Oxtail Stew

A big favorite from The Real Family Camping Cookbook:

This is really for the grownups, though some kids (the smart ones!) like it. Put the pot on as soon as you start the fire in the evening and cook it until after the kids go to bed. Then have your stew with a glass of wine by the fire.  That’s what camping’s all about, Charlie Brown.

Serves:  4

Ingredients:

6 strips of bacon

2 lb. of sliced oxtail – see TIP at the bottom.

1 small, yellow onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 potatoes, cubed

10 oz. of white mushrooms, sliced

1 c. of beef broth

½ c. of red wine

olive oil

½ c. of white flour

salt & pepper

large Ziploc bag

Preparation:

1.  Cook the bacon in the bottom of a big pot. Feed the bacon to the children. Fight off the stray dogs.

2.  In a large, Ziploc bag, put the flour 1 t. each of salt & pepper.  Add the oxtails in batches and get a kid to shake it around.

3.  Cook the oxtails in the bacon fat for about 10 minutes.  You may need to do this in batches.

4.  To the braised oxtails, add the beef broth and the wine. Cover and simmer for an hour or longer.

5.  Add the onions, carrots, potatoes and mushrooms and simmer another 30 minutes or so.

6.  Serve with fresh biscuits and butter and a big glass of red wine.

TIP: 

•  Oxtails can usually be found pre-sliced and packaged in the meat section of a supermarket. The best thing to do, though, is to find a butcher who carries it fresh and ask to have it sliced there.

“If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?” - Seymore Cray