I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
and then browned them. After that I have no idea.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

The Cook said...

> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.


Susan N.

I'll be the first (?) to say I don't know the first thing about oxtails.
Never tried it but I've seen it made on food TV shows. Sorry I can't
remember which but, it turned out looking delicious in the pot of stew,
iirc.

I thought about the meat-to-fat ratio issue. It looked pretty fatty while
at the same time looking delicious.

I'd like an idea too! A clue even?

Best,

Andy
--
HONK if I'm paying your mortgage!

The Cook wrote:
> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.

Here are a couple of ideas for you

http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-01072j.html

http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-01069t.html

"The Cook" > wrote in message
...
>I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
> --
> Susan N.
>
> "Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
> 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
> Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

I've made it a few times in the last few years. I had them is Spain for the
first time in the early 80's and loved them, but wasn't into cooking as much
as I am now. I had them again in Italy in '07 and fell in love with them all
over again. I found a recipe that was similar to the way it was made when I
had them in Rome. See it here...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...-Oxtails-14520

One thing to remember is oxtails have a lot of fat and connective tissue.
IMHO, they are best when cooked, chilled, skimmed and re-heated as you would
do with short ribs or brisket. The recipe says to use burgundy, but any
hearty red will do. I use an inexpensive Garnacha from Spain that works
wonderfully with this.

http://www.wineaccess.com/store/cana...ct_id=10977578

When prepared this way they are little slices of heaven.

Jon

"The Cook" > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
>I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.

Coda alla vaccinara

1.5 kg oxtails, chopped
100 g fatty bacon, cut into thin stripes
2 tablespoons lard
2 carrots, finely chopped
4 - 5 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
10 - 15 twigs of parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 litre dry white wine
3 tablespoons totmato concentrate
1 large onion, chopped
powdered hot paprika
pinch of powdered cinnamon
salt, pepper

Bring 1.5 litres of salted water to a boil.
Throw in the oxtail. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove oxtail and pat it dry. Keep 1/2 l from the sal****er.

Heat lard in a large pot. Add bacon an fry on medium heat.
Add oxtail and brown on all sides.
Add carrots, parsley, garlic and onion.Stir a little.
Add 1/8 l white wine, reduce until half the wine is gone.
Add the rest of the white wine, season with salt and pepper.
Mix the tomato concentrate with the salt water, and add to pot.
Put lid on pot and let it simmer on low heat ca. 2 1/2 hours.
After 2 1/4 hours add the celery.
When the meat is done, season with salt, pepper, paprika and
cinnamon.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

In article >,
The Cook > wrote:

> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.

I'm with DH. Then pressure-cook them in some seasoned water or broth
and serve with noodles. At least, that's what I do. Make stew, too,
with vegetables. You figure out how to do the vegetables. :-0)
Because of the long cook-time for the oxtails, I cook the vegetables
separately in the meat liquid and then add back the cooked oxtails. I
know it's not fast but the vegetables cook so much quicker than the meat
that you surely don't want to cook them together if you're going to
pressure-cook them. I'll be watching for other methods and recipes,
too.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - good news 4-6-2009
"What you say about someone else says more
about you than it does about the other person."

Susan wrote:

> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.

I like to brown the oxtails and then braise them with red wine, five-spice
powder, garlic, dark soy, and brown sugar.

Alternatively though similarly, I brown them and then pressure-cook them
with star anise, garlic, red wine, ginger, onions, dark soy sauce, and brown
sugar.

Almost any recipe for short ribs could be made using oxtails instead; I
posted a recipe for Guinness-braised short ribs not all that long ago.

