Q: If you can cook oxtail why don’t we eat lambs tail?

A: Almost all lambs are born with tails. The length of a lamb’s tail is half-way between the length of its mother’s tail and its father’s tail – the tail length is a heritable trait.

Under modern sheep production systems, tails are usually docked (shortened) to prevent fecal matter from accumulating on the back side of the sheep, which can result in fly strike (wool maggots). Tail docking also makes it easier to shear the sheep. The tail does not interfere with breeding or lambing.

25 percent of the world’s sheep population have fat or broad rumps and/or tails.   It is not customary to dock their tails, the fat tail is considered a delicacy in some cultures.  Sheep-tail fat is called “allyah” in Arabic. Historical relgious text (Hadith) claims that sheep-tail fat is a “cure” for sciatica (lower back and leg pain caused by irritation of the scaitic nerve).

In the Karoo, where large numbers of sheep’s tales are docked, these tales of whom eaten as a delicacy.  In a more rudimentary fashion, they are thrown whole onto a fire and cooked skin and all, and then the skin is peeled off and the meat is sucked off the bone.   At the Calvinia Meat Festival which happens every year on the lost weekend in August, you can enjoy these delicacies with just a sprinkling salt cooked over an open fire.  Unfortunately due to their size, they have approximately the same amount of meat as a very malnourished  lamb chop, so 10 would really just be a snack.

Also see our delicious oxtail recipe – click here

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

For the launch of the monthly Wickedfood cooking School singles cooking class evening we cooked this delicious oxtail stew. We trimmed most of the fat off the meat, then made the dish in our brand new pressure cooker which worked a real treat, the meat being succulently tender, and the gravy thick, after one hour of cooking.
Ideal winter comfort food, with a rich red wine gravy. To get the most out of this dish it should be cooked in a very slow oven for a least two hours, or alternatively cook in a pressure cooker for one hour – if cooking in a pressure cooker, do not add any additional water.

1kg (3 pieces per person) oxtail, jointed
Salt and pepper
Flour for dusting
Oil for frying
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
2 cups red wine
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin water
Salt and pepper
Sugar to taste

2 T white onion or mushroom soup powder
1/4 cup red wine

• Preheat the oven 180° C.
• Season the oxtail with salt and pepper and then dust with flour.
• Heat a large casserole (or pressure cooker), that will later hold all the meat. Add the onions, carrots and celery, and fry over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously, so as not to burn.
• Add the garlic and parsley and fry for a further 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
• Add a little more oil to the casserole, heat and fry the oxtail in batches until well browned.
• Add the wine and deglaze the pot, return the vegetables, add the tomatoes and water (no water if using a pressure cooker, but rather add the soup powder mixed with the remaining wine), and season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
• Bring to the boil, cover and place in the preheated oven. Turn the meat every 30 minutes, and top up with a little water if the dish seems to be drying out. Cook for 2 to 21/2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and starts to fall off the bone, (if using a pressure cooker, cook at high pressure for 1 hour). At this stage the dish can be allowed to cool and kept in the fridge for up to 4 days.

To serve

• Dissolve the soup powder in the red wine and stir into the cooking juices. Simmer until a thick gravy is reached. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Serves 4

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: Do you have a recipe for a tasty beef bolognese sauce?

A: Bolognese sauce is a meat based sauce mainly used for pasta dishes (lasagna and spaghetti Bolognese) originating form a small town in Italy named Bologna. It is best for the sauce to have a long cooking time (5-6 hours) this makes the meat become very tender and allows all the flavours to really develop into a wonderfully rich tasty sauce.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we have this tasty recipe in both our corporate and team building classes as well as our individual cooking classes. With the most popular being this fantastic one.

Bolognaise sauce

There are 4 important points to remember when making a Bolognaise (from Bologna) sauce.

1. Chop the vegetables to about 2mm squares. They should be of equal size, and a small as possible so as not to be identified once the sauce is cooked.
2. The meat must be sautéed just barely long enough to lose its raw colour. It must not brown or it will lose delicacy.
3. It must be cooked in milk before the tomatoes are added. This keeps the meat creamier and sweeter tasting.
4. It must cook at the merest simmer for a long, long time, up to 5 hours.

