OX tail recipe

[maheel]

over here some cook it twice

once today and let it cool and bang it in the fridge
skim off the solid fat in the morning

cook it again maybe pull the bones out maybe not depending on the size of the tail.


you could also try ROO tail stew
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s1703747.htm
but they are a whole lot leaner (not much fat)

[heynonny]

My brother refered to oxtails as "swingin' sirloin".

3 lb oxtails
1 LARGE onion coarsely chopped
2 large potatoes
2 carrots
1-2 stalks celery cut 1" pieces (on the bias, more flavor)
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes (I like 'Muir Glen' fire roasted)
(You use 12 oz can of tom paste, too much tom flavor for me)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt. Careful Here!
1 tsp oregano
3 large garlic cloves (I use more, garlic is to food as insanity is to art!)
1 tsp sugar

Sear the tails on all sides (searing seals in flavor, but also greatly intensifies the flavor) and remove. Add the onions, garlic, and celery, and sautee till the onions etc are soft and the goodness on the bottom of the pot is de-glazed. add tomato,pepper, salt, oregano, and sugar, and add water to cover. Simmer at low to medium for 3 to five hours (or longer!), till the meat is VERY tender. Make sure it does not go dry, you do not want the tomato to burn. (thats also why I use diced toms) Add the potatoes and carrots for the last 20 minutes or so.

Now, what I do is remove the tails and set till they're cool enough to handle, and then seperate the meat from the bones. (I cook them till the meat is falling off the bones), Then cut the meat into bite size pieces. Oxtails are extremely gelatinous, so, if you then put the meat in the fridge till the gelatin gels, the meat is nice and firm to the bite. But be careful! Do not heat up the meat too much or the gelatin melts and and its back like it was coming out of the pot. You can heat it to a nice eating temp without losing the gel. Strain off the liquid and off to the fridge with it too, the fat will coagulate nicely for seperation, but remember, theres a LOT of flavor there, so dont remove it all. The liquid will be like jello that you'd need a knife to cut, bring it to the boil with the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots, and, dinnertime.

I like coleslaw with this dish, and big hunks of sourdough bread.

This is my coleslaw recipe:

1 large head cabbage
2 - 3 (or more) carrots

1/2 C wine vinegar, red or white
1/2 C canned condensed milk (NOT sweetened)
1/2 C mayonaise
1/2 C sugar
(notice all the same)

1/4 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder, and celery powder
(this is for starters, you can adjust later)
Kosher salt to taste (maybe a teaspoon, or more, of these powders and the salt, if its not enough, you can always add more, but if its too much, you're screwed.

First thing mix the condensed milk with the vinegar and let it 'clabber'

I run the cabbage through the food processor to get a size of cracked corn using the processor blade. Then feed the carrots through the coarse shredder. Squeeze the juice from the carrots a hand-ful at a time, and put it in a Large bowl with the cabbage. Add everything else and with a clean hand, mix thouroughly. This is the easiest way to mix. If its not juicy enough, add 1 TBLS each of the vinegar, milk, sugar, & vinegar till its like you like it. adjust the seasonings as you prefer, (just lick your fingers, man, no need to dirty more silverware) This stuff benefits sitting for a period to let the flavors meld. (while the oxtails are cooking, make the slaw, and have it all for dinner. Tomorrow.

-hey-

[Just4funguy30]

over here some cook it twice

once today and let it cool and bang it in the fridge
skim off the solid fat in the morning

cook it again maybe pull the bones out maybe not depending on the size of the tail.

I do that quite often since I like to cook all my stocks & broth longer than my shift lasts, just to make sure I get all the flavor I can. Crap, someone else wrote about skimming off the fat, but not all of it to keep a-lot of the flavor, I completely agree. I also use the fridge method as an easier way to clarify butter. Anyway, I cook it twice myself, & I make a batch of Demi-glaze every other week using the same method.

you could also try ROO tail stew
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s1703747.htm
but they are a whole lot leaner (not much fat)

[Chef_Jason]

Braised ox tails are one of my favorite things. No matter what flavorings and spices are used the key is in the cooking technique. Cooking school and years as a professional chef taught me a thing or two.

For maximum flavor you need a heavy pot, perferrably something oven-proof and cast iron with a lid. Preheat the oven to 350.

Pat the ox tails dry and season with salt and pepper. Get your pot good and hot and add a little oil (I use extra virgin olive oil for almost everything - but I'm a biased Italian). Brown the ox tails on all sides...deep brown not light brown. This is a pain since there are a lot of sides to deal with and they don't always stand up on the ends. Work in batches. If you throw too many in at once all of the heat is lost and instead or caramleizing they will simmer and look gray. Gross!

After they are all browned remove them to a plate and dump out most of the rendered fat. Add chopped up onions, carrot, and cerely. Once these and softened deglaze the pot with some (about 1 cup) of red wine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up and dissolve all of the brown sutff stuck on the bottom of the pot. The French actually named this stuff, "fond". Then add some chopped garlic (4 cloves), a handful of quartered mushrooms, and about a 1-2 cups of chopped tomatoes (canned is fine). The reason for the tomatoes is two-fold. One, they will add color to the finished dish. Second, the citric acid in the tomatoes helps to break down the tough fatty tissue.

Put everything back into the pot and add enough beef stock to cover. Throw in a bay leaf and bring to a boil. Once it boils put the lid on and throw it in the oven for about 2 hours. Why in the oven? You can do it on the stovetop but the heat needs to be lowered to barely a simmer. A lower temperature will melt most of the fat and leave very moist meat. If the heat is too high the meat will be tough and dry.

After two hours pull the oxtails out, onto a plate, and let cool enough to where you can pick off all of the meat. Using a ladel, skim off all of the fat from the pot. I prefer to make mine on the thicker side, almost like a stew, and throw in about a cup of barley. I boil this until the barley is tender and then throw the meat back in. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to your liking. You can add any dried spices you like.

Serve with a glass of wine, some crusty bread, and enjoy.