Oxtail

[bazfaz]

Oxtail is fantastic. Provided it has a very long slow cooking one day, the liquid poured into a bowl and put in the fridge overnight, then the layer of fat taken off and chucked - then it is delicious.

We don't see oxtail often at a reasonable price but I did buy some a while back. We had it stewed with onions, carrots, red wine and herbs (tomato and black olives are also good). What was left over went into thr freezer. I stripped some of the meat off the bones and last week made a nice starter with quince jelly, mustard, shallots and other stuff.

Tonight I made one of my favourite starters with some middling size joints of cooked oxtail which had been waiting in the freezer. I dipped them in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, then deep fried them until brown and crisp. Red currant jelly would have been best but in the running down of our stocks it was more quince jelly. Plus some lettuce leaves for a fresh contrast.

[lagatta]

Yes, oxtail is lovely, because of all the gelatin the not-quite-solid bones provide.

I haven't made it in a while (I've done two braises recently) but can often find it for a reasonable price. Obviously it makes great soup as well.

Though I think the next braise I make will be Caribbean curried goat.

[bixaorellana]

I've noticed cookbooks frequently suggest that beef shank be substituted in a dish if oxtail is unavailable.

With that in mind, I submit this fantastically good recipe. This is the real thing of "more than the sum of its parts". It was a proud day for me when I served this to an elderly Oaxacan lady who absolutely raved about it and demanded the recipe.

Chamberete de Res en Chile Morita ~ Beef Shin in Chile Morita Sauce.
from Recipes from the Regional Cooks of Mexico, Diana Kennedy)
The sauce is very hot, so reduce the numbers of chiles if you wish. If you can't find chiles morita*, substitute 8 to 12 chiles mora, or 8 dried chipotles.

-- @2 1/2 pounds beef shin, cut into 1" slices w/bone & marrow
-- 1/2 med. onion, roughly chopped
-- 6 cloves garlic, peeled
-- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt, or to taste
-- 1/2 cup chiles moritas (@ 3/4 oz. or 25 chiles)
-- 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, broiled**
-- 1/4 heaped teaspoon cuminseed
-- 2 to 3 tablespoons water
-- 3 tablespoons pork lard or peanut or safflower oil
-- 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
-- 2 large sprigs epazote

Put the beef into a saucepan with the chopped onion, 3 cloves of the garlic, and 1 tablespoon salt.
Cover well with water and bring to a boil, then lower the flame and cook, covered, until the meat is tender -- @1 1/2 hours. Drain and reserve the broth.

Remove the stalks from the chiles and toast them lightly on a warm griddle. Transfer to a blender jar, add the broiled tomatoes, and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Crush the remaining 3 cloves of garlic with the cuminseed and remaining 1/2 tablespoon of salt in a mortar and dilet with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. Set aside.

Head the lard and fry the sliced onion, without browning, for a minute or two. Add the meat and continue frying for a minute or so longer. Add the garlic paste and fry for a few minutes more, stirring and turning the mixture constantly. Add the chile sauce and fry over a high flame for another 5 minutes, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent the sauce from sticking.

Add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved meat broth and epazote, adjust the seasoning, and continue cooking over a medium flame for 20 minutes more.

Serve with hot fresh tortillas or french bread.

*chile morita: small, mulberry-red chile, triangular in shape & @ 1" long and 1/2" wide. It has a slightly smoky flavor and is very piquant.

** broiling tomatoes: put whole tomatoes directly on a hot griddle, turning from time to time until the skin is blistered and the flesh inside is very soft. ~or~
Preheat broiler to medium. Use a shallow pan into which the tomatoes will fit comfortably, without too much empty space. Line the pan with foil. Broil tomatoes about 2" from the flame, turning them occasionally. Will take about 20 minutes for medium tomatoes. Blenderize the whole tomato -- skin & seeds included.

[Deleted]

When I was young, Campbell's in the U.S. sold cans of oxtail soup. I wonder if it still does, because I can't imagine the name of it appealing to the current clientele.

