I first started working with oxtails when I was cooking at Tersiguel's. I was blown away by the flavor and the texture, though if I remember correctly we made red wine braised oxtails there. Since then I've played around with them a number of times and done them in a couple of different ways. I ended up circling on this recipe because I wanted to use it in a soup, but not the traditional French stew style that I had done in the past. Though I have never made this soup in a restaurant setting, it has an amazing finish and flavor. The heat from the peppers and the richness from the oxtails give you a great base, then you balance it with the spicy mustard greens and earthy taro or cassava (whatever you can find) and finish it with the sharp sweet flavor of the oranges.
There are a couple of steps to do this to make sure you're pulling the most flavor out of your soup. The first is you need to marinate the oxtail. You want to do this for at least 24 hours, to add flavor, and help tenderize the meat. The second is you need to sear and braise it prior to using it in the soup. When you braise it you want a well seasoned broth to cook it in.
I used a base chicken broth, and fortified it with Serrano chilies, coriander, chicken feet, peppercorns, garlic, ginger, and charred onions. Getting the char on the onions is very important because that turns into the underlying flavor of the soup. After its braised, you will cool and pull the meat to remove the bones. You can do it while you make the soup, but the bones in oxtails are small, and you don't want them in your final product.
And lastly, traditionally you use cassava root, but I was unable to locally source that. Instead I used taro root because that was what was available, you can swap it out to any starchy root vegetable available to you. The end result will be a soup that I will make over and over again, and I hope you do as well.
Ingredients
Dry Rub
Citrus Heat 1 T
Avenue Spice 1 T
Mustard Powder 2 tsp
Garlic Powder 1 T
Oxtails 4 #
Mix all your spices and rub them over your oxtails. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Fortified Stock
Chicken Stock 4 qt
Coriander, whole 1 T
Water 4 qt
Garlic 2 T
Ginger, peeled, sliced 2 T
Carrots, chopped 2 ea
Onions, diced 3 ea
Star Anise 2 ea
Orange Juice 4 oz
Heat your stock pot and put a hard sear on your carrots, onions, and celery. High heat, little oil, stirring occasionally until they are blackened on each side.
Add your garlic, ginger, and chicken feet, then get a char on the feet.
Once caramelized add your spices, chicken stock, orange juice, and water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook for 4 hours minimum (you can go a lot longer to pull the flavor out of feet) and strain the soup.
Chill and reserve, discarding the solid materials.
Soup
Rubbed Oxtail 4#
Fortified Stock 6 qt
Coconut Oil 1 T
Clementines 2-4 ea, zested and segmented
Taro Root, peeled and diced* 3#
Mustard Greens, chopped 2#
Onions, diced 4 ea, in two batches of 2
Scallions, sliced 2 bunch
Garlic, sliced 8 cloves, in two batches of 4
Ginger, peeled and julienned 6 oz, in two batches of 3
Chilies, Serrano sliced** 2 oz, in two batches of 1
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Orange Juice 1 cup
*As I said earlier, I used taro. Cassava is the traditional root veg for this, but if you can't find it you can use any high starch root vegetable to do the trick. Potatoes aren't great, but if that's all ya got, it'll do.
**You can sub out any hot pepper, just make sure it's the approximate amount
Garnish
Citrus segments or wheels and scallions
Method of Procedure
Heat a cast iron pan, or use the broil function on your oven, and hard sear the outside of the oxtails. You don't want them burnt, but you want to smell the char.
Heat your soup pan and place your 1/2 your onions, garlic, ginger, chilies, in it with your coconut oil and char.
Add your oxtails and fortified broth then bring to a boil, drop to a simmer.
Cook for at least 4 hours on low heat until the meat pulls from the bone.
Strain your soup, reserving both your meat and vegetables, as well as the broth.
Once cooled pull your oxtails making sure you get all the meat off of them. If they are bones closer to the hind this is easier as they are larger pieces, but the bones towards the end of the tail need to be cooked longer. They are great for their collagen and richness but require more finesse. If cooked long enough, they fall off the bone, if not the tail bones are harder to clean.
Clean your soup pan and get it hot again. Char your remaining vegetables and add your pulled ox tail. Taste and season with salt, pepper, avenue spice, or citrus heat to your preference.
Add your fortified stock and bring to a simmer. Add water if needed.
Add your peeled and diced taro, or casava, and continue to simmer
If you are using baby mustard greens do not add them now. Wait until the taro is tender then add them to finish the soup.
If you are adding regular mustard greens, pull the stem and give them a rough chop.
Fine dice the stems and add them and the chopped greens to the soup.
Put in your cup of orange juice and continue to cook until the taro is tender. Taste and season to your liking.
Ladle into a bowl and garnish with citrus segments and scallions.
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