Oxtail Soup

Oxtail soup, or as I affectionately call it now a days, the Million Dollar soup. It deeply saddens me that the 5 star chefs discovered Oxtails and made it into a gourmet item, causing this delicious cut of meat's price to sky rocket up there with oxygen and indeed some forms of Caviar. This soup once upon a time was one of thee most delicious and affordable soups to make, now, its a treat! Finding GOOD looking, reasonably priced Oxtails is a daunting task. For those of you sitting there going, but , but Bob, do you realize where an Oxtail comes from? Yes I do! And its still delicious.. if you have never tried oxtails, please give this a go. I introduce people to oxtails this way, and no one is the wiser. Its simply a cut of beef with a lot of bone, that adds a tremendous amount of flavor. And do not be ashamed of grabbing the oxtail out of the soup and sinking your teeth into it and getting every bit of meat away from the bone!!


The Ingredients:

1-2 trays of Oxtails

Vegetable Shortening or Lard

Beef broth or Bouillon

parsley

3-4 Carrots

3-4 stalks of Celery

2-3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup barley

1 can stewed or diced tomatoes

1 can mixed vegetables (optional)

In your soup pot melt the lard or shortening and sear/brown your oxtails on all sides. Remove the excess grease, leaving a little bit in the pot. Saute your onion. Add the oxtails back and cover with water or beef broth ( I know, I cheat!). Add parsley at this point too, along with some salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for 3 hours. Come back and add the raw vegetables and barley you desire cover again and simmer for 45 minutes. Come back and add the tomatoes with their juice and the can of mixed vegetables. Simmer until heated through. Now I feel i have to give an explanation on my instructions.. when I say cover with water.. you want to cover the oxtails, but you also want to make sure you have enough water in there to cover your vegetables later on, it depends on the pot your cooking in. I could sit here and say adding water until your about a 1/2 an inch from the top of the pot is a good rule of thumb. Also with the veggies, you can add more or less, the reason why i do 3-4 it depends if your going to add the canned vegetables or not, if your like me the more veggies in a soup the merrier!