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
3T oil
3T (45g) butter
2 stalks celery, finely chopped

4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
500g minced lean beef
Salt
1 cup (250ml) dry red or white wine
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
Pinch nutmeg
1 tin chopped tomatoes

1. In a heavy casserole dish or pot, the deepest one you have, melt the butter with the oil (oil prevents butter from burning). Sauté the onion briefly over medium heat, until just translucent. Add the celery and carrot and cook gently until fragrant and soft, over a low heat, taking care that the onions do not change colour.
2. Add the minced beef, crumbling it in the pot with a fork. Add salt to taste, stir, and cook only until the meat has lost its raw, red colour.
3. Add the wine; turn the heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the wine has evaporated.
4. Turn the heat down to medium, add the milk and the nutmeg, and cook until the milk has evaporated. Stir frequently.
5. When the milk has evaporated, add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly.
6. When the tomatoes have started to bubble, turn the heat down until the sauce cooks at the gentlest simmer, just an occasional bubble. Cook, covered, for a minimum of 31/2 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally (add water, a 1/2 cup at a time if it seems too dry). Taste and check seasoning. (If you cannot keep an eye on the sauce for such a long stretch, you can turn off the heat and resume cooking it later on. But do finish cooking it in one day).
7. Serve with short pastas as the Italians do, or with spaghetti as the Americans do, or use as a sauce for lasagne.

Serves 4, for 500g dried pasta

Note: The sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, or frozen. Reheat and simmer for about 15 minutes before using.

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Wickedfood Cooking School team came across this delicious dish in a cooking class at Thai House Cooking School in Bangkok. Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce, is a delicious dish, but very rich because of the combination of coconut milk and ground peanuts.

500g rump or beef fillet steak, thinly sliced
1 can (± 400ml) coconut milk diluted with one cup water
1 can undiluted coconut milk
3T red curry paste
6 kaffir lime leaves
1/4 cup finely ground peanuts
3T fish sauce
11/2 T palm sugar
2 red chillies, finely sliced (without seeds)
1/2 cup sweet basil leaves.

1. Place 2 cups of the diluted coconut milk into a medium saucepan and add the beef. Bring to the boil and simmer until the meat is cooked and the milk reduced by half.
2. Meanwhile in another saucepan bring one and a half cups of the undiluted milk to the boil and cook hard until the milk begins to separate and has an oily surface. (Remove 2T of this mixture and set aside, for pouring over the finished dish.)
3. Add the curry paste to the separated coconut milk and bring back to the boil. Add the remaining half cup undiluted milk, a little at a time, and cook until it has an oily sheen.
4. Add the cooked beef mixture, kaffir lime leaves and remaining 1 cup diluted milk. Cook until the mixture begins to cook dry, adding more milk if necessary.
5. Add the peanuts, fish sauce, palm sugar, chillies and basil. Remove from the heat, and pour the retained 2T milk over as a topping.

Serves 4

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari ka – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Today, health concerns have made steak tartare a forbidden pleasure. Young children, the immune-compromised, and the elderly shouldn’t eat raw eggs or raw meat—but as for the rest of us, we take our chances sometimes. (It’s smart to buy beef from a reputable butcher and to chop it yourself, potentially avoiding butchers’ meat grinders that may be cross-contaminated with chicken or pork.)

The drama of mixing your own is well worth the effort

• Arrange some finely chopped raw beef on a buttered square of dense black bread
• sprinkle it with coarse salt and cracked black pepper
• then lay some rings of purple onion on top.
• Add a few plump, briny capers, an anchovy filet or two, and chopped parsley.
• Crown this jewel with a raw egg yolk nestled in half an eggshell.

Then tip the yolk out of its shell and watch it ooze, slice through the onion-topped beef, and sop up the yolk with the bread – worth the risk!

For a more elaborate version, try this one that Wickedfood Cooking School uses in one of our cooking classes.

Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
2-3T ketchup
2t dijon mustard
1t worcestershire sauce
2–3 dashes Tabasco
3T olive oil
3-4T fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

500g thick flank or rump steak, exterior fat removed
1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
3 small cornichons (gherkins), chopped
½T capers, drained
¼ cup parsley, trimmed and chopped
Melba toast

Mayonnaise

1. Whisk egg yolks, ketchup, mustard, worcestershire, and Tabasco in a large bowl until smooth.
2. Gradually whisk in oil, then lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Slice beef into thin pieces with a very sharp knife or cleaver. Gather pieces together and slice crosswise into smaller pieces, then finely chop them and add to the bowl.
4. Add onions, cornichons, capers, and half the parsley, and mix gently with 2 spoons until just combined.
5. Fold in just enough of the mayonnaise to make the mixture slightly moist. Adjust seasonings. Mold on one large platter and serve with Melba toast as a starter for 4, or divide between 2 plates and garnish with remaining parsley. Serve with French fries, if you like.

Serves 2 or 4 as a starter

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built
cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a
week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for
corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes,
birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in
the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not
only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests.
For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these classes are
a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.