Oxtail

Raw oxtail
Southern oxtail soup

Oxtail (occasionally spelled ox tail or ox-tail) is the culinary name for the tail of cattle. While the word once meant only the tail of an ox, today it can also refer to the tails of other cattle.[1] An oxtail typically weighs around 3.5 kilograms (8 pounds) and is skinned and cut into shorter lengths for sale.

Oxtail is a gelatin-rich meat, which is usually slow-cooked as a stew[2] or braised. It is a traditional stock base for oxtail soup. Traditional preparations involve slow cooking, so some modern recipes take a shortcut using a pressure cooker.

In the United States, oxtail has the meat-cutting classification NAMP 1791.

Versions[edit]

Oxtail is the main ingredient of the Italian dish coda alla vaccinara (a classic of Roman cuisine).[3] It is a popular flavour for powdered, instant and premade canned soups in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Oxtails are also one of the popular bases for terrine-like kholodets, the Eastern European aspic dish, also prepared from cows' knees, pig trotters or ears; the oxtail is the preferred ingredient among Russian Jews because they can be kosher.[citation needed]

Stewed oxtail cooked with lima beans or lablab —both known as butter beans— or broad beans and served with rice and peas is commonly eaten as a main dish in Jamaica as well as throughout the Caribbean. Oxtail is also very popular in South Africa, where it is often cooked in a traditional skillet called a potjie, which is a three-legged cast iron pot placed over an open fire. Oxtail is also eaten in other southern parts of Africa like Zimbabwe and served with sadza and greens. In Cuban cuisine, a stew can be made from oxtail called rabo encendido. In the Philippines, it is prepared in a peanut-based stew called kare-kare. In Iran, oxtail is slow-cooked and served as a substitute for shank in a main dish called baghla-poli-mahicheh, which is prepared with rice, shank (or oxtail) and a mixture of herbs including dill, coriander, parsley and garlic. In India, it is known as dumghazah in the parts in and around Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and is considered a delicacy.

Versions of oxtail soup are popular traditional dishes in South America, West Africa, China, Spain,[4] Korea and Indonesia. In Chinese cuisine, it is usually made into a soup called in Chinese: 牛尾汤; pinyin: niúwěi tāng; lit. 'oxtail soup'. In Korean cuisine, a type of gomguk (beef bone soup) made with oxtail is called kkori-gomtang (꼬리곰탕). It is a thick soup seasoned with salt and eaten with a bowl of rice. It can be used as a stock for making tteokguk (rice cake soup).

References[edit]

  1. ^ oxtail | Origin and meaning of oxtail by Online Etymology Dictionary
  2. ^ Blumenthal, Heston (14 November 2003). "The twist in the tail". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  3. ^ Dickie, John (8 January 2008). Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-5400-4.
  4. ^ Barrenechea, Teresa (2009). The Cuisines of Spain: Exploring Regional Home Cooking. Random House Digital, Inc.

External links[edit]

Media related to Oxtail at Wikimedia Commons