Beef slaughter day - oxtail stew, beef tongue, beef heart

Sent a beef to market (which is a polite way to say we slaughtered a cow today) and we get to enjoy the fruits of the slaughter.  Most of our customers don't want the tongue or the tail or the heart and liver, so we get these whenever we slaughter.

The heart we can either slice and then grill directly, as you would any bit of steak, or it can be slow cooked; think pot roast, or shredded beef.  This particular heart weighs in at 5.5lbs.

We do the tongue a little simpler.  Grab a couple of cans of french onion soup, wash the tongue well, and then pressure cook the tongue in the onion soup.  About 40 minutes at 10lbs pressure, then remove the tongue, peel off the skin (kind of like peeling off peach skins when you're canning) and slice thin.

Once pressure cooked, allow to cool so you can handle it and then remove the skin from the tongue:

Tongue meat with the skin removed; shredded beef consistency

Slice off a hunk, peel off the skin, repeat.  

The oxtail (which is really a cowtail) takes a bit more doing.  Here's the recipe that I like:  

20 minute prep time, 4 hour roast time

1 cow tail (2.5lbs or so) chopped into 2-4" pieces

3 sticks celery

2 medium leeks

6 medium carrots

a little thyme (fresh or dried), 1-2 teaspoons

a little rosemary (fresh or dried) 1-2 teaspoons

4 bay leaves

4 cloves

3 tablespoons wheat flour

2 cans crushed tomatoes (12oz or about)

a cup of a good beer or red wine

Preheat oven to 425

Coat the tail pieces with olive oil season with salt, and roast in a hot oven 

until golden, 20 minutes.  

While the tail is roasting

Split the celery, leeks and carrots lengthwise, and then chop into 1-2" long pieces.

coat pieces with olive oil and saute in a deep sauce pan until tender and sweet, carmelized.

probably 20 minutes or so.  

just a little carmelized is perfect.  stir frequently

Red wine version,  tail and spices and wine added-ready for the oven!

Pull the tail out of the oven, and reserve.   Reduce oven temp to 325

Add the flour and spices to vegetables, and stir in.  Add a little olive oil if it's too dry.

Add the tomatoes, and then place the roasted tail into the mix.  

Add beer or wine

Cook in a warm oven for 4-5 hours at 325.  Add liquid as needed to maintain volume, until meat falls off the bones.  

pull the pot out of the oven, remove the tail and strip the meat, discarding the bones.  add the meat 

back to the stew

If you'd like a soup, add more liquid.  Serve with steamed vegetable (spinach is a favorite here) and with mashed potatoes.