide the oxtail"s braised flavors which are quite strong anyway.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:52:06 GMT

CKfusionist, we Swiss certainly like our cheese, but you can just sprinkle the surface with bits of butter and you"ll get a nice brown crust just the same.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:50:16 GMT

Ben, I must have found couch-potato ox with a very fat tail!

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:49:32 GMT

Laura you can have the oxtail cut, no worry, or use other braising-grade beef. Many people use pot-au-feu leftovers (stewed meet with vegetables) to good effect.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:39:34 GMT

Cris thanks for your visit, this year winter seems to be every other day up here in the Alps, time for confort food!

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:36:24 GMT

Dean, yes indeed it"s a French cousin of the Shepherd"s Pie but prepared the French way.

fx

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:35:28 GMT

Jensenly, yes oxtail is a respectable part of the ox, very edible in fact! In French we call the places were kids eat at school a refectoire, I thought this would translate as school mess but it sounds very much like a school cafeteria. The main point is to serve unhealthy food badly prepared although there are notable exceptions fortunately.

jensenly

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:28:34 GMT

Holy cow! I have heard that ox tail is amazing and your recipe and photos have now convinced me that it"s true!

Are school messes the same thing as a school cafeteria in the US?

I think I could eat this every week.....you are divine, Francois!

Dean Gilliland

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:12:12 GMT

Looks alot like another comfort food from farther north usually reffered to as Shepard"s Pie.

Cris,bcn

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:49:19 GMT

Nice post Francois, it"s woderfull this parmentier. Good confort food for the winter.Love it.

Laura C

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:03:58 GMT

That looks devine!
Potatoes are one of my favorites. Do you think you could use another cut of meat though? Not sure if I could find a whole oxtail around here. I know I"ve seen ox tail cut up at the butcher, that would work, no?

ben wolfson

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Fat and gelatinous bits unpleasant under the tooth? Bosh! I just polished off some braised oxtails and so long as you eat those bits hot (that is, uncongealed), they"re quite pleasant. Keeps you warm in winter, too.

Ckfusionist

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:41:44 GMT

Ah , all those cheese , cream , butter explains the cholesterol bill...hahaha. The local Aussies eat an average 14kg of cheese per year , so i guess it would be averaging the same with Euro ??

BerlinKitchen

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:05:09 GMT

P.S. One critical aspect of this terrific recipy seems to me the cheese. Is it not too much flavor for the oxtail, Francois?

BerlinKitchen

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 01:07:08 GMT

Hallo Francois,

perfect recipy for my wine-tastings!

How much oxtail did you use?

Nice week-end,
Martin

Gary V

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:14:44 GMT

This looks so good. I"d like to attempt it myself, yet it seems so time consuming.

Richard

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:26:48 GMT

Hi Francois,

Another one for my list! Superb article (as we have come to expect). Keep them coming and we"ll keep cooking them!

Oxtail is on my shopping list for tomorrow morning.

All the best

Richard

bitrboy

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:35:13 GMT

Oxtail braised in red wine is one of my favourite dishes, and I make it quite regularly. I noticed that you didn"t skim the fat from the cooking liquid. Since oxtail is very fatty, does this not leave the finished dish a bit greasy, or is the fat offset by the starchiness of the potatoes? Great post.

fx

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:17:04 GMT

Gamelle, sounds like a great way to recycle delicious pot-au-feu leftovers!

fx

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:16:19 GMT

Gemma, thanks. Yes, pretty much every day, although these dishes can last for a couple days. This week I had pesto soup for 3 nights for instance. If you bring it back to a minutes-spent-cooking-per-portion it"s not so long!