OK. Iman Shakeri asked for something adventurous. I like to shock people with Chinese exotic food because we have so many foods with such high yuck factors. Jelly fish, pig ears, chicken feet, cats, dogs, turtles…
We Cantonese are especially known for eating whatever moves. The saying goes, that if it has four legs, except for a table, we eat it.
When we lived in Guangzhou, our favorite restaurant was what our family called the Worm Restaurant. Located in the former British enclave of Shamian Island near the White Swan Hotel where we lived for two years, this restaurant was our go-to for out-of-town visitors.
Right outside before you enter the dining area there was a proud display of worms, cockroach lookalikes, frogs (euphemistically called paddy chicken in Cantonese), snakes, and eels. My kids who were still in their tweens then loved to poke the worms and cockroaches and our friends freaked out–every time!–but gamely went in to eat with us. They were always pleasantly surprised. The Worm Restaurant had the best deep fried pigeon (think cornish hens) and we introduced many people to excellent Cantonese food there.
I never tried worm but Alison and my diplomat husband did during representational functions for the sake of U.S.-China friendship. I have some limits. No snakes, frogs, salamanders, cats or dogs for me, thank you.
Strange to a non-Asian could be perfectly yummy to me. So when Iman Shakeri listed his three adjectives as “adventurous, hearty (with meat) and stewey” for my Recipe Challenge I did consider ears, tongue, feet and innards. Head, shoulders, knees and toes. Iman, did you know we eat duck tongue? Did you even know ducks had tongues?
So…you’re lucky, Iman, that my limits for adventurous cuisine has become less and less adventurous since I left Singapore and lived among Americans. I asked Russ what he’d think I would pick and without missing a beat, he said Oxtail Stew! Of course.
Iman had also said he liked a bunch of things in a pot. And stewey. So Oxtail Stew it is. You can eat it over rice, pasta and couscous.
I’m not sure of the origins of Oxtail Stew in Singapore, if it is Chinese, Eurasian or western. Try not to think of the tail as the part sticking out of the rump of an ox. When cooked perfectly, the meat is tender and juicy and slips off the bone. It is much tastier than regular beef stew. Like Osso Buco.
Random memory: I ate it long ago in Singapore at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station restaurant. The railway station is gone. But I duplicated what I remember it tasted like and my family, especially Alison, loves it. I think Singaporeans like it this way.
Taiwan cooks make it and it must be popular with Koreans because I find the best oxtail from H Mart, the Korean supermarket where it is always available.
My mother made it as a soup but I braise it in the oven adding tomato ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. My secret to the recipe is dried onion soup mix. Any onion soup mix—even those with mushroom—will work. I usually double the portion because leftovers is delicious.
The oxtail is dusted with flour and lightly browned before it is put in a Dutch oven. In this recipe, I let the beef and half of the vegetables cook 1½ hours before adding the rest of vegetables halfway. This way, the first batch of potato thickens the sauce and the second batch gives me more firm, not super soft, vegetables and onion. But you can also add all the vegetables together with the beef and leave the pot in the oven for about 3 hours.
Alison’s Favorite Oxtail Stew
2½-3 pounds oxtail
3 tablespoons oil
2 medium onions, cut in large chunks
3 stalks celery, cut in large pieces
1 pound carrots, cut in large bite sizes
3 cups water
1 envelope dried onion soup mix
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
1 pound red potatoes, peeled and cut in large bite size
1 cup of frozen peas, defrosted
Dredging mixture
¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a deep dish. Dredge oxtail in flour mixture and set aside.
Heat two tablespoons oil in a frying pan. Brown oxtail pieces on all sides. Remove browned pieces and place into a 5-quart Dutch oven, ovenproof pot or casserole.
With paper towels carefully clean out hot oil and burnt flour in pan and discard. Heat rest of fresh oil in pan, fry half the onions, half the celery and half the carrots for about a minute.
Add water, dried onion soup mix, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and peppercorns. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil.
Pour vegetables and liquid over oxtail in Dutch oven. Cover pot with lid and bake in oven for 1½ hours.
Add the rest of onion, celery, carrot and potato. Push the vegetables into the stock to try to submerge some of them. Cover pot and continue to bake for 1-1½ hours until beef is tender. Add peas to stew and mix into sauce.
NOTES:
When selecting oxtail, try to get large or medium size pieces so that you have a good amount of meat on the bone. If you get the tip of the tail, you won’t have too much meat on them.
If you are cooking for more than four people, make sure you have enough meaty pieces for each diner. If you pick pieces that are too large, some poor diner might end up with teeny pieces of tail.