"Queue de boeuf" is a standard item at the butcher shops in my neighborhood, but I have never known what to do with it.

[bixaorellana]

You could toss together this simple little dish.

From Baz's description of how to initially prepare a batch, I'm thinking you could do some interesting ersatz red-cooked tricks with it.

My impulse would be to use some of it for a salpicón -- the Latin American kind, not the French, although that would be an option as well. www.whats4eats.com/meats/salpicon-de-res-recipe

[lagatta]

Well, basically you braise it. Not necessarily ersatz red-cooked (if you mean Italian-American red-cooking, not Chinese red-cooking). Cooks in much of Italy braised tough cuts of meat very slowly in tomato sauce - this gave a nice flavour (reminiscent of wealth) to the sauce, while tenderising the meat.

I'm sure that googling queue de boeuf or oxtail will provide all manner of recipes.

[fumobici]

My mother made a delicious ox-tail soup when I was a kid though she told me it wasn't really made of tails, since in central California in the '60s and '70s apparently finding ox tails was not going to happen. My maternal grandmother had been a fashion artist in Pre-war Paris and brought back a lot of what seems now old fashioned French cooking into the family. She and my mother would speak French when they didn't want people- like me- to know what they were talking about. Maybe that's why I took three years of French. I wish now I'd had her write more of my favorites down, which she didn't need to do as she knew them by heart.

[bixaorellana]

I meant Chinese red-cooking.

Awww, Fumobici, yes there would be some interesting stories there, in addition to the recipes.

[lagatta]

Cattle in Central California didn't have tails? The poor things!

One can also find veal tail. (Don't think it is the milk-fed veal many find cruel; think it is just adolescent grain-fed veal). Not as much meat of course; more for the gelatin to make stock.

[Deleted]

I used to love instant ox-tail soup as a child, but since I tasted the genuine article in a restaurant I haven't been able to bring myself to eat the instant stuff again.

A couple of years ago I acquired a Hungarian cookbook and last weekend I cooked this recipe from it:

Ox-tail with sour cream (Tejfölös ököruszály)
Ingredients:

* 2 kg (4 lb.) ox-tail
* 150 g (5 oz.) mixed vegetables (carrots, turnips, celeriac)
* 100 g (4 oz.) lard
* A pinch of black pepper
* A pinch of thyme
* 2 bay leaves
* 60g (2 1/2 oz.) onions
* 100 ml (4 fl.oz.) white wine
* 1/2 lemon (both zest and juice)
* 300 ml (1/2 pt) sour cream
* 50 g (1 oz.) flour
* 30 g (1 oz.) mustard [it doesn't say what kind, so I used Dijon as I didn't have the dry type. It turned out really good]
* 20 g (3/4 oz.) sugar
* 1 tsp salt


If it is whole, wash the ox-tail thoroughly in warm water, and then cold water, pat dry and cut into pieces 2-3 cm (1 – 1 1/2 inch) thick. Salt.

Cut the vegetables into thick slices and coarsely chop the onion. Melt the lard in an oven-proof dish and add the vegetables, onion, pepper, bay leaves and thyme. Add the ox-tail pieces and roast in the oven, stirring from time to time.

When nicely browned, put everything in a saucepan, add the wine, the thinly pared lemon zest [you can grate it if you want to, but it doesn't really matter, as it will not be served with the finished dish] and a little stock or water. Cover and simmer slowly for 2-3 hours [or however long it takes for the ox-tail meat to become tender]. Add a little water from time to time.

[At this point you will have a lovely, richly flavoured stew that could easily be served as it is. The next step turns it into something delicious].

When the meat is tender, mix together the sour cream and flour into a smooth paste and add to the stew, along with the mustard, sugar and lemon juice. Cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the meat pieces from the stew and put into another saucepan, straining the gravy over the meat. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and serve hot with bread dumplings or macaroni.

[The gravy was very thick. The butter floated up on top, but I'm guessing that the lard might stay mixed in??].

P.S. The stuff that remains in the strainer is way too tasty to throw away ...

[Deleted]

That sounds great!

