Oxtail browned and stewed slowly in red wine with onions, peppers and carrots until the meat falls from the bone and the sauce turns thick and glossy.
What makes it rabo de toro
Oxtail, on the bone, floured and browned.
Stewed for hours in red wine, sometimes with sherry.
A thick sauce from the tail's own gelatine.
Where it comes from
Córdoba claims it, and it's long been tied to the bullring: the tails of bulls fought in the afternoon are said to have gone to the city's taverns. Most rabo de toro now is made from ordinary oxtail, from cattle rather than fighting bulls.
It's a slow dish, cooked for hours until the gelatine in the bones thickens the sauce, and it's often made a day ahead.