What does George Washington have to do with you eating oxtails?

[Beachboy]

Bob, one of the big shots at my office, has a life partner, Ron, who owns a fashionable gourmet restaurant in Beverly Hills. An invitation to their home is a gourmet delight, and a chance to meet successful, interesting people. Their dining table seats 24, (yep, life at the top).

​

My wife and I were told the dinner would feature the gourmet treat Oxtail. Oxtail: What It Is, And What To Do With It | The Kitchn When it was served, it was one of the worst things I had ever tasted. It nearly made me sick. When asked my opinion, I brushed it off politely, but my wife, as always, gave her honest negative reaction, and there was open laughter around the table.

Bob then told us that you do not eat oxtail for a pleasant dining experience, you do it out of respect for George Washington and his soldiers at Valley Forge. It was all they had to eat on many nights. It was that or starvation. Those brave soldiers stuck with Washington that awful winter so they could fight for the American freedoms we now enjoy. Valley Forge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Invite me for Oxtail today, I will clean my plate.

Some in the upper class are committed to their politics.​

 

[Beachboy]

I wonder how many Americans make a gesture to appreciate our country without a holiday to remind them. I suspect not enough, this was my first time spending an evening thinking about Valley Forge.

 

[OriginalShroom]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

 

[deltex1]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

Thanks OS...Bob and Ron had me going for a while...

 

[tinydancer]

I love the story.

But I know oxtail very well from my Jamaican buddies.

Oh I should have added and their method of preparation is excellent and it tastes great.

 

[OriginalShroom]

I love the story.

But I know oxtail very well from my Jamaican buddies.

Oh, yeah.. it's a great story.

And I can believe they ate ox tail.

But if it tasted bad, they either don't know how to cook it or cooked it poorly on purpose.

 

[tinydancer]

I wonder how many Americans make a gesture to appreciate our country without a holiday to remind them. I suspect not enough, this was my first time spending an evening thinking about Valley Forge.

Cool thread. You got me thinking about it too so I looked up Army Rations for the Revolution.

Check this out.

In the Revolutionary War, this all-purpose ration established by resolution of Congress, included beef, pork, or salt fish; bread or flour; peas or beans (or "vegetable equivalent"); milk; rice or Indian meal; and spruce beer or cider.

Candles and soap also were authorized "essentials." 1 Ordinarily, preparation of the food was up to the soldier. To provide fresh meat, cattle and hogs were driven to camp at "proper seasons" for slaughter and curing.

Depending on the availability of supplies, other occasional variations were provided from time to time. One of the most welcome was "spirits"2

Really neat link:

Army Rations-Historical Background

 

[OriginalShroom]

At one time, in Maine, servants demanded that they not get served Lobster more than twice a week.

 

[tinydancer]

At one time, in Maine, servants demanded that they not get served Lobster more than twice a week.

Food and history do go hand in hand. I have this marvelous book called "The President's Cookbook" which details how each President entertained from Washington at Mount Vernon all the way thru to President Nixon.

Favorite recipes and fabulous stories. Recipes like Mount Vernon cornbread, Dolly Maddison's soft gingerbread, or President Jefferson's persimmon beer.

I love love love this book.

 

[bayoubill]

down here, folks'll eat just about anything imaginable... if it's prepared properly...

 

[Beachboy]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

All I can offer your was my and my wife's opinion of oxtail based upon taste. The interesting part to me is the George Washington tie-in and Valley Forge which is verified by a fact/link.

Given the choice between the words of the head of my employer's west coast office, a Senior VP, and the comments of the anonymous "OriginalShroom" who is afraid to disclose anything about himself, including his country of origin, and provides no fact/links to support a word he says, I'll take Bob's story.

Oxtail once a week my ass!

 

[Moonglow]

wow you missed out on the brains and eggs, not to mention tongue soup. The old timers I grew up around ate every part of the cow and made bibbin from the remnants for chili.
Ah yes the golden era of dining.

 

[tinydancer]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

All I can offer your was my and my wife's opinion of oxtail based upon taste. The interesting part to me is the George Washington tie-in and Valley Forge which is verified by a fact/link.

Given the choice between the words of the head of my employer's west coast office, a Senior VP, and the comments of the anonymous "OriginalShroom" who is afraid to disclose anything about himself, including his country of origin, and provides no fact/links to support a word he says, I'll take Bob's story.

Oxtail once a week my ass!

Oxtail stew is takeout/delivery/restaurant. And you can have it every day if you want. I used to live in Toronto and there is Caribbean cuisine any where in the city.

My fave for forever was the original Jerk King. Oxtail or goat with plantain chips. Oh and one of the secrets to Island Oxtail is allspice.