Bob

Michael wrote:

> Coda alla vaccinara
>
> 1.5 kg oxtails, chopped
> 100 g fatty bacon, cut into thin stripes
> 2 tablespoons lard
> 2 carrots, finely chopped
> 4 - 5 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
> 10 - 15 twigs of parsley, finely chopped
> 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
> 1/4 litre dry white wine
> 3 tablespoons totmato concentrate
> 1 large onion, chopped
> powdered hot paprika
> pinch of powdered cinnamon
> salt, pepper
>
> Bring 1.5 litres of salted water to a boil.
> Throw in the oxtail. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
> Remove oxtail and pat it dry. Keep 1/2 l from the sal****er.
>
> Heat lard in a large pot. Add bacon an fry on medium heat.
> Add oxtail and brown on all sides.
> Add carrots, parsley, garlic and onion.Stir a little.
> Add 1/8 l white wine, reduce until half the wine is gone.
> Add the rest of the white wine, season with salt and pepper.
> Mix the tomato concentrate with the salt water, and add to pot.
> Put lid on pot and let it simmer on low heat ca. 2 1/2 hours.
> After 2 1/4 hours add the celery.
> When the meat is done, season with salt, pepper, paprika and
> cinnamon.
> Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve.

That's an interesting recipe, being Italian while containing paprika and
cinnamon. From watching "Molto Mario" I'd guess that it's from the Veneto or
maybe Friulia. Can anybody confirm that?

Bob

I wrote:

> From watching "Molto Mario" I'd guess that it's from the Veneto or maybe
> Friulia.

That's "Friuli," not "Friulia." Dammit.

Bob

"Bob Terwilliger" > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
> Michael wrote:
>
>> Coda alla vaccinara
>>
<snip>
> That's an interesting recipe, being Italian while containing paprika and
> cinnamon. From watching "Molto Mario" I'd guess that it's from the Veneto
> or maybe Friulia. Can anybody confirm that?
>
It's from Latium.

I might have mis-translated pepperoncino; which is hot powdered paprika,
AFAIK.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

Michael wrote:

>>> Coda alla vaccinara
>>>
> <snip>
>> That's an interesting recipe, being Italian while containing paprika and
>> cinnamon. From watching "Molto Mario" I'd guess that it's from the Veneto
>> or maybe Friulia. Can anybody confirm that?
>>
> It's from Latium.

Well, I *could* have been more wrong, but not by much! :-)

Bob

"Bob Terwilliger" schrieb :
> Michael wrote:
>
>>>> Coda alla vaccinara
>>>>
>> <snip>
>>> That's an interesting recipe, being Italian while containing paprika and
>>> cinnamon. From watching "Molto Mario" I'd guess that it's from the
>>> Veneto
>>> or maybe Friulia. Can anybody confirm that?
>>>
>> It's from Latium.
>
> Well, I *could* have been more wrong, but not by much! :-)
>
What are a few hundred kilometers among friends ? ;-)
But I would have guessed Veneto or Friaul, too,
because of the lard, which is more common up North.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

On May 4, 4:51*am, The Cook > wrote:
> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. *I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. *DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. *After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
Google "rabo encendido," the Cuban version of an oxtail stew, and see
if it looks good to you. A good recipe will have a little bit of
allspice and maybe nutmeg along with the other spices. One of our all-
time favorites. -aem

The Cook wrote:

> Any ideas would be appreciated.

A hearty stew or soup.

Here is one of my favourite stew recipes and a soup-like variation on
the same theme I posted before. The recipe is for coda alla vaccinara,
a Roman dish named after the butchers in old slaughterhouses which used
to be located mostly in the Testaccio area. The recipe is from
_Trattoria_ by Patricia Wells. It is credited to Checchino dal 1887, a
well-known Roman restaurant in the Testaccio area. The variation is an
improvised soup/stew based on the same idea. The first stage can be
done in a pressure cooker.

