small-pot oxtail

2019-09-04

What happens if something that you normally boil in 10 quarts of water, suddenly finds itself in less than 2 cups? What will be different?

Travel with me on the road of kitcheneering experiment # 268 to find out.

2019-09-04

Pic1: served as a meal
Pic2: served as a soup

This is what you need for 2 servings:

Pic3: raw oxtail
Pic4: in a very small pot
Pic5: dehydrated veggies

Place the oxtail package in a 2-qt. pot.
It should fit, even if barely.
Add water to just cover the meat.
Since it is so tightly packed, 2 cups should do it.
Add S&P, spices to taste.
Add the dehydrated veggie mix for extra flavor.
I add this to almost every soup I make, but don't always mention it.

Pic6: simmer
Pic7: all done
Pic8: a concentrated stock

Bring to a boil.
Be careful. This could easily boil over in that small pot.
Reduce heat and simmer over low heat for 3-4 hrs. That is 2 hrs. less than I would cook it in a 12-qt. pot, but this meat was fully cooked, very tender and very tasty.
Remove.
Serve and enjoy.

YES, there is a difference.

Amazingly, the cooking time was considerably shorter than with a large pot, much more than the obvious that 2 cups of water take less time to boil than 10 quarts. I'm not sure about the reason for this. I wasn't overcooking the others, because the meat was not done there after that same time.
I finished with about 6 cups of a concentrated stock instead of 10+ quarts of soup, meaning that less of the meat flavor went into the liquid.
That conforms my subjective taste test that the meat seems to be more savory than when cooked in the big stock pot. It's not anywhere like a good steak, but it's certainly not like some soup meats that have about as much flavor as a 5-day old chewing gum.