Ingredient

Oxtail

Oxtail is the tail of the animal, sold cut into segments through the vertebrae. It is mostly bone and connective tissue with a modest amount of meat, and it produces a braise with more body and gloss than any other cut of beef. It is also fatty enough that skimming is essential rather than optional.

Why it is so rich

The tail is a heavily used, highly articulated structure with a great deal of connective tissue wrapped around a lot of bone. Long cooking converts all of that collagen to gelatine, and the resulting liquid sets to a firm jelly when cold — much firmer than a shin braise.

The bones also contribute marrow, which melts out and enriches the sauce further. Between the two, an oxtail braise reduced properly has a lip-sticking quality that people notice without being able to name.

The cost of that is fat. Oxtail carries a lot, and a braise that has not been skimmed is greasy in a way that overwhelms everything else.

Cooking it, and dealing with the fat

The overnight step is what makes this easy rather than fiddly.

1. Trim any large exterior lumps of hard fat, but do not strip it — some is wanted.
2. Dry, season and brown the pieces hard, in batches. They brown very well and it is worth doing properly.
3. Build the braise as usual — soffritto, tomato purée, wine, stock to come most of the way up.
4. Cook low and covered for three to four hours until the meat is coming away from the bone.
5. Cool it and refrigerate overnight. The fat sets in a solid sheet on the surface and lifts off in one piece. This is far easier than skimming hot liquid and it removes far more.
6. Reheat gently. Pick the meat from the bones if you want it boneless, and reduce the liquid to concentrate it.

What to make

• Oxtail stew with red wine, root vegetables and plenty of thyme. The default and hard to beat.
• Jamaican brown stew oxtail with allspice, thyme, scotch bonnet and butter beans, which is one of the great dishes of the cut.
• Oxtail soup, an old British staple, strained and clarified or left rustic.
• Ragù for pappardelle, picked from the bone and reduced hard.
• Oxtail and kidney pudding, in the suet-crust tradition.
• Korean kkori gomtang, a long-simmered milky broth, seasoned only at the table.
• A filling for ravioli or dumplings, where the gelatine keeps the meat succulent.

Buying it

Sizes vary along the tail

Thick pieces from the base have more meat; thin pieces from the tip are mostly bone and collagen. A mix is ideal.

Quantity

Allow considerably more by weight than for a boneless cut, because much of it is bone. Around four hundred grams a person is not excessive.

Price

No longer the cheap cut it once was. Demand has risen and it is now priced accordingly.

Preparation

Usually sold cut into segments. If not, a butcher will do it — cutting through vertebrae at home is not practical.

Freezing

Freezes well raw, and the finished braise freezes even better.

Common questions