Oxtail poitjiekos

Today is a special day in Argentina when people traditionally eat locro (see previous post) and since I made a pot for my guests, I thought I'd mix things up a bit with a typically South African dish called a poitjiekos (translates to food in a pot - go figure). Anyway, a "poitkie" is a three-legged cast iron pot (witch's cauldron style) and it allows for outside cooking that is done slowly, VERY slowly. In fact, this dish took three and a half hours to cook (which is great since you can attend to your guests, have a beer and even get in a few hands of cards or dominoes).
Using your hand, rub about 30g of butter inside the pot to which you then add an oxtail, 500g of mutton and 500g of chopped lamb ribs. Allow this to braise in the pot for about 15 minutes until brown.
Add 8 medium onions that have been diced, 250g of chopped bacon, 4 blocks of beef stock (broken up), 8 cloves, 10 peppercorns, 2 tsp mixed herbs, a stick of cinnamon, 1 red chilli chopped and pepper to taste (no salt is needed as the beef stock is pretty salty). Cook for another 15 minutes.
Remove the mutton and the lamb and set aside while adding 60ml of water and 125ml of red wine and cook for an hour without  removing the lid. Return the meat and cook for 50 more minutes.
Now for the veggies: take 500g of green beans and chop roughly and place in a circle against the edge of the pot. Now take a bunch of carrots that have been peeled and chopped and make another concentric circle. Last place a shopped cauliflower in the middle, completing the circle.
To finish off, take about 15 baby potatoes and 15 baby onions and pack them on top. Take button mushrooms and squeeze them into the sides of the pot. Take a green pepper that is finely diced as well as three sticks of celery diced and sprinkle on top. Last, take a packet of onion soup and sprinkle over everything. Replace the lid and allow to cook for a further hour and a half to two hours. At no point is the pot stirred. Upon serving, dish downwards to get a cross section of all the ingredients. Enjoy!!
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