Jerk Oxtail

As we head into the thick of winter, the food we cook gets a little more rustic and homey.  Oxtails are one of my favorite meats to braise during this time of year.  For this cook, I marinated 2 lbs of them for 2 days in a Jamaican oxtail marinade.  They were then coated in a Jerk seasoning and smoked at 235F with hickory and cherry until they picked up the desired amount of smoke, bark and color.

The oxtail were coming along nicely about 2 hours into the cook.

The oxtail were pulled from the smoker after a few more hours, vacuum sealed in a FoodSavor
bag and finished cooking via sous vide for 24 hours at 180F.

While the meat cooked, I finished preparing pasta dough.  I previously got 250 grams of
semola rimacinata based sourdough starter going and used that along with 3 whole eggs
and semola rimacinata to make pappardelle.  The dough had an overnight bulk fermentation
in the fridge to develop more favor.

When the oxtails were almost done, a ragu sauce was started using garlic, onions and
roma tomatoes.  Beef broth and cabernet were added and the sauce was reduced before
adding in some shredded jerk oxtail meat.

Not the prettiest plate up but dinner was served.

This jerk oxtail ragu really hit the spot.  The marinade and jerk seasoning flavored the meat
perfectly as there was no need for any additional seasoning.  The oxtail's smokiness came
through for a split second before the heat took over.  The heat was just enough to make me
moderately uncomfortable but would most likely be pretty mild for people who like their jerk
spicy.  Between the smoking and the sous vide cooking, the fat rendered well, resulting in
tender, moist morsels of deeply beefy tasting meat.  I could not discern much sourdough flavor, most likely the result of my mouth being on fire.

The next day I made a pizza using the oxtail, fermented black garlic, baby portabella mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and ricotta cheese.

Spicy, tasty good eats.