OXTAILS AND RICE
INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs. oxtails
2 cups long grain rice
1 cup chopped onions
1 large clove of garlic chopped fine
2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
4 1/2 cups broth reserved
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dry cherry or red wine (optional)
Rinse oxtails under cold water and place in a medium sauce pot covering with
at least 5 cups of water. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon
fresh ground black pepper, 1/4 cup dry cherry or red wine of your choice,
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat to low/medium and skim off any froth accumulating and simmer
from 3 to 4 hours until oxtails are tender and easily removed from the bone.
About 30 minutes prior to oxtails being done, add 2 tablespoons of butter
and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a sauté pan and heat on medium heat and add 1
cup chopped onions and 1 clove of garlic chopped fine and allow to simmer
until tender.
Place oxtails in a colander and drain reserving at least 4 1/2 cups of broth. De-bone
the oxtails being sure to remove any gristle or fat.
Add 4 1/2 cups of broth back to the medium sauce pot and bring to a boil
over high heat, adding the oxtail meat, 2 cups rice and sautéed onions and
garlic. Stir to blend and reduce heat to low and simmer with lid on pot for 25 to 30
minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
Serve with marinated slaw and fried cornbread and/or your favorite sides.
YIELD: 6 large servings.OPTIONAL METHOD: Use a small
pressure cooker and cook oxtails about 35 minutes....everything else the
same.
Ruth Crawford, deceased of Wadesboro, NC made the best oxtails and rice.
Her spouse Mr. Billy Crawford, retired Program Supervisor at the Anson
Correctional Center in Polkton, NC would bring a large bowl of Mrs. Ruth's
Oxtails and Rice to work and share it with me. Mrs. Ruth would not
give up her own recipe but this is about as close as I could come to it.
Below a few sequence pixs
taken while preparing the oxtails and rice. Click on thumbnails for a
larger view:
For those that have not tried oxtails and rice; it will remind you of
stew beef and rice but has a little sharper taste to it.
Several years back while issuing weapons to our Road Squads, there were
half a dozen or more 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" and the entire
place exploded into an uproar! I still grin every time I do this
recipe.
Bill aka Mickey Porter 09-26-09
