The tale of the oxtail

Oxtails are everywhere. In the new Lola bowl on the new brunch menu at Lola, in this amazing dish from Pete Marczyk at Marczyk Fine Foods. But what, exactly, is the animal that contributes its tail to these delicious preparations?

Here’s the answer from Marcyzk:

“Ox can be any number of beasts of burden, but usually refers to castrated males. Oxtail refers to the tail of any cow. To my knowledge, oxtails for culinary use are not the docked tails of the beast, but rather the harvested tails of the slaughtered animal. Our oxtail is from Niman. We get them whole (about three feet in length) and we cut between the cartilage by hand rather than saw-cut. This totally changes the way they cook — for the better.”