Oxtail

oxtail normally sold after being skinned and cut into chunks, has been a familiar sight in butchers’ shops for centuries, but its sale was discontinued, at least in Britain, in 1997, in connection with bse (see box under beef).

The dishes commonly made are oxtail soup, a long-standing favourite in Britain, but not only there; examples from other parts of the world include the oxtail soup of Sichuan which Yan-Kit So (1992) describes as a sophisticated rustic dish with chicken in it as well as oxtail, and including ingredients such as ginger, sichuan pepper, and dried chinese wolfberries. Apart from the soup there are various stews, e.g. the Queue de bœuf en hochepot of Flanders. These are rich but inexpensive dishes. The same applies to braised oxtail, and various forms of boned, stuffed oxtail. Generally speaking, wherever beef has been eaten there will be oxtail dishes, and they are likely to need lengthy cooking.