Oxtails are a Houston barbecue classic
Smoked beef oxtails have been a welcome addition to Houston barbecue menus over the past few years.
While they may seem like a novel item at barbecue joints, oxtails have long been a favored dish at Houston’s soul food restaurants. Indeed, one of the city’s best-known soul food joints is named “Just Oxtails.”
Oxtails are a fundamental ingredient in African American foodways, originally in soups and later as a stand-alone dish; the quintessential version being braised oxtails with a brown gravy over white rice with a side of collard greens.
The popularity of oxtails in African American cuisine parallels the rise of brisket in Texas barbecue. Before the 1950s, oxtails and brisket were something of an afterthought in the rise of beef marketing, with more prominent and expensive cuts like porterhouse steaks and New York strips garnering the accolades of the nascent food media of the time.
As demand for beef among the American population increased, less expensive cuts began to make inroads. Brisket in barbecue, oxtails in soul food and skirt steak in Tex-Mex carved out niches that are still wildly popular today.
And that popularity has come with a cost: These cuts are no longer inexpensive. Head over to your favorite Tex-Mex restaurant and you may pay upwards of $50 for a pound of beef fajitas. Brisket is going for $20-$25 per pound at many barbecue joints, and a plate of oxtails are going for a seemingly inexpensive $15 (though that may be only a quarter to a half-pound of meat).
Remarkably, oxtails have become one of the most expensive cuts of beef in recent years. According to Herb Taylor,
Oxtails are a fundamental ingredient in African American foodways, originally in soups and later as a stand-alone dish.
co-owner at Ray’s BBQ Shack, the raw oxtails he smokes and serves as a special on Thursdays costs him over $7 per pound, wholesale. That’s twice the cost of the highest-grade brisket.
This is due to a higher demand for oxtails across the culinary board, from upscale Michelin-starred restaurants to the rise in popularity of Vietnamese pho soup, for which oxtail is a traditional ingredient along with brisket.
Oxtail’s association with soups and gravy is mostly due to its fat content. If you cook an oxtail slowly using a method like braising, the fat turns into a rich, succulent gelatin that is the perfect base for soups and gravy.
Though oxtails have a long history in Houston soul food and smoked meats, the dish fell out of favor at the city’s East Texas-style barbecue joints in the past decade with the rise in popularity of high-grade brisket. Recently, smoked oxtails have made a comeback among
African American barbecue traditions in Houston, along with turkey legs and fried catfish.
In addition to the Thursday special at Ray’s BBQ Shack, one of my favorite versions is at SouthernQ BBQ where chef and pitmaster Steve Garner coats the oxtails in a dry rub and then smokes them for 12 hours. He uses the fat to make a classic brown gravy that is ladled over the oxtails and a bed of dirty rice. The plate is served with two sides (get the collard greens). It is served as a special on Sundays only.