Oxtail

Took some oxtail last week, the first for a while, since the autumn of 2018 in fact. No idea why we missed since then, why we missed the winter of 2019-2020. A whole oxtail, probably supplied ready wrapped to Manor Green Road by one of their wholesalers. Four large lumps and sundry smaller ones, some very small.

Opted for lunch time with a 0615 start. So 7.5 hours cooking time, plus 15 minutes resting time. Preparation no more complicated than coarsely chopping four onions into the bottom of the dish and arranging the pieces of oxtail on top. Put cover on and put in an oven preheated to 100°C. Not too challenging for the not terribly awake 0600 man.

Turning time

And there it sat until 1315, when I took it out and turned the large pieces over. About an inch of liquor in the bottom of the dish by this time, mostly fat.

Served

Served at 1400 with brown rice and crinkly cabbage, boiled naturally. Plus some white wine, Mademoiselle from Tracy-sur-Loire.

A spot of orange jelly - including tinned mandarin oranges on this occasion, rather than the more usual (and more available) tinned peaches. A spot of Calvados to finish up with.

Council's portion left, crows' portion right

The debris in the lid. For some reason, the usually reliable crows did not take up the bits of fat we put out for them. I had to gather them back in at close to avoid attracting the foxes. Into the compost dustbin.

All pretty good, but I think next time I will give it a bit longer, which will probably mean going for an evening rather than a midday meal - despite this last seeming to suit us better these days. In fact, since the days of FIL, now getting on for ten years ago.

Reference 1: psmv3: First communion. October, 2018.

Reference 2: psmv3: Oxtail four. March, 2018.

Reference 3: psmv4: Shell hole. For Tracy-sur-Loire.