Oxtail potjie
For a No. 2 potjie Feeds 4
• 125g streaky bacon, chopped • 700g – 800g oxtail • Sea salt • 2 onions, chopped • 2 sticks celery, chopped • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped • 2T tomato paste • 2 cloves • 2 bay leaves • ½t white pepper • 1 cup hot beef stock • 6 small carrots, peeled and sliced • mashed potato, for serving
Place the pot over coals to heat through. Add the bacon and cook, stirring constantly, until fat has rendered and bacon is golden. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel.
Season the meat with salt, then brown the oxtail in the bacon fat.
Remove the pot from the heat. Remove the oxtail, add the onions and celery (they will start cooking in the residual heat) and stir constantly.
Rearrange the coals for low-heat cooking and place the pot back over the coals. Cook the onions and celery, stirring constantly, until nicely softened and reduced in mass.
Add the garlic for the last minute or two and cook, stirring. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the mixture is brick red.
Remove the pot from the coals. Remove the onion mixture and layer the oxtail at the bottom. Then add the onion mixture back in, plus the cloves, bay leaves and white pepper. Add the stock.
Put the lid on, place the pot over the coals and arrange a few coals around the base of the potjie. After 30 minutes lift the lid and check there is steam rising in the pot and that it is simmering.
Cook for 3 – 4 hours, keeping an ear to the potjie and adding or removing coals to keep it cooking at the same heat and speed.
Add the carrots for the last 45 minutes of cooking. Give it a quick stir and serve.