Several years ago, we spent a few days in Chicago and ate at a very upscale restaurant. I had ordered a thick veal chop and the sauce it came with was scrumptious. I gave my compliments to the chef, who proceeded to come out and chat with us. He had braised an ox tail and then made a reduction of the juices for the sauce. It was meaty and rich and I can still remember the taste. It perfectly complimented the mild veal.
However, I think today, you would have to have access to a very upscale butcher to even get the ox tail. I have since googled the recipe and I gather the tail is actually the coccyx bone with the surrounding flesh. I think they use _some_ of the actual tail itself, maybe for the collagen?
Come to think of it, I know someone who owns a meat locker and butcher shop. It is a friend of a friend, but from what I have heard, this man loves meat and cooking and I’ll bet he could get us a steer tail.
If this works out, I’ll post it on one of the recipe threads. It may take awhile.
One of our neighbors warned us that sometimes you don't get your own cow back, he sent a heifer out once and got back a tough old cow. He had warned us which slaughter house to avoid..
So, I asked the butcher to see our cow in the freezer, there were several hanging for aging. also a deer. I asked him what he could tell me from the hanging cow. He gave us the right breed, age and sex...He then showed us the others hanging and pointed out an old milk cow, they are bony with not a lot of meat and he also had a Holstein. He said he knew it was Angus by the short leg compared to the others hanging it was plain for even me to see. Could tell the age and told us we butchered her about 8 months too late. Each breed matures at a different age. Angus mature to the right age for eating months earlier than other meat breeds. It was very informative...He knew his meat....LOL
I learned that if you want filet minion /sp. You couldn't get T bone as the filet was that part of the T bone that is on the one side of the cut. (it was either the T bone or porter house, that was over 20 years ago) but I am almost sure it was T bone....he asked how thick we wanted steaks and how many pounds per roast etc...
Thats when I told him I didn't want the tail, but would take the tongue for a friend...didn't want the hoofs either...:O) He also wanted to know how much fat we wanted in the hamburger....His shop was in the little town of Richmond in Michigan...he knew his business...