[imec]

Only made it once - Oxtail Ragout as an unlikely but sensational accompaniment to Sablefish (replicated from memory after having it at a highly regarded Toronto restaurant - Canoe)

[bixaorellana]

What a wonderful recipe! Do you think the oxtail might have been fatty, and that's why the butter floated? I don't know that I'd strain it, at least not for home consumption.

Save in the freezer any bits of pork fat you cut off meat to be cooked, then render it slowly for a private stash of excellent lard. You can also ask your meat cutter for some pork fat.

Cut fat up and put in a heavy bottomed pan with some water and cook on very low heat until all the water has cooked away and the fat has rendered out. Reward yourself for your diligence by straining out all the crisp leftover bits, salting them, and eating them.

[Deleted]

I bought some oxtail today. The moment of truth has arrived! (but not tonight)

[bazfaz]

I do find it is preferable to cook the oxtail the day before you want to eat. Pour off the liquid into a bowl and stick in the fridge. Then the next day you can lift off the solidified layer of fat.

[Hedonisttraveller]

Whatwever the oxtail recipe try swapping the red wine for for a ruby port wine - trust me.

[bazfaz]

Ruby port sounds good.

Also tomato coulis and black olives is great.

[Deleted]

I will most certainly be making oxtail again, although this particular effort was somewhat ruined by my cousin Josette who phoned me at the wrong time. The oxtail was safe in its big pot of broth, but the vegetables became rather carbonized, so photographs were out of the question.

Next time, I will not touch the telephone if it rings.

[bazfaz]

If there is any oxtail left over you can strip off the meat and use it for a salade composee (where are the accents on this computer?).

[Hedonisttraveller]

Can you enlighten us Baz, how would you use oxtail in a salad?

[bazfaz]

Strip the meat off the cooked tail.
I am lazy and make the dressing in the serving dish first then put stuff on top. So I mix Dijon mustard with a jelly (red currant or quince) and vinegar and olive oil.
Then I put a base of whatever is on hand and seems appropriate: lettuce, red pepper, shallot, gherkins, sliced radishes green olives - it depends what I have available and what seems right. Then the meat. Then chopped parsley.
Mix it all up at table.

[Deleted]

I do have a little meat left and I will definitely use it in a salad.

[bixaorellana]

Hmmm. The last two remarks got me thinking. It would be worthwhile to cook extra oxtail in order to use the stripped meat and the gelatinous stock to make a sort of daube glacé. Here's a recipe to use as a jump-off point for our own creations.
www.nola.com/food/patout/recipe.ssf?daube_glace.html

[Deleted]

Too late for doing anything else. Here is the oxtail salad that I ate tonight.

[bixaorellana]

That would have made such a nice lunch for me! The monitor is all crazed from where I thumped it really hard with my hand going after that delectable looking salad.

[bazfaz]

That looks delicious. It looks more substantial than the one I make, a main course.

[Deleted]

And yet there was very little oxtail left, which is why I added 2 hard boiled eggs.

[hwinpp]

Jack's salads always look good, this one is no exception.

[Deleted]

So, I bought 1.5 kg of oxtail at the Chinese supermarket the other day. I think it is marginally cheaper in the African butcher shops and a tiny bit more expensive in the Maghrebi butcher shops and quite a bit more expensive in the French butcher shops. Leaving the French butchers aside, basically the price is about 6 euros a kilo. The amount fit perfectly into my pot.

I put in a variety of spices along with the rock salt and pepper. I also added a couple of carrots (not pictured) before boiling the oxtail for about 3 hours.



Here's what the oxtail looks like once it is cooked.

Since I strip the bones with my bare hands, I had to let them cool down a bit, and then I went to work on them. They yield a quite respectable amount of meat. I like the gelatinous bits, too, but anybody who doesn't like that could easily eliminate them. I used about half of the amount to make chili and froze the rest.

[lagatta]

There is quite a lot about oxtails and oxtail soup on the net. This blog has several African and Caribbean oxtail stews: africanbites.com/african-spicy-oxtail-stew/