Can I Use A Different Cut Of Meat For Oxtail On Toast?

Our answer

Nigella's Oxtail On Toast (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a slowly cooked stew of oxtail. The meat is cooked until it is falling off the bone and can be shredded easily. Oxtail is an economical cut of meat but does require long, slow cooking.

Oxtail has a fair amout of connective tissue that melts into the sauce and helps to enrich and thicken it. Cooking meat on the bone also adds a significant amout of extra flavour, in effect the bones act as a built in beef stock cube, and oxtail has a high ratio of bone to meat. At the end of the cooking time you have meltingly tender meat and an unctuous sauce. It is quite rich and intense, even once the fat has been removed from the chilled stew, which is why small portions on toast work well. Unfortunately, we don't think that any other cuts of meat will give you quite the same experience as none of them quite have the same balance of meat, bone and tissue. So sadly we are unable to suggest a good alternative. Hoiwever, if you are looking for a stew with tender meat and a flavourful sauce we would suggest trying Nigella's Carbonnade a la Flamande, which goes perfectly with mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.