Today I am so excited to welcome Ashley from Crowe About Farm on The Paleo Mama blog! Ashley and her husband raise grass-fed beef and pastured chickens, turkeys, ducks and eggs. She is also taming her first milk cow. You are going to love this delicious recipe for Oxtail Soup!
Wait…don’t leave! I promise you this will be good. Three years ago I would have promptly clicked the “x” the second I saw the title of this post…but, my friends, my life is forever changed due to one pot of soup.
Do you know that cattle have boney tails? It’s true. Do you also know that those boney tails contain delicious, marbley chunks of meat that can be used to create one killer pot of soup? Also true!
Lucky for me I have a husband who pushes me to be the best version of myself, culinarily speaking, otherwise my palate would’ve never have had the pleasure of experiencing this tasty soup.
You see, we are beyond organic farmers who raise most of our own food. We become friends with the animals that bless us, and others, with nourishment. Out of respect for those animals, we don’t waste one. single. thing.
When I brought the first beef we raised home from the butcher, I stuck all of the “weird parts” in the back of the freezer. I didn’t know what to do with them, and I was secretly hoping my husband would forget they were in there.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, and fortunately for me, he would pick one “weird part” to cook each Sunday. Over the past 3 years, we have been experiencing some of the best, most nourishing meals of our lives…all from cuts that most people would never try.
That first Sunday, I reluctantly tasted the tail…and it was out of this world! I couldn’t wait for the next steer to make it home from the butcher. I needed another oxtail STAT!
Now, don’t worry. If you don’t have packages of tail residing in your freezer, you can easily substitute a roast or any other tough cut of meat. It will still be mighty tasty!
BUT…if you ever have the chance to get your hands on an oxtail, or any organ meat for matter, grab it, get yourself to the nearest kitchen and get cookin’!
Oxtail Soup
You Will Need:
- 3-4 lbs. Oxtail (Beef Tail) or Roast
- 1 Medium Onion
- 8 Carrots
- 6 Stalks of Celery
- 4 Cups Diced Potatoes (I used Yukon Gold & Red, but you can use any kind including Sweet Potatoes)
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 4 Sprigs of Parsely
- 2 Tbs. Butter
- 4 Tbs. Ghee, Coconut Oil or Tallow-melted
- 8-10 Cups Beef Broth (see my recipe)
- 12 Oz. Dark Beer
- Salt & Pepper
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Dice the onion. In a large pot, sauté the onion in 2 Tbs. of butter until translucent. Meanwhile, place the oxtail in a bowl and cover with melted oil (or ghee/tallow), salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.
Step 2: Heat a skillet over high heat, add the oxtail and sear all sides (about 2 minutes per side).
Step 3: Add the seared oxtail to the pot. Add about a half of a cup of beef broth to the skillet and deglaze, scraping up all of those brown bits. Add to the pot and cover the oxtail with about 8 cups of beef broth and beer. Add bay leaves and parsley to the pot.
Step 4: Simmer on low for about 6 hours until the meat falls off the bones. Add more beef broth as necessary as it cooks down.
Step 5: When the meat is falling off the bones, remove the oxtail from the pot, pick off the meat and shred.
Wanna see what the bones look like?
Step 6: Add the meat, carrots, and celery to the pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and simmer until potatoes are fork tender.
Step 7: Season with salt and pepper and ENJOY! CLICK HERE to print this recipe.
Will you be taking the “taste the tail challenge?” I double dog dare you ;)!! And if tasting the tail isn’t adventurous enough for you, I will be sharing my toddler approved tongue recipe on my blog very soon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ashley Crowe is a wife, mama, farmer and blogger at Crowe About Farm. She and her husband raise grass-fed beef and pastured chickens, turkeys, ducks and eggs. She is also taming her first milk cow. Ashley thinks producing food is a beautiful process and that it is important we have a connection with our food. She is passionate about sharing her connection with her animals from pasture to plate. Hop on over to Ashey’s Facebook page, Blog, Pinterest page, or Twitter and follow her for more recipes and homesteading goodies!
Would the Oxtail bones be good to make bonebroth afterwards?
Yes, I’m sure they could be used with other beef bones for beef broth
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I had oxtail soup many years ago and it was Deeeeelicious!!
Oxtails make the very best bone broth I’ve tasted. Brown the oxtail pieces and then follow any bone broth recipe with vinegar, simmering in the crockpot for 48 hours to leach lots of minerals from the bones. You can remove the meat from the bones at any time after it’s tender and save. You also get lots of lovely beef fat, which is easy to remove if you chill the broth after it’s done and strained.
Our first time trying the tail and it was amazing. Great recipe Paleo Mama!
Would there be a paleo sub for the beer? I can only get beer that is full of gluten ( NOT paleo ) or crazily expensive millet beer…which may be paleo if millet counts there??? I thought of wine, but that would make it a very different dish indeed! Has anyone made this without beer and made it actually paleo?