Coda alla vaccinara
Braised Oxtail with Tomatoes, Onions and Celery


3 tablespoons extra virgin oil
2 oz (60 g) minced pancetta
5 lb (2.5 kg) oxtail, cut into 4-inch (10-cm) pieces (about 15 pieces)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 whole cloves
3 small onions, peeled and halved
3 plump fresh garlic cloves, minced
16 fl oz (500 ml) dry white wine, preferably a Chardonnay
One 28-oz (765-g) can peeled Italian plum tomatoes in juice or one 28-oz
(765-g) can crushed tomatoes in purée
8 ribs celery, trimmed to 6-inch (15-cm) lengths
1 oz (30 g) unsweetened chocolate, grated (optional)
2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
2 tablespoons sultanas (optional)


1. In a 10 1/2-pint (6-l) flameproof casserole with a lid, combine the
oil and pancetta over moderate heat. Cook the pancetta just until
browned and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pancetta with a slotted
spoon and set aside. Add the oxtail pieces and brown thoroughly on all
sides, about 15 minutes. This may have to be done in batches. Do not
crowd the meat in the pan and do not allow the pieces of oxtail to
touch. Once the meat is browned, season it generously with salt and
pepper. Stick the cloves into 2 of the onion halves and add to the
casserole. Add the remaining onions, the browned pancetta and the
garlic, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine and stir to
incorporate. If using whole canned tomatoes, place a food mill over the
casserole and purée the tomatoes directly into it. Crushed tomatoes can
be added straight from the can. Cover and bring just to a simmer over
moderate heat. Reduce the heat to very low and simmer gently until the
oxtail is fork-tender and the meat is falling off the bones, about 4
hours. Turn the meat two or three times during the cooking period.
(The stew can be prepared up to this point 1 day in advance. Remove the
casserole from the heat and allow to cool for several hours. Cover and
refrigerate. At serving time, remove the casserole from the
refrigerator and, with a small spoon, remove and discard any fat that
has solidified on the surface. Bring to a simmer before proceeding with
the recipe.)

2. Add the celery, slipping it under the pieces of oxtail so it cooks
in the sauce. Simmer until the celery is tender, about 15 minutes.
About 10 minutes before the celery is cooked, stir in the chocolate and
add the pine nuts and raisins, if using. Taste the sauce, seasoning it
as necessary. To serve, transfer the pieces of oxtail to individual
warmed dinner plates. Spoon several tablespoons of the sauce around the
meat and arrange the pieces of celery alongside.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Wine suggestion: With this dish, we drank a 4-year-old Colle Picchioni,
considered one of the best wines of the Castelli Romani area of Rome.
Its sturdiness stands up well to the robust flavours of the oxtail.
_______________________________________________

Improvised variation

I wanted something more liquid, closer to soup, but still thick
enough to be called a stew. So, to the usual components (but with the
celery replaced with leeks), I added a couple of pigs' trotters - which
probably made it closer to the original recipe than the present day
pancetta (which I omitted) - and some mixed beef/chicken/vegetable
stock, thickened a bit with some dark roux. Still following some of
that classical coda alla vaccinara recipe from the famous Checchino dal
1887 in the Testaccio area of Rome, I even added some bitter chocolate
(Dolfin 77%-cacao dark flaked chocolate) at the end of cooking. Not
following that recipe, I also added some Hungarian hot paprika paste
(Univer Piros Arany csipös), also at the end of cooking. The result
turned out to be very tasty indeed.

Victor

The Cook wrote:
> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.

One of my favorites is oxtail soup another is simply marinate and grill
them. Good snacking right off the tail bone. Any recipe that calls for
beef in pieces is useful for oxtails.

The Cook wrote:
> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.


My wife makes ox tail stew, and it is wonderful. She browns them, then
removes them and sautees diced onion, carrots and mushrooms, then adds a
bit of wine and some beef broth and simmers them very gently for about
two hours, removing the meat to thicken the sauce. We usually use
Veloutine to thicken.

On May 4, 7:51*am, The Cook > wrote:
> I couldn't believe it when I saw oxtails in the grocery store. *I
> bought some about 4 or 5 years ago and we liked them very much.
> Problem is, I don't remember how I fixed them. *DH thinks I floured
> and then browned them. *After that I have no idea.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
> --
> Susan N.
>
> "Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
> 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
> Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

Braising would be good, I think. Also, isn't Ox Tail stew a favorite
in England?

Kris