Each year we buy 1/2 of a beef. We love doing this. We buy it from a local rancher and we get good, high quality meat. I would have a hard time going back to store bought beef.
The only problem when buying a 1/2 beef is that you end up with few strange cuts of meat. One of these cuts is ox tail. I have never cooked oxtail. In fact I still have last years oxtail in my freezer because I have not wanted to deal with it.
Part of me is tempted to throw it out or give it to the dogs. But the frugal part of me know that this actually can be an expensive cut of meat and I should use it. I know lots of people make stew out of it. I think I have seen a show or read a recipe where Martha Stewart did that. She went on and on about how good of a cut it was.
So I need advice. Has anyone ever cooked oxtail? How should I cook it? Do you have a recipe? Or do you think I should just forget cooking it and throw it out?
We’ve purchased our beef a 1/2 or a 1/4 at a time forEVER and I have never once heard of oxtail. Never! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
When the locker gets ready to cut our beef we call and tell them exactly what cuts we want. No waste, and no oxtail. 😉
We pick our cuts too. But we pay the hanging weight for 1/2 so we are paying for all of it even if we don’t get it. I refuse to get the tongue and heart. Even though we are really paying for it minus the cut and wrap charge. Maybe I should do that with the oxtail. Just not get it. 🙂
Oxtail is a wonderful cut of meat if you cook it properly. In the African American/Caribbean community it is a staple. You can put it in a crock pot and cook it as you would beef stew.
I have never made oxtail either, but I have heard it makes the best stews, so I would say try the Martha Stewart recipe and tell us all about it!
I’ve never made oxtail either but it is used a lot in the south. I know Paula Deen as made it a few times on her show. Here’s a link to one of her oxtail recipes: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/michaels-favorite-oxtails-with-buttered-rice-recipe/index.html
Thanks for the link. I am sure Paula Deens would be good. I may try that one.
I was just going to reply that there is an oxtail recipe in her (P. Deen) biography. I loaned the biography to a girlfriend, so I don’t have the recipe with me. But she says it’s the sexiest dish around! I’ve also seen the show where she makes oxtails with her new husb. Looks scrumptious.
Maybe you could find her bio. at the library?
Thanks Lori Lynn. I will have to see if my library has it. I am also going to search around online and look and see what Paula Deen has made with it. Thanks again.
I used to work with a girl who RAVED about oxtails. She finally convinced me to try them and I really didn’t care for them. They were fatty and had a unique texture and flavor. I think it might be an aquired taste. I think you should try the Paula Deen recipe and see what you think. If you don’t like it, you can say you tried and throw the rest out (or see if you can find a family that would use them to give them too).
In the Korean culture oxtail is one of the most flavorful cuts of meat. We use it to make soup – boiled for almost 24 hours. You boil the oxtail, drain the water, boil again, drain the water again. Then add the final amount of water, simmer on low for about 24 hours. The result is a milky bone soup – season with salt and pepper and float green onions on the top before serving, and simply eaten with rice or as a soup to sip. It is a very comforting simple soup. If your oxtail has a lot of meat you can also make Pho – a Vietnamese soup (recipe too complicated to post here!). We use oxtail to make the most flavorful soups used the same as soup bones would so you could make very very good beef stock from it. The meat is very tender and flavorful – Don’t give it to the dogs! (I guess if you like your dogs a lot you can…)
Thanks kimchi. That is helpful.
make veggie soup with it, it has a bone in it doesn’t it, it’ll give great flavor to the soup! First time here. love your blog!!
In The Gift of Southern Cooking by the extraordinary Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, there’s a recipe for Slow-Cooked Oxtails. The recipe calls for five pounds beef oxtails, and requires slow roasting in an oven for about four hours. I highly recommend this cookbook, btw.
As others have mentioned, you’ll find oxtail recipes aplenty from the American South and around the world.
And please do not feed scraps or any bones to your animals–it can cause stomach upset, illness, or death.
Oh, and definitely get the tongue and heart. Search international or traditional recipes, both online and in cookbooks. One thing I love about cooking is how educational and enlightening it can be. Tongue is just divine, really.
My mother searches the supermarkets for oxtails. She loves to make soup with them and claims they have the best flavor….
Nice site!
Paula Deen has a recipie that she saiys is her husbands very favorite, using this.