Crock Pot Oxtail Soup

Crock Pot Oxtail Soup

I spent the evening with Chinese New Year-appropriate oxtail soup, flipping between the Super Bowl and “It’s Always Fair Weather” (Gene Kelly was fabulous; I’m now inspired to see “Xanadu,” the original version).

I started making this soup last night, browning the oxtails and putting them in the crock pot with a jar of heirloom tomatoes from my garden (canned under the guidance of C2), diced onion and garlic, bay leaf, a cup of wine or so and water to fill. After about 16 hours of cooking, I cooled and skimmed it; then, an hour before serving, I added some rough-cut zucchini and a spoon of capers and cooked it some more. Overall, I cooked the tails about 17 hours or more, and they were almost tender. With pickled daikon cutting through the lush broth, it was a good dinner.

The crock pot is becoming my favorite cooking utensil. Mine is straight out of the Seventies (kind of like “Xanadu”), featuring crappy flower design and funky font. For foods that take a long cook, it’s perfect. I like it a lot. So, here’s a picture of my crock pot rather than the soup (which, honestly, didn’t look so great, though it had good flavor and texture and seasonal relevance):



David “I also like soup…and sponge baths!” Hammond

That's a cute crock pot with a vintage look. I've got one that is even older-- beige with speckles and a brown inside. Gets the job done. I hear the old crock pots are in demand because they cook the food at a lower temp than the new ones. Have not confirmed this. I like to throw stuff into the crock pot and fire it up in the winter.

I got a new ten cup rice cooker and have been playing with that. Made mac and cheese twice and carrot cake in the rice cooker. There is a recipe for pot roast that cooks for 24 hours I want to try.

Nice, David. I didn't get the oxtails from BossyII this year, so picked some up from Peoria Packing a while back (interestingly, they're sold whole there) I've found the crock-pot to produce the best version of oxtail soup or stew - they need a really, really long cooking time to release all the collagen. They've become one of our family's favorite braised dishes.