Restaurant description

Jerk King at 522 Bloor Street West in Toronto is available for delivery and pick-up through Just-Eat.ca! Try Jerk King's Caribbean cuisine for dinner tonight by ordering online. Choose from island favourites like jerk chicken, curry chicken, beef stew, and Caribbean roti wraps. Feeling adventurous? Try the goat or oxtail with plantain slices! Order now from Jerk King on Just-Eat.ca.

http://www.just-eat.ca/restaurants-jerk-king

 

[High_Gravity]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

I've had oxtail a few times from a Carribean restaurant and I liked it.

 

[OriginalShroom]

wow you missed out on the brains and eggs, not to mention tongue soup. The old timers I grew up around ate every part of the cow and made bibbin from the remnants for chili.
Ah yes the golden era of dining.

I grew up on a working farm and every fall we would all go to my Uncle's farm who had a full slaughter house.

At the end of the week, we would have slaughter several hundred chickens, ten to fifteen cows, twenty or more hogs, twenty or more pigs and a few ducks, goats, and sheep.

When you have twenty or more people all working together, you can get a lot done.

We all had the fried brains with scrambled eggs for breakfast and tongue sandwiches for lunch. (those were the only parts we ate fresh. Everything else cured.) We even made blood sausage.

And yes, I do get oxtail every other week. The owner brings me over a big bowl every Friday night. I switch it out with the Curry Goat.

 

[koshergrl]

I will simply say this.

Your friend was bullshitting you.

I've been eating Oxtail for decades, since I was a young child.


I eat oxtail every other week from a Jamican place across the street from where I work if I am not getting their curry goat.


Oxtail is good when prepped right.

My guess is that they deliberately made it unpalatable in order to disrespect the country, and our founding fathers, and possibly the people in this country who actually do consume oxtail soup, and considered it a great joke.

 

[tinydancer]

wow you missed out on the brains and eggs, not to mention tongue soup. The old timers I grew up around ate every part of the cow and made bibbin from the remnants for chili.
Ah yes the golden era of dining.

I grew up on a working farm and every fall we would all go to my Uncle's farm who had a full slaughter house.

At the end of the week, we would have slaughter several hundred chickens, ten to fifteen cows, twenty or more hogs, twenty or more pigs and a few ducks, goats, and sheep.

When you have twenty or more people all working together, you can get a lot done.

We all had the fried brains with scrambled eggs for breakfast and tongue sandwiches for lunch. (those were the only parts we ate fresh. Everything else cured.) We even made blood sausage.

And yes, I do get oxtail every other week. The owner brings me over a big bowl every Friday night. I switch it out with the Curry Goat.

Goat roti! Yay! Not to be found sadly in my neck of the woods.

One of the few hard things about living in the middle of nowhere is that to try to get authentic island spices it's a two hour round trip minimum and that's not for a great selection. They finally brought in jerk so I am thrilled with that move forward into the future.



My kids send me care packages of Mr. Goudas (all round awesome products) from TO when I bug them long enough

 

[Beachboy]

At one time, in Maine, servants demanded that they not get served Lobster more than twice a week.

Food and history do go hand in hand. I have this marvelous book called "The President's Cookbook" which details how each President entertained from Washington at Mount Vernon all the way thru to President Nixon.

Favorite recipes and fabulous stories. Recipes like Mount Vernon cornbread, Dolly Maddison's soft gingerbread, or President Jefferson's persimmon beer.

I love love love this book.

Sounds like fun. I heard President George W. Bush had Dr. Pepper with his lunch everyday.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Bob, one of the big shots at my office, has a life partner, Ron, who owns a fashionable gourmet restaurant in Beverly Hills. An invitation to their home is a gourmet delight, and a chance to meet successful, interesting people. Their dining table seats 24, (yep, life at the top).

​

My wife and I were told the dinner would feature the gourmet treat Oxtail. Oxtail: What It Is, And What To Do With It | The Kitchn When it was served, it was one of the worst things I had ever tasted. It nearly made me sick. When asked my opinion, I brushed it off politely, but my wife, as always, gave her honest negative reaction, and there was open laughter around the table.

Bob then told us that you do not eat oxtail for a pleasant dining experience, you do it out of respect for George Washington and his soldiers at Valley Forge. It was all they had to eat on many nights. It was that or starvation. Those brave soldiers stuck with Washington that awful winter so they could fight for the American freedoms we now enjoy. Valley Forge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Invite me for Oxtail today, I will clean my plate.

Some in the upper class are committed to their politics.​

Horse crap.

Properly prepared, Oxtail is wonderful. Oxtail soup is a well known and sought after dish.

Hearty Oxtail Soup Recipe | Taste of Home

 

[Uncensored2008]

wow you missed out on the brains and eggs, not to mention tongue soup. The old timers I grew up around ate every part of the cow and made bibbin from the remnants for chili.
Ah yes the golden era of dining.

Out here in the Peoples Republic, tongue is very popular - they call it Lengua.