Smoked Oxtails Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long does it take for oxtails to get tender? ›

Fill with enough water to cover oxtails and place over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook oxtails until tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Put the meat in the oil and sear each side for a couple of minutes. Browning your oxtails will not cook the meat. Instead, it will enhance its color and aroma by caramelizing its exterior. Browning beef oxtails in a hot skillet before braising will also add rich depth and flavor to the meat.

By soaking and blanching the oxtail before cooking any impurities are removed. To cook: Oxtail requires long, slow cooking to produce tender, succulent meat. It should be cooked for a minimum of 3 hours for the best results.

As the meat braises, the collagen inside the cut cooks down and becomes gelatin; as it dissolves, the meat's fibers relax and tenderize. However, if the cooking temperature is too high, these muscle fibers will shrink and seize up, toughening.

There are many ways to tenderize oxtail before you actually start the cooking process. Low sodium soy sauce is my secret! Soy sauce helps the meat retain its moisture, tenderizes the meat, and enhances the savory flavor we all love.

So let me school you on how I clean oxtails. Salt, white vinegar, a few limited limes cut in half, and water. I soak them for about 15 minutes, then I scrub each one of them, pour the water out, then repeat. The 3rd time you soak them, the water should be crystal clear.

The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.

Slow cookers and pressure cookers are ideal for cooking oxtail. Alternatively, you can braise oxtail in a casserole dish in a warm oven overnight for best results. The meat is cooked properly when is its soft, jelly like and will fall off the bones easily. Here are a few recipes to get you started!

“If you leave any parts not browned, you are leaving flavor behind." Wondering about seasoning? Stockton suggests seasoning your meat one day (or at least 10 hours) ahead of time, then letting it sit uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator.

As the meat braises, the collagen inside the cut cooks down and becomes gelatin; as it dissolves, the meat's fibers relax and tenderize. However, if the cooking temperature is too high, these muscle fibers will shrink and seize up, toughening.

What is the white stuff on oxtail? ›

If there is connective tissue (white stuff) left on the outside of your oxtail, cut some slits parallel to the bone in these areas to expose the meat beneath. Place the oxtail in a deep pot which has 2 times as much internal volume as the meat.

The combination of spices like allspice, thyme, and scotch bonnet peppers gives the stew a unique and tantalizing taste. The oxtail itself is packed with collagen, which breaks down during the slow cooking process, resulting in a thick and luscious gravy.

The origin of stews like oxtail can be traced back to our colonial heritage. Enslaved Africans on plantations were given very meager amounts of protein and often had to make do with cheaper cuts of meat or ends of slaughtered animals to add protein to their diets.

In a large bowl, combine the paprika, black pepper, salt, oxtail seasoning, onion, garlic, scallions, 4 of the thyme sprigs, and the hot sauce. Add the oxtails and toss them with the spices until evenly coated. Cover the bowl and allow the oxtails to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

OK, so if you find that your brown stew 'oxtail' dish has a more bitter taste, this is more than likely due to using too much browning sauce. No worries---you can fix this! Simply break up the bitter taste with a bit of ketchup, brown sugar, and additional stock. This should help!

Yes. It totally depends on the cut. Chuck etc get tender with prolonged cooking, because they have a lot of connective tissue which melts in a braise. Leaner beef will just get tough.

My rule of thumb is 3 to 4 hours on a low simmer. You can dissolve a piece of beef tendon in that time which is about as big as your little finger and probably the toughest piece of the cow. This varies a bit depending on the cut and how much tendon/ligament is present in the roast.

If you cook meat at too high of a temperature in your slow cooker, you're likely to overcook it. When you cook your food slowly at a lower temperature, you unlock the magic of slow cooking. Some of the best cuts of meat for slow cookers are tougher cuts like chuck roast or oxtail.

If you keep your refrigerator temperature at or below 40 °F (4 °C) Oxtail will keep in your refrigerator for 4 to 5 days with no problems before cooking. If you wrap the oxtail well in an airtight packaging or freezer bag, Beef Oxtail will keep in the freezer for a year once it is set to 0 °F ( -18 °C).