INGREDIENTS:

2 – 3 lbs. oxtails
1 large Vidalia or white sweet onion, coarse vertical sliced
3 or 4 large carrots peeled and cut into 1.5 inch lengths
2 ribs celery, coarsely sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 green onions or scallions, coarsely sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups beef broth - prefer Swanson
12 oz. strong dark beer or ale (optional) substitute water if beer not used
1 cup water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dry Sherry or Port wine
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper corns (Tellicherry)
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon thyme
Wild Bill’s Meat Rub (Bill Porter’s House Seasoning)

Wash oxtails and trim off excess fat.  Sprinkle all sides of oxtails with a light coat of Wild Bill’s Meat Rub and let marinate uncovered for 30 minutes at room temperature.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil to a large Dutch oven over medium heat and brown the oxtails.  Remove from Dutch oven and set aside.  Deglaze Dutch oven with 1/4 cup Dry Sherry or Port wine; add carrots, onions, garlic and celery; sauté about 5 to 7 minutes.  Gradually stir in flour a little at a time until well blended and cook about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.  Add beer and bring to a boil mixing well.  Add beef broth, water, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, rosemary, thyme and mix well. Add browned oxtails; reduce heat to low and simmer at least 2 1/2 hours covered until oxtails are tender and easily pull from the bone yet will not completely fall off the bone.

Serve over Saffron, Yellow or Wild Rice and with your favorite sides.  Click on hyperlinks for recipe.

YIELD: 4 servings

Above oxtails served with yellow rice, Brussels sprouts in butter sauce, carrots from the gravy, yams and toasted garlic bread on 12-23-12.  The oxtails and gravy were off the chain!  Fried Cornbread or hoe cake is an excellent Southern bread to serve with Oxtails and Rice.

Click on thumbnail sequence pixs for a larger screen view:

NOTES:  I left out a few items in the ingredients pix and a few pixs were out of sequence as far as the steps go....my biorhythms were apparently off today and a little discombobulated....grin if you must!   I did sample the high octane brew but only a small sip....grin again.  There are more fat, gelatin and bone than meat on oxtails and are a little pricy but they do possess a very unique flavor if not masked by your seasonings of which the gravy is the highlight of this recipe in my humble opinion. 

For those that have not tried oxtails and rice; it will remind you of stew beef and rice but has a little more intense sharper flavor to it. 

This recipe was inspired by Ruth Crawford, whose spouse was Billy Crawford, Program Supervisor, who would bring a big helping of Ruth's Oxtails and Rice to work at the Anson Correctional Center in Polkton, NC and would share the oxtails and rice with me.  I never did get Ruth's recipe and both Ruth and Billy are now deceased!  Time doesn't wait for any of us and I try to live each day the best that I can with the help and guidance of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Several years back while issuing weapons to our Road Squads, there were half a dozen or more Road Squad Officers getting their security equipment for the start of another work day and I mentioned about doing a recent recipe of Oxtails and Rice.  At which time, a female Road Squad Officer named  Barbara Melton stated very loudly for all to hear, "I ain't eating nothing that close to no cow's butt" and my impromptu reply was, "You eat hog chit lings and it is hooked directly to his butt" (clean version) and the entire audience exploded into an uproar!  I still grin every time I do this recipe.

Web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 09-26-09 with updated recipe on 12-23-12.