How to cut oxtail parts ("tail bone", knuckle" ?)

[TdeV]

I miss oxtail. The stores around here have taken to selling one "knuckle" surrounded by ~2 inches of fat for some extraordinary price per pound. If one cut off all the fat, the meat would weigh half as much. Makes me so mad I refused to buy any.

 

Last Saturday was the farmers' market and a farmer listed oxtail on their offerings. I picked up the oxtail and peeled off a little of the covering paper so I could see the meat, i.e. how much fat was on the meat.

 

The farmer was offended that I was tearing the paper covering, and the bones looked primarily covered in meat (not fat) so I bought two of them wieghing about 2.4 lbs each.

 

It was frozen, so it's been sitting in the fridge. I just went to put the pieces in a sous vide bag, but the "knuckles" are not cut apart.

 

I've spent 20 minutes at it with only ONE successful cut. How do I find where to separate all the pieces of tail bone? 

 

P.S. If I can't figure out how to separate the "knuckle" bones, can I sous vide cook 12" parts of the tail in a large plastic bag, then separate them when they're cooked?

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by TdeV
Don't know the right term (log)

[rotuts]

@TdeV

 

Congratulations !

 

you certainly can SV w/o cutting up .

 

but 

 

the ' knuckle ' is a vertebral body .  each is connected to the other by a series of ligaments

 

most of those ligaments connect the projections of the bone .

 

then the inner bodies are connected tightly w more connective tissue.

 

an easy way to get smaller pieces is w a cleaver and a mallet , and pick a spot that seems softer , and bang away.

 

keep track of your fingers , for sure.

 

and do not use a knife , as you might ruin the blade.

 

very interested in what you do after that.  I havent had ox tail in ages .

 

very tasty meat , even if the tail is not from an Ox , 20 years old.

[TdeV]

Tails are about 28" long, @rotuts, so not a large animal.

[TdeV]

30 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@TdeV

 

Congratulations !

 

you certainly can SV w/o cutting up .

 

but 

 

the ' knuckle ' is a vertebral body .  each is connected to the other by a series of ligaments

 

most of those ligaments connect the projections of the bone .

 

then the inner bodies are connected tightly w more connective tissue.

 

an easy way to get smaller pieces is w a cleaver and a mallet , and pick a spot that seems softer , and bang away.

 

keep track of your fingers , for sure.

 

and do not use a knife , as you might ruin the blade.

 

very interested in what you do after that.  I havent had ox tail in ages .

 

very tasty meat , even if the tail is not from an Ox , 20 years old.

 

Would it be easier to cut if the oxtail were already cooked?