Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do you soak oxtail before cooking? ›

By soaking and blanching the oxtail before cooking any impurities are removed. To cook: Oxtail requires long, slow cooking to produce tender, succulent meat.

Browning your oxtails will not cook the meat. Instead, it will enhance its color and aroma by caramelizing its exterior. Browning beef oxtails in a hot skillet before braising will also add rich depth and flavor to the meat.

Does Oxtail Get Softer The Longer You Cook It? Yes, it definitely does. Similar to a Neapolitan Ragù, the longer you cook the oxtail, the better the sauce or stew becomes.

Fill with enough water to cover oxtails and place over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook oxtails until tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

There is a good amount of fat and collagen that melt into your dishes as oxtail cooks, which will give a wonderful round texture to sauces and that slightly sticky feel to the meat. And the bonus flavor from the bone marrow that will cook into your dishes make this cut one to really get to know and not be afraid of!

The key to transforming naturally tough and chewy oxtail into soft morsels of meat that readily slide off the bone is to braise it low and slow. This allows the vast amounts of collagen and connective tissue to slowly break down, rendering the oxtail tender and resulting in a broth thick with gelatin.

Flour: to coat the oxtails for browning and to thicken the gravy. Worcestershire Sauce: adds depth and flavor to the oxtails.

Oxtail is rich in Collagen, a vital protein for our body's growth and repair. Oxtail is high in fat so an ideal energy source for a Ketogenic, Paleo, or Carnivore Diet. With over 70% fat, Oxtail is Ideal for anyone on a high fat / low carb or no-carb diet. Oxtail must be slow-cooked to break down the connective tissue.

Why is oxtail soup so expensive? ›

Why is it more expensive to make an oxtail dish now? It's simple supply and demand. Each cow only has around six pounds of viable oxtail to go around, compared to the other 400 plus pounds of viable cuts you can get from the rest of the cow.

In days of old, oxtail came from oxen, but today it is simply the tail of beef cattle or veal of both genders. Eating oxtails dates back as far as the consumption of beef when all of an animal was used and no part went to waste.

If you don't clean your oxtails, that means your house, your ass, and your car are probably all dirty. So let me school you on how I clean oxtails. Salt, white vinegar, a few limited limes cut in half, and water. I soak them for about 15 minutes, then I scrub each one of them, pour the water out, then repeat.

OK, so if you find that your brown stew 'oxtail' dish has a more bitter taste, this is more than likely due to using too much browning sauce. No worries---you can fix this! Simply break up the bitter taste with a bit of ketchup, brown sugar, and additional stock. This should help!

Don't Stew the Stew Too Long Either

Your beef will be tough if you don't cook it enough and it will be tough if you cook it too much. It's just science, take it from us! We recommend doing a taste test or two throughout the cooking process to gauge the progress.

People talk so much about soaking meat in ice water to tenderize, remove gamey flavors, leech out blood, and other crazy reasons. This type of meat care is all a myth! Wet soggy meat is not what you want to cook with.

Oxtail is, quite literally, the tail of a cow; a cow's tail moves around a lot to swat at flies, which means the meat on this appendage can be tough due to frequent use. Not only that, but tough cartilage and large bones mean that the amount of proper meat on this cut is limited.

In a large bowl filled halfway with cold water along with the oxtail add 1/4 salt, 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 3 lemon & limes cut in half. Soak them for 15-30 minutes undisturbed then scrub each one of them with the lemon or limes. Pour the water out and discard the lemon & limes.

Marinating is an effective way to enhance the flavor, add extra moisture, and tenderize meat before cooking. In addition, a good marinade can help make leaner cuts less dry and make tougher pieces of meat more succulent. People have been soaking their meats in seasoned liquid for centuries.