Jamaican Oxtail Stew Recipe (2024)

Season and refrigerate overnight. Season with S&P, garlic, onions, ginger, thyme, allspice, scallions, ("green seasoning") both sauces. In step 1 instead of water, add a little butter, step 2 do not remove, add water or broth and keep tails submerged. Add hot pepper (Habanero or Scotch Bonnet), careful stirring you don't want to puncture the pepper. Cook slow and steady for about an hour, taste and adjust. Step 5 except for the first 2 sentences. Ketchup only if you want to.

Use a tin can to cook the sugar so it doesn’t ruin your pot

after carmelising/browning the meat, I add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours before I leave for work. Come home and leave pot uncovered for another hour on high to reduce the liquid. Most fuss-free tasty mid-week dinner!

This was delicious, but it nearly RUINED my pot. Bottom completely covered with burned black sugar, will not come off, despite trying in several different ways.

The burnt sugar is required, but if you are careful to only blacken on the bottom of the pan, the onions will rather neatly deglaze the pan and it cleans up fairly easily. I also use butter instead of just sugar and omit the water.Such a tasty cut of meat that I ate as a child since it was cheap but sadly these days as expensive as steak due to the Gordon Ramseys of the world. Off cuts were always eaten but they were for the "disadvantaged" and not for the trendy.

When I lived in the Caribbean, I used to fry the oxtail to brown it. Now I bake them on a rack so that much of the oil drains away, and I discard that. I also use an Instant Pot to cook this. Works well. Although the oxtails should be coated with flour at the start, the addition of some small flour dumplings close to the end of the cooking process, called "spinners", also does the job.

So what you are saying is you don't want to make this recipe but instead would like to make your own. Cool story.

Excellent recipe that works well with stew beef instead of oxtails (less fat rolling around). Forget the extra white sugar...the light brown is enough.

Be cautious with the pepper. Putting it in with onions and stirring around may burst it...those peppers are hot. I suggest putting it in after adding back the oxtail and the water.

Habanero and Scotch Bonnet are different names for the same pepper

Start by tasting the browning sauce straight out of the bottle. That will help you decide how much of that flavor you want in your stew. To get an end product as close to these instructions as possible use 2 tablespoons of browning sauce.

Completed all steps up to simmering for 10 minutes in the same (extra large) non-stick skillet, then transferred the whole batch to a slow cooker. Added soy and worcestershire sauces at that point, then cooked on high for 5 hours. Made the slurry as directed and added to slow-cooker, let go on high w/out the cover for another 15 minutes and it was delicious, layered with complex flavors and tender...and I had no issues cleaning blackened sugar out of the non-stick skillet.

As for the blackened sugar, my hints:I followed the directions, and added water when it was *starting* to smoke. And I turned off the burner at that moment; turned heat back on when I started to add the meat: that way I kept the process in control. I did the same when the meat was done.

Beautiful food, each mouthfull a true delight. I made this with 2 beef shanks and a lamb shank. Served with hot rice, salad and soft rolls.I used my enamel coated cat iron 6 qt Dutch Oven and braised it in the oven, covered at 225 deg (gas) for 3 hours. Finished on the stovetop.I also used a splash of Syrah Port to deglaze after the saute of the vegetables. Loosened up the carmelized sugar on the pot bottom.The gravy is luxurious, rich and highly scented.Lovely, company worthy food.

If I have burnt sugar stick in the pot after starting (I'm from Trinidad and this is similar to our method) I add water and bring to a boil and let the sugar dissolve into the water.

When things begin to smoke in my kitchen, I have the fire department for dinner. Any chance we could sub molasses for the sugar?

a quote from a different paragraph of Sam Sifton's about this recipe and the burnt sugar - "just fine to substitute a commercial browning sauce instead — something like Kitchen Bouquet, available in most grocery stores. I did and the result was transcendent."

Had a package of oxtails in the freeze and once I read this recipe I knew what to make with them. Had previously made pepperpot from an old recipe but this dish will in the future replace it. I didn't thicken the sauce for removed the pan lid for the last 1/2 hour of cooking and enough moisture evaporated---I ate the sauce by the spoons full because it was so rich and delicious. The reheated leftovers tasted even better.

I belong to a "meat farm" in Lancaster Co, PA; it has oxtail readily available so I wanted to try this. I turned down the heat a bit and watched the sugar very closely. When the sugar was very brown, I added butter instead of the water. The fat helped with browning the oxtail and the onions. I could not get habanero or any hot pepper in the winter, so I used some hot pepper flakes (chipotle). Also used beef broth instead of water. No slurry needed

Skip step one entirely and instead add 3 tablespoons molasses in step 3. Your pot has been saved, your finished dish has a beautiful brown burnished color deep flavor.

Delicious recipe! Reminds my of an Indonesian meat stew dish but with a more complex flavor. Mine ended up to be really nice and rich in flavor as I omitted the Flour at the end . Removed the oxtails and hand blended the bits and pieces of the onions etc with the sauce as it thicken automatically then transferred the oxtails back inside . It was a total hit!

Get a habanero or scotch bonnet next timeMix of oxtail and pork shoulder was greatSlow braise for 6 hours

Really?? Am I missing something? $28.00 later and 5 hours of cooking for mostly fat and sinew??? I spent an hour trying to pick out actual meat and have less than a handful of meat.

2 stars because it messed up my good pot and also it was too sweet.

I would like to know what was used before soy sauce was introduced to Jamaican cooking.

Made this last night and everyone loved it, BUT, plus one thousand to the person who suggested using a can to burn the brown sugar, I destroyed an expensive pot cooking this :(

I make this with neck bones. More meat, less fat and gets fork tender after braising for a few hours. (I just took mine out of the oven after 5 hours). Also instead of soy sauce and Worcestershire I use black soy sauce. Thick and sweet, so no need to add more sugar. Plus the flavor complements the Jamaican flavors perfectly.

Had to consistently add water, remove the oxtails to scrape the pan, and cook longer than 3 hours for desired tenderness.Sauce was quite spicy, but with a little added water and slurry, it all turned out delicious.

Not a fan of how the recipe is written. I had to keep adding water, and the pepper disintegrated. It's still cooking, but I'm afraid it's going to be too spicy.

Sam,Wonderful, poetic description of this recipe and its potential to overcome my autumnal blues... It might have opposite effect since after my delight I will still find myself here in a cold, New York mist.