Mario Batali night in midst of a snowstorm

Had ordered 4 pounds of oxtail to make Mario's ragu recipe so I drove the 15 miles in a major blizzard to the only real butcher shop in our area. Then 3 of my equally crazy and food-obsessed friends drove through the same to my house to feast.

We had the Mario's oxtail ragu made with his brown chicken stock and basic tomato sauce all prepared to the letter. To say it was great would be an understatement.

The wine hits of the evening were a '99 Rutherford Hill Cab and an Atteca Garnacha... each complementing the rich sauce in it's own way.

Just wondered if anyone else has made and, is a fan of, the 3 Mario recipes in this dish.

The ragu is a bit of work but the brown chicken stock and basic tomato sauce couldn't be simpler!

http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes-2/batali/basic-tomato-sauce.htm

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/aspen-2007-brown-chicken-stock

I couldn't find the ragu recipe online... it's in the Babbo cookbook.

[Jenise]

Fred, I hadn't seen Mario's recipe for basic tomato sauce before just now (thanks for the link), but I sat here with my mouth open reading it because he uses thyme instead of basil. In a good way: the first New York Italian I ever dated, a guy who called it gravy instead of sauce, once made a marinara sauce for me out of canned tomato sauce, olive oil, fresh garlic, and thyme cooked for several hours. Later in the cooking he added a subservient amount of dry basil, but the thyme was the larger quantity and dominant flavor. Dried thyme, I might add, since fresh thyme would have an entirely different flavor and I don't find them interchangeable. Anyway, it was an eye-opening experience and, like most good firsts for most people, it instantly became my idea of How It Should Be, and no marinara I've had since tastes as good. But all the recipes I've read since for a "basic tomato sauce", ALL, involve basil. No thyme.

Haven't tried his oxtail ragu. It's great, huh?

Jenise,

We all thought the ragu was very delicious and the oxtail extremely tender. After the brown stock and tomato sauce are prepared the ragu is very simple except for the searing and ultimate picking the meat off of the bones.

It's essentially just the oxtail and some browned onions in a bottle of red, some brown stock and some tomato sauce.

Your distinction between dried thyme and fresh is interesting, I'll have to check that out.

Had ordered 4 pounds of oxtail to make Mario's ragu recipe so I drove the 15 miles in a major blizzard to the only real butcher shop in our area. Then 3 of my equally crazy and food-obsessed friends drove through the same to my house to feast.

We had the Mario's oxtail ragu made with his brown chicken stock and basic tomato sauce all prepared to the letter. To say it was great would be an understatement.

The wine hits of the evening were a '99 Rutherford Hill Cab and an Atteca Garnacha... each complementing the rich sauce in it's own way.

Just wondered if anyone else has made and, is a fan of, the 3 Mario recipes in this dish.

The ragu is a bit of work but the brown chicken stock and basic tomato sauce couldn't be simpler!

http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes-2/batali/basic-tomato-sauce.htm

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/aspen-2007-brown-chicken-stock

I couldn't find the ragu recipe online... it's in the Babbo cookbook.

I purchased an Atteca Garnacha this past summer on the recommendation of a salesperson at a local wine shop. My sister, brother-in-law & nephew were visiting and I was fixing dinner of the grill. I simply told the salesperson what I was grilling and she recommended the Atteca Garnacha.

My brother-in-law went to the store the next day and bought a case! He was going to split it with a connoisseur friend. Tom's way more knowledgeable about wines that I am and I remember him saying that his friend (who knows even more) would think the wine cost 2-3 times what it actually did.