Fancy Cooking Of Oaf Favorites

[ness]

Mitch I work with a guy that was born/raised in Jamaica. Oxtail stew is something he eats a lot.

[mic]

First time I had oxtail was in Korea. Korea is a "remote" assignment for most... meaning no family. My dorm floor tried to have Sunday "family" meal most weeks. One of our team was a female whoes family was from Jamica. Oh my lord... that was some good stuff. I don't know what was in it, but it cooked for 10 hours.

[Mitch f]

I found out thru trial and error that Oxtails need to be simmered for at LEAST 3 hours before serving. My Chinese in laws love the soup! When they visit they always want me to make it. It's really tough to find good beef in China. When you buy a steak at a restaurant in China it so thin you can see thru it...like a T-Bone from the Waffle House. If you go to a very upscale restaurant in China, you could easily pay $100 for a "normal" steak and it would be no better than a lower/middle chain restaurant steak in the USA.

[Mitch f]

I'm with you guys -- soups /stews are a favorite. Today I made 'mom's' beef stew. She got the recipe out of one of those community cookbooks back in the 70s. Some good meat, some raw carrots and everything else out of the pantry. Takes about 10 minutes to dump it all in the Crock Pot in the morning and it's ready for dinner.

Crock pots are fantastic!

[ness]

I'm betting oxtail is probably one of those cuts that has a lot of collagen and fat. When that all gets melted down, it's goodness.

I see in your picture you've got an enameled cast iron Dutch oven-- that's really the way to go when you've got the time for it. We make a Guinness beef stew that is really good, but I wouldn't dump it all in the Crock Pot -- it just wouldn't be the same.

[Quillback]

No squirrel recipes? I saw a lot of squirrels while I was fishing Table Rock yesterday, seems you hardly see any squirrel hunters these days. I keep thinking I'll take it up, I hate skinning those things and it's so hard to keep the hair off the meat.

[mic]

No squirrel recipes? I saw a lot of squirrels while I was fishing Table Rock yesterday, seems you hardly see any squirrel hunters these days. I keep thinking I'll take it up, I hate skinning those things and it's so hard to keep the hair off the meat.

Here is one from Bon Appetit, no less, for you food snoobs out there.

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/a-squirrel-in-every-pot

[Mitch f]

I'm betting oxtail is probably one of those cuts that has a lot of collagen and fat. When that all gets melted down, it's goodness.

I see in your picture you've got an enameled cast iron Dutch oven-- that's really the way to go when you've got the time for it. We make a Guinness beef stew that is really good, but I wouldn't dump it all in the Crock Pot -- it just wouldn't be the same.

Yes, it's one of those Le Creuset dutch ovens. Expensive but they are IMO the best for those type of meals.

[exiledguide]

I know it makes no sense at all but once I left home I vowed I would never eat a tree rat again. I'm 72 years old and I have kept my promise to my self.

[ness]

I know it makes no sense at all but once I left home I vowed I would never eat a tree rat again. I'm 72 years old and I have kept my promise to my self.

I've never had it, and I'm ok with that.