By the Book: Paul Bocuse’s Oxtail Consommé

Paul Bocuse and I got into a shouting match over the weekend. Since he wasn’t present, it was a heated one-sided argument that took place while I was cooking from his new cookbook. While the dish in question – oxtail consommé – came out fine (good, actually), he was of little help. There are a handful of magnanimous chefs in the world, and I count Bocuse among them. That’s why I’m mad at him. I wanted the celebrated chef to teach me. Not all chefs, however, are great teachers – at least not when teaching is done via a cookbook. And his cookbook, Paul Bocuse: The Complete Recipes, is nowhere near complete. A good cookbook imparts knowledge to its user. Insight can be shared in the foreward or introduction or even some personalized bit of prose before the recipe. Bocuse gives the reader none of that in this tome of 500 traditional French dishes, just a glossary of culinary terms and a single column of “general advice” focused on weights and measures in the appendix. I wanted Bocuse at my side because I wanted to master consommé with a French master. A consommé is a clarified soup made from a rich stock of meat and an aromatic mixture of carrots, onions, celery (called a mirepoix when diced just so) and a bouquet garni. But the French are so exacting. I wanted to get it right to the extent that I even contacted the publisher of the book with a few questions about the recipe. The recipe calls for three pounds of oxtail, which is first browned in the oven with carrots and onions, then put in the stockpot. But when plating this consommé that serves four people, the cook is to “select the choicest pieces of oxtail” – precisely one per person – for each bowl. A large amount of meat yields a small amount of consommé, but still, "wouldn’t there be more than four choice pieces?” I queried the publisher. The response? “I guess Bocuse knows the quantity very well and avoids waste. Even though 3 pounds (1.5 kg) of oxtail is used, it must shrink a lot.” Maybe Straub’s has some really meaty oxtail because I had some fine pieces of oxtail that I worked into dinner the following day. Oxtail aside, other details were left to guesswork. Bocuse calls for stock without specifying which one. I assumed he meant beef stock since oxtail is a cut of beef. Cooking times and heat levels were likewise not addressed. How long to brown the oxtail? It took me 30 minutes. At what heat level should the now browned oxtail cook in the stockpot with the vegetables, bouquet garni, Madeira and cognac? I chose medium heat. How long is “wait a little” after adding half of the Madeira and cognac to the stockpot before adding the rest? I opted for two minutes. The French have names for every type of knife cut: from batonnet to brunoise to parmentier. I appreciate standardized pieces of food and intended to do right by the three turnips that were to be cut “into olive shapes.” Yet, there are big olives and little olives; round olives and oval-shaped olives. "Was Bocuse wanting a tourné cut?" I asked the publisher. “[O]n the picture, you can see the vegetables cut into olive/ovoid shapes,” was the response. To my eyes, those turnips look tournéed. (Good luck deciphering all those recipes in the cookbook that aren’t accompanied by a photo.) My course of action: Fashion only a few fancy ones and then toss those with the unrefined-looking turnip trimmings into a separate pot to cook in the reserved beef stock. Why take this shortcut? When plating, each bowl gets just one tablespoon of turnips; I could fish out the ornate ones easily enough. I know, I know, not very French of me. But Bocuse didn’t show up for dinner anyway. If he had, I would have told him that dinner would be served late since I had – although he didn’t prescribe this – put the strained consommé in the fridge to get the fat to congeal so that the liquid would be as clarified as possible. I hope he would have approved. Oxtail Consommé Serves 4 3 lbs. (1.5 kg.) oxtail 3 onions 3 medium-size carrots 7 Tbsp. (3½ oz./100 g.) butter 1 bouquet garni (1 sprig parsley, ½ bay leaf, 1 spring thyme) 1 celery stick Scant ½ cup (100 ml) Madeira wine* Scant ½ cup (100 ml) cognac* 14 cups (3.5 liters) stock, divided (I used beef stock.) 2 cups (500 ml) water 3 turnips 1 celery heart (tender part of innermost ribs) Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. • Preheat the over to 350 degrees. • Cut the oxtail into pieces and quarter the onions and carrots. Brown the oxtail pieces and vegetables in the butter in an ovenproof dish. (I melted the butter in the dish in the oven and then added the oxtail and vegetables.) • When this is done (Browning the oxtail took 30 minutes.), transfer all the pieces to a large cooking pot over the burner (I set the burner on medium heat.). Add the bouquet garni and the stick of celery. Then pour in half the Madeira wine and cognac, wait a little (I waited 2 minutes.), and pour in the rest. Gently simmer to reduce the cooking liquid, and then pour in 12 cups (3 liters) of the stock and the 2 cups (500 ml) water. • Cook over low heat for 4 hours. The liquid should simmer gently and not come to a fast boil. • Cut the turnips into olive shapes and the celery heart into pieces. Cook them in the remaining stock. Filter the liquid in which the meat has cooked through a sieve. (I put the strained consommé in the refrigerator until the fat congealed, then removed the fat using a slotted spoon. When ready to serve, I reheated the consommé until very hot.) • Select the choicest pieces of oxtail – one per person – and add to each plate a tablespoon of carrots, turnips and celery. Pour the strained consommé over the meat and vegetables. • Serve very hot. * Special thanks to Major Brands and Taste for the generous donation of Madeira and cognac for use in this recipe. What classic French dish do you most wish you to conquer? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of Paul Bocuse: The Complete Recipes by Paul Bocuse. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column.  And now we’d like to congratulate Joseph, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won him a copy of Cupcakes and Cashmere by Emily Schuman. Joseph, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew.