So you purchased a whole beef (yay for a freezer full!) but now you aren’t sure how to use all of the “other” cuts that were included. I’m here to help! Today I wanted to share my favorite way to prepare oxtail and soup bones. What I love about these two cuts is the super nutritious and yummy broth they make. It’s full of things like collagen, gelatin, potassium, glycine and healthy saturated fat. It’s very easy and in a few minutes you can have supper in the crockpot. Here is the original recipe by one of my favorite bloggers, Jessica at Delicious Obsessions. I’d go there first and print out her recipe so you have all the measurements and such. I’m going to give you all the changes I made. Because I’m terrible at following recipes. Oh well.
A day or two before you plan on making this, pull two or three packages of soup bones and one oxtail out of the freezer. I like to let them thaw in the fridge. Then the morning you are cooking, take them out for about 30 minutes, just to get the fridge chill off. I start with browning the soup bones and while those are doing their thing I take a kitchen shears and cut apart the oxtail. The butcher will do partial cuts but you’ll want to seperate the pieces all the way. Then continue browning until all the soup bones and oxtail have been done.
Oxtail in the pan
Browning in a bit of ghee.
Once all the meat is browned and in the crockpot I dump in the chopped carrots and celery. Then I brown the onion and garlic in the pan I used for the meat and add a little water to get all those good bits off the bottom.
almost done
Onions and garlic were browned and then I added tomato paste and a cup or so of water.
Couple of changes here - I don’t use beef broth. I’ve found that it isn’t necessary. Plain water will turn into delicious broth by the end of the day. Also I don’t heat the broth/water. Let the crockpot do that. I use enough water in the pan to incorporate the tomato paste into and get all the bits. I can’t tell you home much total water I use. It’s enough to just cover the meat and veg. I will also let the crockpot cook on high for a couple of hours. Everyone’s slow cooker is different and mine needs to get nice and hot before I turn it to low.
And that’s it! I’d love to know if you give this adapted recipe (or the original) a try and how it turned out for you!
Don’t have soup bones or oxtail? I can help with that too. We have a supply of both and you can either call or email me to get yours.
** Yes. I made this on June 25th. When you have a craving you have to go with it I guess. And it was only 82* today.