Tender & Delicious Stovetop Oxtail
I wish you could taste how delicious and tender this oxtail dish is! I love it with mashed potatoes, just in case you were wondering. Decades ago, Oxtail was considered a meat for the poor because the butchers always threw it away or gave it to the poor. Today it is a delicacy and expensive for the little bit of meat each bone provides.
Pat each piece of oxtail dry with paper towels. Place oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat.
Salt and pepper all sides of each oxtail piece. Place the oxtails flat in the hot Dutch oven.
Cook until all sides are brown turning each piece with tongs. Remove oxtail from the Dutch oven. Sauté onion, celery and carrots until tender, scraping all the brown bits on the bottom of the Dutch oven.
Add the oxtail back to the pot with bay leaf, garlic, thyme, salt and beef broth.
Bring to a simmer, turn the burner to low and place the lid on the top. Simmer for 3 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove oxtail from the pot and let cool, leaving all the liquid in the pot. Once cool, remove the meat and fat from the bones. Place the meat in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. Discard the fat and bones, then refrigerate the meat.
Cover broth mixture with a lid and refrigerate overnight.
Once the fat rises to the top and turns solid, using a spoon gently scape the fat layer off and discard.
It should look like this.
Once the fat is scraped off, heat over medium heat until the liquid isn’t solid anymore. Add the meat to the pot breaking up the meat and heating until boiling. Remove the bay leaf and serve.
Tender & Delicious Stovetop Oxtail
Ingredients
- 3# oxtail pieces
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped small
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 4 cups beef broth
- Parsley for garnish
Directions
- Pat each piece of oxtail dry with paper towels. Place oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Salt and pepper all sides of each oxtail piece. Place the oxtails flat in the hot Dutch oven.
- Cook until all sides are brown turning each piece with tongs as needed. Remove oxtail from the Dutch oven. Sauté onion, celery and carrots until tender, scraping all the brown bits on the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Add the oxtail back to the pot with bay leaf, garlic, thyme, salt and beef broth.
- Bring to a simmer, turn the burner to low and place the lid on the top. Simmer for 3 hours or until meat is tender.
- Remove oxtail from the pot and let cool, leaving all the liquid in the pot. Once the meat is cool, remove the meat and fat from the bones. Place the meat in an airtight container or Ziploc bag and refrigerate, discard the fat and bones.
- Cover broth mixture with a lid and refrigerate overnight.
- Once the fat rises to the top and turns solid, using a spoon gently scape the fat layer off and discard.
- Once the fat is scraped off, heat the meat mixture over medium heat until the liquid isn’t solid anymore. Add the meat to the pot breaking up the meat and heating until boiling. Remove the bay leaf and serve.
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Categories: Beef, Broth, Carrots, Celery, Garlic, Oil, Onion, Spices/Seasoning, Vegetables/Slaws/Salads
I do like oxtail. This looks a good way of making use of the meat content
It has so much flavor and refrigerating it to remove the fat made for a delicious meal.
Delicious! Great way of removing the fat, which we think is really important.
Thanks!
This looks so good, Diane. Ox tail reminds me of my childhood. One of my favourite dishes is Kare Kare, a Filipino ox tail stew made with peanut butter, eggplant, beans and squash. In my adult years, Jamaican ox tail with red kidney beans rice is a treat. Your ox tail with mashed potato also looks so delicious.
It is indeed ironic how ox tail has become so expensive today. Just like lobster and chicken wings were once considered poor people’s food. The value is in the eye of the beholder!
Thank you Ab, it sounds like there are so many ways to prepare oxtail. Your way is much healthier than mine! đŸ¤£
We had ox tail a few weeks ago and were surprised at how good it was. I’ll have to share your recipe with my husband. I think we have one more bag in the freezer.
I really love it with mashed potatoes! Plus I had it all to myself as my hubby won’t eat anything weird. More for me! Hahaha Now when I fix cow heart, I have to invite my grandson over. He is 10 and loves the heart.
My father was German and he liked oxtail soup. If memory serves me right the company “Knorr” used to make an oxtail soup – if it wasn’t them, it was a German product that we bought at the German butcher shop. My mother would make a lot of his other German favorite meals though.
He was a lucky man to have your mom cook his favorite foods.
Yes, she did make his favorites for him, but he did cook his own potato pancakes as we didn’t have an exhaust fan in the kitchen. So he took the electric frying pan outside and cooked them out there. Lots of grease sizzling, so no smell inside. We had them several times each Summer that way.
How funny, pancakes are one of the things Terry makes too.
That is funny. I have to say the potato pancakes were great … it was a whole Sunday affair between grating up all the potatoes on the grater, then making them – we had to eat in shifts. I’m sure the nice smell carried through the neighborhood.
Haha I’m surprised the neighbors didn’t come a knocking!
Yes, I’m sure you could smell it all through the neighborhood. đŸ™‚
Comfort food – bliss!
It sure is Mary, thank you!
I’ve never had oxtail. I may have to try this.
I have the butcher cut the tail of our side of beef, the person with the other half didn’t want it. I also get the tongue and heart. This is a bit of work but worth it.
It’s an art to prepare tender oxtail – and I knew you would master something like that! We always made an oxtail ‘potjie’ (stew) over the fire during camping weekends with our friends – your post reminds me that it might be time for that again!
I bet they would be delicious over the fire!