Still a work in progress… but growing.
I picked up some oxtail and decided to make “brown” beef stock with it. By “brown,” I mean, I roasted the meat in a 400 degree oven for one hour before adding it to the stock pot. I imagine I used 3# oxtail, plus a couple beef short rib bones (previously roasted by cooking), plus a pork shoulder ach bone (which I did not roast). I added a couple of carrots, a couple ribs of celery, a bunch of cilantro, an onion, several white and black peppercorns, about 5 cloves, and a pinch of Chinese 5-spice (which I really do not care for). After cooking, straining, cooling, and skimming, I decided to reduce the stock. During reduction, I added a few slices of ginger. Once reduced to desired flavor, I’ll add salt.
For reference on oxtail:
Book recipes:
- Red Wine Braise (& Chinese Themed Variant): Nigel Slater. Appetite, 364f.
- Gallina Pinta (Oxtail, Pork, and Bean Soup): Diana Kennedy. The Cuisines of Mexico, 161f.
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. River Cottage Meat Book, (x)
Web recipes:
- Braised Oxtail with Baked Eggs & Perfect Bloody Mary (Just Braise Blog)
- Braised Oxtail with Star Anise & Chinese Greens (Bon Appetit)
- Red Wine Braised Oxtail (Sunset)
- Faux Pho/Hawaiian Style Oxtail Soup (TSOGB Blog)
Notes: Oxtail makes a great asian style beef stock (4# oxtail, 1 onion, 5 cloves, 4oz fresh ginger, 5 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 1t peppercorns (your choice). 5 quarts water (to be reduced to 3 over time).
Shred the meat and use it in a soup later. Meat can be blanched in a hard boil for 15 minutes to force out most of the scum. Rinse pot and meat and proceed with recipe.
