Oxtail Soup

[River City John]

Daughter gave me the tail off a quarter beef they had gone in on with three other couples. No one wanted it.

Made some lovely Oxtail stew in the slow cooker. Cooked on "Low" setting for nine hours, then de-boned and fat skimmed off. Amazing how much meat came off those bones. And savory!

Add peas, carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes - herbs and spices. Secret ingredient was a bottle of Porter Ale. Let cook another two hours.

We'll be eating this for several days. Really good with cornbread or good sourdough.


RCJ

[Johnny McCrae]

My Mother used to make Oxtail soup us when I was a kid.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

my Lovely Spousal Unit made oxtail soup in a pressure cooker, but often just in a pot. It ain't rocket surgery.

Locally, oxtail must have become a hit as the price is now way outa sight! We have shifted to pork shank. The best was from a local food chain that makes smoked shank. Makes a great soup!

Call it what you want; Soup, Stew or Stoup. The ingrediants and process are pretty common knowlege. Quite often the list starts with "Clean-out-The-Cupboard".

[Ol Gabe]

Yup, Winter Soups and good grub go hand-in-hand in the Upper Midwest Territories!
Here in the frozen gullies and fallow ground we like to use Ham Shanks like the above-mentioned Prairie Chef uses, hard to beat with a hot batch of Corn Bread or Corn Dodgers!
Ox Tail has to be hunted here, the season starts around December first, m/l, and runs til Easter when Ham takes over. We have found that small town locker plants will usually have 2-4 hanging outside in God's Freezer and can be had by challenging the butcher to a shoot-off, his choice of target, of course. Normally he'll choose a wooden box he uses for offal or knuckle cuts: those pieces-parts that look like they have part of his knuckle sticking out.
The box generally has part of a faded logo from the original shipper and he'll draw or scratch an 'X' through it, hobble back 25 yards and let 'er go with his left-hand hold: it has to be a left-hand hold to make it fair, after all, he shoots butcher cows in a field for a living smack dab in the middle of the forehead with 1 shot from a .22 at 25 yards no less, or so I've been told!
OK, after he wins he gets to decide on the price and what is still attached, extra muscles, etc. He'll be fair and even split the tail bones if you want, more 'goody' cooks out that way, yummy!
That will bring your season to a close and you must invite him over for your soup supper, don't forgit his kin and the tracker crew that located his locker, they get first dibs on bowls and Corn Bread. You might want to add some of the local 'Hot Sh_t Chili' guys to round out the taste-testing. Oh, don't forget the local B_d Truck driver as he'll happily bring some of his stuff for testing as well.
So, that about covers all you need to know about Oxtail acquisition in the upper Midwest, your acquisition may vary on where you live but it'll all work out iffen' you think hard enuf on it!
Best regards and good cookin'!
'Ol Gabe   

[River City John]

     how beautiful is the universe
     when something digestible meets
     with an eager digestion

                                      archy

[Mogorilla]

Hmmmm
Even better that you got it for free.   Wish I had thought of that.  Had a friend at work that raised a few cattle, sell most, send one to the butcher for themselves.   I would get the tongue and liver because she would not eat them.   Never thought about the tail too! 

[dusty texian]

Here in the South , Oxtail is prepared by cooking the Oxtail down along with onion and plenty of red pepper in a black iron pot  , the flour is added to make a gravy/stew , then served over rice . It is a very tasty dish. One I have not had in quite some time . Need to remedy that . Agree Oxtail or any Off-All has gone through the roof around here . Used to be poor folk food , Ha , not anymore ! ,,,,DT