Braised Oxtail with Mushrooms & Prelius Prile, Maremma Toscana DOC

Wine pairing notes

Chef Xai Chin braised oxtail is an earthy dish, a real challenge for a wine pairing. The principle that inspires its matching with Prelius Prile, a biologic Maremma Toscana DOC, is that the richness and power of the dish meet a wine with the same characteristics. The wine is full-bodied, has a solid structure and complexity to balance the array of flavors and textures of the dish. Its round tannins, for example, are a good combination for the juiciness of the tail meat, which gets a boost from the tertiary aromas that the wine gained with its time in wood. Its time in wood gives to the wine all those tertiary aromas that rise up the beef flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 skinless oxtail
• 100g abalone mushrooms
• 100g shiitake mushrooms
• 30g sliced ginger
• 30g sliced leek
• 50g yellow bean paste
• 10g dark soy sauce
• 30g rock sugar
• Oyster sauce, to taste
• Sichuan pepper, to taste
• Star anise, to taste
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Bay leaves, to taste
• 20g Shaoxing wine
• 10g onion
• 10g carrot
• 10g celery

Method

1. Roast the oxtail until golden brown and then cut into 3cm slices.
2. Heat some oil in a wok and add the rock sugar. Cook until caramelized, add the Shaoxing wine, and then set aside.
3. Heat some oil in a wok and stir fry the leek and ginger until fragrant. Add the spices, yellow bean paste, and dark soy sauce. Add the onion, carrot, and celery, season with oyster sauce to taste, then add the oxtail. Add the caramel and enough water to cover. Simmer for 2 hours.
4. Cut the abalone mushrooms into 4cm slices and cut the shiitake mushrooms into three. Add to the stew after 90 minutes.

Wine

Prelius Prile, Maremma Toscana DOC
Castello Di Volpaia

Winery

Founded even in the 11th century, the Volpaia Winery came to life as a fortified village, built on a ridge that, in practice, acts as the watershed of two small valleys, one belonging to the province of Florence while the other falling under the territory of Siena. The village was built by the Florentine family called “Della Volpaia” – hence the name of the company.

Currently, Volpaia Winery is an important wine-producing reality of Tuscany, belonging to what is the noble Chianti Classico territory. Under the guidance of Carlo and Giovannella, the village of Volpaia, as for any other historical tradition, still represents a center of intense rural production of wine, oil, and vinegar. The cellars, the machinery, the working, and refining places run through underground networks that involve the whole village.

The company, much appreciated also abroad, produces organic, elegant and complex wines, rooted in the territory, which express a great love and a rigorous attention to nature.

An original Wine & Food pairing from

The guide Zhong Can Yi Jiu and the program Chinese cuisines meet Italian wines are promoted by the Italian Wine Bank, a branch of the project MELIUS, both produced by The I Factor Limited. The guide is realized in collaboration with the Chinese Culinary Institute of the Vocational Training in Hong Kong, the Club China AIS (Associazione Italiana Sommelier) and the Italian Wines World Summit.

This guide is an unprecedented attempt to marry two great gastronomic cultures and artisanal producers: Chinese cuisines and Italian wines. This guide is the first of many steps in a grand project that will be fully realized over the next few years. Our mission is to give interpretive tools to the consumer as well as provide a point of reference for the Italian wine industry, as well as for contemporary Chinese chefs and restaurateurs operating in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and worldwide.

Discover this original Wine & Food pairing on Chinese Cuisines Meet Italian Wines.