Oxtail Soup

[Shalmanese]

5 hours ago, cdh said:

What is causing the prices to go through the roof like this?  Is there some trendy fad recipe everybody is making that I've just never heard of?  Has Campbell's Soup cornered the market? I'm perplexed.

 

For an entire ~2000lb cow, there's only ~4lb of oxtail so it doesn't take much for demand to rapidly swing prices. Enough price insensitive yuppies started buying it because they saw some recipe on food network that it's shot up in price, same as flank steak or chicken wings.

[dcarch]

Now that USA can ship beef to China, ---------- If you think beef is expensive now!

1.379 billion mouths can eat in one month all the oxtails USA produces in one year.

 

dcarch

 

Edited August 28, 2017 by dcarch (log)

[Smithy]

I confess, I have yet to see the fascination with oxtail.  I've enjoyed the soup when I've had it, but when I've tried cooking oxtail i've been disappointed.  Several delicious-looking oxtail recipes (including a daube from Paula Wolfert, one of my culinary goddesses) have turned out meat that was stringy, almost mealy.  I probably didn't know enough about what I was doing at the time to make adjustments on the fly, and would get better results now.  Still - is the flavor truly that much better, richer, meatier than other cuts of beef when the meat is cooked properly? Based on my experience to date I'd probably substitute - oh, chuck roast, I think.

[Martin Fisher]

13 hours ago, cdh said:

What is causing the prices to go through the roof like this?  Is there some trendy fad recipe everybody is making that I've just never heard of?  Has Campbell's Soup cornered the market? I'm perplexed.

 

I think the cheap cuts, or what used to be the cheap cuts, have received a lot of attention in recent years due to the books put out by Fergus Henderson (The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, etc.), Jennifer McLagan (Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal) and others.

And it all sort of snowballed on social media and the like.

Hence the high prices now.

[Anna N]

9 hours ago, Smithy said:

I confess, I have yet to see the fascination with oxtail.  I've enjoyed the soup when I've had it, but when I've tried cooking oxtail i've been disappointed.  Several delicious-looking oxtail recipes (including a daube from Paula Wolfert, one of my culinary goddesses) have turned out meat that was stringy, almost mealy.  I probably didn't know enough about what I was doing at the time to make adjustments on the fly, and would get better results now.  Still - is the flavor truly that much better, richer, meatier than other cuts of beef when the meat is cooked properly? Based on my experience to date I'd probably substitute - oh, chuck roast, I think.

 I don't think much can match the depth of flavour of oxtail.  Nor the texture.  But that's just my opinion. 

[chromedome]

Shank and neck pieces are the closest, to my mind, but not really the same. And neck is almost impossible to get in my neck of the woods, unless you know the meatcutter personally. 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 I don't think much can match the depth of flavour of oxtail.  Nor the texture.  But that's just my opinion. 

 

It certainly could be Operator Error on my part. :-)

[dcarch]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

Shank and neck pieces are the closest, to my mind, but not really the same. And neck is almost impossible to get in my neck of the woods, unless you know the meatcutter personally. 

 

Please! Please don't tell the world about neck bones. Keep it a secret between you and me.

The next thing you know neck bones will be $$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!

 

dcarch

[Martin Fisher]

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

The next thing you know neck bones will be $$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!

 

Yep!!!! 

[heidih]

Walked over to Korean market between classes and stumbled on this oxtail display

[lindag]

OMG!!!!       I am SO envious!

Edited August 29, 2017 by lindag (log)

[Okanagancook]

WOW?  On sale AND great looking quality.

[heidih]

I think the incredible volume of sales at the local ethnic markets allows for incredible prices. The produce costs  are crazy low

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

I think the incredible volume of sales at the local ethnic markets allows for incredible prices. The produce costs  are crazy low

 

Our ethnic markets tend to be non-chain mom and pops. No stockholders to please, and I think that allows them to price things lower too.

[cdh]

You can get nice delmonico steaks for $10.99... and entirely servicable strip steaks for $8.59... the value proposition for oxtails has gone out the window.

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, cdh said:

You can get nice delmonico steaks for $10.99... and entirely servicable strip steaks for $8.59... the value proposition for oxtails has gone out the window.

I used to follow that same line of thinking. I would compare the price of beef cuts against the price of a decent if not phenomenal steak. Now I would rather have a phenomenal ox tail stew than  a so-so steak.  Just a different point of view. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N 

 

""  I would rather have a phenomenal ox tail stew ""

 

I completely agree with you ...

 

the tastiest meat comes generally from the Meat that Works.

 

tails work a lot.  they are now  Chee-Chee  ( only God knows how to spell this )

 

and therefor $$

 

and none of them come from an Ox.

 

they come from a 1 1/2 YO Steer or so.

 

however , they still have had to work.   so does the ' cheek '   but that's pretty CC now two.

 

Id try to find some Neck muscles .  best of luck.

 

I do think it might be worth trying a flavorful  but less pricy cut of meat

 

ie  Chuck ? and age it a bit in the refrig.

 

and pretend its an Ox's tail.

 

since you can't find and Ox , that's only a 1/2 fib.

 

just saying.

Edited August 31, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Toliver]

I never had Oxtail Soup until I moved here to the Southern San Joaquin Valley. There's a large Basque community here and Oxtail Soup can be found in many of the local Basque restaurants (along with pickled tongue ).

It's funny, for years my mom has made her beef vegetable soup using cuts of meat called something like "beef for soup" or "beef for stews". And that beef in the soup reminds me quite a bit of Oxtails. Perhaps it's a case of "A rose by any other name..." yada, yada, yada.

[rotuts]

@Toliver 

 

OTS and pickled tongue ?

 

the T sliced very thin in a Sandwich w ultra fresh bread w good crumb ?

 

Nirvana ?

 

Oh, sorry I forgot.

 

Pretty hot there in the summer , is it ?

 

 

and yes , Im a Native Son , so I can commit.

 

just from a bit cooler area.

[jmacnaughtan]

18 hours ago, rotuts said:

 

tails work a lot.  they are now  Chee-Chee  ( only God knows how to spell this )

 

 

It's spelled chichi, I believe.

 

But still, 17 dollars a kilo is ridiculously expensive for something that contains around two thirds bone, fat and gristle, and that requires 5 hours' cooking.  You could get a very good steak for that.

[chromedome]

Yes, but steak is just...steak. Oxtail is different. 

[rotuts]

has anyone done oxtails SV ?

[Katie Meadow]

20 hours ago, Toliver said:

 

It's funny, for years my mom has made her beef vegetable soup using cuts of meat called something like "beef for soup" or "beef for stews". And that beef in the soup reminds me quite a bit of Oxtails. Perhaps it's a case of "A rose by any other name..." yada, yada, yada.

In my experience most cuts labeled "beef for stew" make a decent broth, but oxtails make a broth with more depth of flavor and even texture. And in addition, oxtail meat seems more tender and more tasty after two hours or so of cooking than many other so called "stewing" beef cuts. If only cows had more than one tail each. Surely it would help them swat flies.

[scubadoo97]

13 hours ago, rotuts said:

has anyone done oxtails SV ?

That's how I've been doing them

[gfweb]

On 8/28/2017 at 11:48 AM, cdh said:

What is causing the prices to go through the roof like this?  Is there some trendy fad recipe everybody is making that I've just never heard of?  Has Campbell's Soup cornered the market? I'm perplexed.

Its like tri-tip. What used to be a nice cheap cut has been discovered. I blame those turds at Bon Appetit and The Food Network.  Annoys the crap out of me.  Same thing happened with Pappy Van Winkel, the food press latched on to it and blew up a nice thing.