Tam had picked up a couple of sections of oxtail earlier in the week. I haven't felt well enough to go to the grocery since Saturday, so that was my only option. I was thinking I'd use them with some leftover pork roast, but once the cooking was underway, I realized I didn't need to.
The start for anything with oxtail is to salt and pepper them, and brown them on all sides in a little oil, reducing the fat as much as possible. It takes a while; I usually give it four minutes a side and keep working all sides until I like the result. You drain the rendered fat, keeping every browned bit of meat by turning the pan as they settle out. Take your time; all those little pieces are full of flavor.
Next, add just enough water to cover the meat and let it simmer, covered. I added a teaspoon of beef broth powder once it was bubbling, along with a few coriander and mustard seeds, a big bay leaf and a little oregano. After about an hour, I peeled and sliced a couple of large parsnips, followed by about the same amount of sliced "baby carrots" (about a dozen of them) and three stalks of celery cut into 1/4" sections. Didn't have any onions, so I gave it a shake of onion powder and some truffle powder for luck.
After a half hour, it was smelling pretty good. I fished out the meat and started snipping it from the bone, setting aside the larger pieces of fat. You want pieces sized proportionally to the vegetables. The meat and bone went back into the pot for another 45 minutes. There's a lot of savoriness in oxtail bones; you want to cook them clean.
The broth was clear, light-colored and tasty. The vegetables and meat were tender. Tam and I both had seconds.
I almost always add tomato sauce and strong broth to oxtail stew, but this soup didn't need it -- or anything else, either.
Update
1 year ago
4 comments:
It was unbelievably delicious. Umami for days!
Your oxtail soup sounds inspirational. I haven't eaten it since I was a teen.
I have made a beef tongue three times in the past. It's funny how some cuts of meat that were cheaper sixty years ago have increased in cost even though most people won't eat them because they are considered poor people's food, or are otherwise declasse'.
My mother just treated the oxtail pieces as just bonier stew meat, but your process sounds like it should cure some of the excessive fat issues.
Thanks!
People have re-discovered how savory and fatty oxtail is and how good it is for soups and stews and, since there's only one tail per cow...
The other trick for fatty meat is to use a grease separator -- just a measuring cup with a spout that connects at the bottom, and usually a plug for it. Plug up the spout, fill the thing with broth and let it sit a few minutes: the oil floats to the top. Remove the plug, pour the broth back in the pot (leaving the grease, so watch carefully), stir, and repeat the process. You'll never get rid of all of the fat this way, but it takes out most of it and leaves the stuff simmering all along.
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