Living in South Florida, there is a limitless choice of restaurants serving Island style food (Jamaican, Haitian, etc.). I finally tried Ox Tail from a Haitian restaurant last week. It was in a tomato sauce based gravy. I thought I was eating a sauce piquante. Haiti is of course a French colony and they have a lot of creole influence in their cooking. The first thing I thought of when I took that first bite of ox tail is delicacy. It is nothing like you ever tasted before. If you can find yourself a good haitian restaurant, do yourself a favor and try it. It's one of the best meals I have ever had in my life.
I used to cook for a couple of Carribbean guys who played for the Hornets (pre katrina). Jammal Magloire was one of them, but Jerome Moiso, from Guadaloupe originally, asked me to make oxtail stew and I made it brown, like Osso Bucco...He liked it, but had I read your post, I'd have made it like you described. Speaking of animal tails, does anyone know what people do with the pig tails? I only use them, and the ears to make a stock that's gelatinous for using with home made hog's head cheese. That means I almost never use them since good hog's head is readily available at Rouses among other places.
I'm sure you know hog's head cheese is often made with pork cuts and not with the head since there's always pork cuts available. Do you always use "head" for yours? islstl, one summer the custodians at the HS next door to where I was at the time cooked some ox tail at school- there were there and no kids. I was unaware they were cooking so when they brought me a plate to try I was leary but was hungry so tried it. I would have sworn it was turtle had I not known.
I use the shoulder (Boston Butt) and add the Pig tail stock to gel it together. Originally, the head had so much cartilage that it produced the gel. Since we're on the subject of stocks, two things are essential to make a good one: -Start with cold water -Never bring the stock to a boil Good stocks gel when they cool. This comes from the Glycoproteins and Mucopolysaccharides that come from the cartilage and go into the stock liquid. Starting with cold water allows more of the "gel" to get out of the cartilage. Boiling sears the cartilage so a lot less of the gel proteins and starches go into the stock...boiling also clouds up the stock. These gel molecules are healthy because they help to prevent cartilage wear in your joints. One of the molecules is chondroitin sulfate and you pay a lot for it in pill form at health food stores. Good stocks are cheaper and taste better. Soooo...nobody eats pig tails, feet or ears?
My grandma would use oxtails when she made fresh vegetable soup every summer. It makes a tasty broth and the small tender pieces of meat never overpowered the vegetables.
