What do you do with an Oxtail?

Every Sunday, my husband and I make dinner for my parents. They live about 20 minutes from us and seeing them is a weekly excuse to take the time to cook up a great meal, usually involving great meat. My parents are pretty lucky that they timed their move to our area to coincide with my new meat eating lifestyle. So this week, we're making oxtail.

I purchased an oxtail that last time I visited my farmer friend Roland, at Walters Unlimited in Mebane. Not only had I never eaten oxtail, I've never seen one. An oxtail is actually not from an ox, but the culinary name for the tail of a cow and it weighs about 3 pounds. A cut up oxtail looks like this: Oxtail has often been known as a "garbage cut" used as a depression era staple and it is still quite economical, about $2 a pound. It has many uses from sauces to stews, but slow cooking is the key. I found this recipe from epicurious.com called Oxtail Soup with Red Wine and Root Vegetables. It calls for 3 lbs of oxtail, onions, leeks, parsnips, carrots, garlic and potatoes (purchased at Whole Foods for about $15). You begin by searing the oxtails on all sides for about 20 minutes.
At this point, you'll add beef broth. For convenient soups and stews, I use Better Than Bouillon. A paste that you keep in the fridge that is more economical and better tasting than any boullion cube or canned broth.
So, add broth and red wine and let is simmer about three hours. I found it helpful to slow cook the oxtail the day before and skim the fat off the broth after being in the fridge overnight. Oxtail is definitely fatty and you will need to remove all the meat and discard the bones. Next, chop up all the veggies, cook them about 10 minutes. Add the broth and potatoes and simmer 1/2 hour.
This turned out amazing! Probably one of the best meaty meals I've made. Even my dad was impressed and mentioned that he liked it better than a similar soup his mother used to make. Can't think of a higher complement than that.
Other than slow cooking the day before, quite an easy soup and it is very filling. 1/2 the recipe easily fed four people and we've got leftovers for at least two days. Total cost for this meal was about $21. Additional cost for beef broth. Cheers!