OX Tail Soup

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Bossman
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OX Tail Soup

Post by Bossman » Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:34 pm

Ok, this last weekend I remembered why we hardly ever have Ox Tail soup. Saturday the bride went out and did what she does best (went shopping). So I hit the store to come up with something to fix for dinner. I was looking at a freash cut brisket and saw that it was gonna be $35-$40 for a good brisket so I thought WTF I can spend the same amount of money and have Ox Tail. so I went 411 discount shopping and found where I could find the cheapest price for Ox Tail. and bought 7-8 lbs. of Ox Tail and placed my order. I spent $40-$45 on Ox Tail and went home to begain the best soup ever. after cooking it for about 6 hours and deboneing it all. I was ready to add the rest of my goodies and begain the best soup ever only to find out that this was the most expencive pot of soup ever. So, as it is all over i've spent $65-$70 on a pot of soup!
WTH? Now I know why it is only once and a while...
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Iluv2hunt
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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by Iluv2hunt » Tue Mar 05, 2013 9:45 pm

SOunds like an episode of Sanford and Son
I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt them because I have to. ~Colonel Tom Kelly

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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by treefarmer » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:45 pm

Bossman, you just rattled up another memory from days gone by. My wifes' dad has been in the cow business or meat business most of his life :cowboy . If the Lord blesses him with continued days, he will be 90 this year, still butchering cattle, not a full time operation but one that keeps at least one additional employ pretty much full time. Ox tail, like beef heart and liver was something that some customers did not care for. There was always some so called "trash" meats in the big freezers for the family to utilize. Ox tail was one of the offerings. Ox tails were seperated at the joints and then boiled with good seasoning, onions and served over a bed of rice. Mighty good and greasy :chef ! Grandpa always refered to the ox tails as "swinging steak". There are usually several pounds of lean meat on the head of a large beef and this was usually salvaged by the butcher, it is called "head meat". Grandpa came up with a concoction that he calls "Alpha and Omega" stew. The meats being head meat and ox tail, the beginning and the end. When he had a full range of services, custom kill, retail and wholesale, he bought hot dogs by the case for retail sales. Hot dogs had the colorful name "tube steaks". Recalling those days makes me want to go to a meat market and get a few pounds of "swinging steak"! Treefarmer

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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by GoodOyster » Wed Mar 06, 2013 12:53 am

I had never had ox tail until I got married. My wife is from Korea, and it's a staple dish over there. She gets it occasionally from the Oriental Market, and it tastes like pot roast to me. The dog sure does love to gnaw on the bones!
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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by Bossman » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:10 am

Treefarmer I remember as a kid we useto have it all of the time because it was cheap and never had a problem finding it. I guess that word got out that is was tastey and caused the price to go sky high. My folks had an old man that would come to the house and butcher our beef. That is when everything was keep and used, don't forget about the tripe now that is some more good stuff.

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Iluv2hunt
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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by Iluv2hunt » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:49 am

You can have all that tripe you want. My dad made my mom cook it when I was a kid and I vowed to never eat that stinky stuff as long as I live
I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, I hunt them because I have to. ~Colonel Tom Kelly

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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by treefarmer » Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:15 am

Oh Yeah Bossman, I forgot about tripe. The stomachs were hung on the cow pen fence by the butcher house and on kill day some older ladies would come by and wash the tripe with a water hose and then carry 'em home for supper. Like you said nothing was wasted. Brains were eaten and the thymus gland which was called "sweet breads" was cubed and fried. Hides were salted and stacked in the hide house and a buyer came around every month or so and bought the hides, I believe by the pound. Hooves and some bones went to a rendering company. Other bones were sawn into managable size and packaged for the customer as "soup bones". Tongue made great sandwich meat and we must not forget the ever popular "mountain oysters" :no . Pig ears , tails and feet were all used by some customers, everything but the squeal! Treefarmer

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Kortsman
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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by Kortsman » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:59 am

Two things I have my mom make for me when I visit her. Ox tail and pigs feet both with a side of garbanzo beans and white rice. I never could figure out how she made them cause hers are way better than mine. It's one of those unsolved mysteries...

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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by nachogrande » Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:53 pm

a suburb kid question, why do they call it an ox tail when it comes from a cow? was the soup originaly made from real oxen?
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treefarmer
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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by treefarmer » Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:27 pm

Nacho, Oxen are technically full grown,casterated males. Cattle fed in the feed lots are usually young, both male and female, usually steers and heifers. Cows and bulls (older cattle) when butchered usually are made into ground beef as they don't grade like a younger well fed animal. So to answer your "suburb" question, "swinging steak" could be called cow tail, bull tail, calf tail, steer tail, heifer tail, etc. Also put several in a box and you can't tell 'em apart. Ox tail sounds a little more palatable than some of the other possibilites. Some of our old cook books might even give us a clue as to where the name came from. I would bet it is English in origin. Treefarmer

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Re: OX Tail Soup

Post by nachogrande » Wed Mar 06, 2013 6:33 pm

even in N.Y. my friends Mom made it, I liked it. but then there isn't any food I don't like, if hungry enough. I've seen oxen at county fairs and they are huge and powerfull, olden day tractors. never would have guessed their just beef.
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing

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