I’ve been trying to expand my horizons as a smoker. Looking for new/cheap cuts to apply some smoky goodness to.
I’ve seen oxtails at my local meat shop, but the price ($12.99/lb) has kept me away. Recently they started carrying beef shanks for $3.99/lb. So I made a game plan to refuel my pellet smoker, get some sides, and smoke them up.
They were sold out of beef shanks when I went so I ended up resorting to the oxtails. Felt like I was buying prime steak. They ended up being fantastic. But I can’t understand why the literal tail of an animal is so expensive. Why is that?
TLDR: Why is a tail cut of beef so expensive?
by No-Advantage-9198
50 Comments
Extremely trendy right now. And beef cheeks.
Only 1 per animal. Everything else you get at least 2!
All the bad cuts that used to be for poor people are now trendy. My dad talks about being able to walk into a butcher back in the day, growing up broke, and getting tough cuts for free. He said they used to just throw away chicken wings so he could always get a bag for free if he wanted. The same stuff we are smoking and braising to break down those connective tissues used to just be the tough cuts that were sold cheaply or given away lol
I remember in the late 80’s, I’d get a big bag of rabbit or kangaroo mince from the pet shop for $2. Now it’s $17/Kg or more. Damn things roam free and are shot as pests, but somehow they’re more expensive now that they’re “fancy”.
It’s tasty, people buy/pay, sellers sell for as much as it’s profitable. High demand – more money, less demand – cheap.
Trendy, and a lot of cuts like oxtail are very popular in the Asian community, so they get sold among that group or even exported.
Note that is you live near a big enough city to have Asian supermarkets, you might find those cuts more reasonably priced.
They make some of the best broth and stock you’ll ever make after you smoke them.
Smoked mountain oysters are soon to be considered a delicacy
White people learned how good they were. Same with short ribs. Prices have jumped astronomically. Its fucking stupid.
If you want to know the real truth, it’s that White people discovered them. Oxtails, short ribs, chicken thighs, pork belly. Even brisket used to be cheap, but then smoking and stewing and braising for a long time became popular with everyday white Americans, and not just with foreigners and Black Americans, so the prices went up. Supply & demand.
Like most things, supply and demand.
All of the cooking shows and bloggers raised the prices. So when you find a decent cut of meat, don’t tell anyone. Don’t post it.
Idk but I just resort to beef neck bones for a cheaper alternative. And it surprises me because oxtail was supposed to be a cheap cut. 🙁
Supply and demand. Same as literally everything else
Same as paella, porridge and nihari!
Oh man! Ox tail soup is a staple in Hawaii cuisine. After you smoke those, if you don’t have any other plans, try braising them and turning it into the base of a soup or stew!
[https://www.google.com/search?q=hawaiian+oxtail+soup+recipe&oq=hawaiian+ox&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQLhiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABNIBCDQzMThqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8](https://www.google.com/search?q=hawaiian+oxtail+soup+recipe&oq=hawaiian+ox&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQLhiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABNIBCDQzMThqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
Used a lot in Asian cooking and like any cheap cut when it gets popular… price goes up
I feel like Gordon Ramsay single handedly ruined the price of NY strip.
There’s only one per cow and they became a sought after cut when they used to be a throwaway
Because people suddenly realised how delicious it is. This is happening with beef tongue as well.
I hope cattle farmers are at least making more per cow now that there are so many more desired cuts.
Things get expensive when they get popular
Remember when fajita was cheap?
There is only one oxtail per cow. Because of this limited supply, oxtail is a more expensive cut of meat compared to other parts of the cow, and its popularity has increased the price even further.
Picanha is on the rise too, saw a post yesterday on a facebook page talking about making one brisket style because they saw it done like that by a TikTok influencer. Thats pretty much the last nail in the coffin, shits about to go up too much to justify buying.
You see a shitton of oxes around waiting to donate their tails for science
Food Network, basically.
Random. But when i was a kid (im 40 now) this restaurant used to sell whole wings for $0.25 This was in the 90’s. They had a mortal kombat arcade game and for 1 dollar we could get two wings and play the game twice. Beet weekends ever
Each cow only has one.
Have you ever seen an ox?
Jesus, what is with all the race based comments. Beef prices in the U.S. are at all time highs.
Everyone saying its cuz the cuts are trendy.. okay but then whats an example of some cuts that aren’t trendy? I feel like for the most part its not like these cuts are in vogue and other fell out of style and got cheaper. The cheap stuff got expensive and the expensive stuff stayed expensive
are oxen that much more expensive to raise than cows?
Trendy, which sucks. Used to be able to afford oxtail
Because there’s only one on a cow and they’ve become popular
Ox tail, short ribs, flank all used to be super cheap.
My butcher told me the same thing. There’s only one and everyone from the Caribbean and south east Asia are willing to pay for their top-of-the-list-comfort-food.
Demand.
Some cuts of beef weren’t very popular, so they were cheaper.
Austerity drove people to cheaper cuts of beef. The demand for these cheap cuts rose, so the price rose in response.
It’s a bit more complicated than that, factoring in the exploding popularity in slow cooking and American BBQ as another source of rising demand, but the fact is, when people want something the price rises.
Beef shanks can be similar price and a great replacement!
Fajitas used to be dirt cheap back in the early 90s here in Texas. I’m talking a couple bucks a pound. It got popular and the prices went up like crazy.
It used to be something we’d grill up several times a week growing up.
How did you cook them?? NEver done it
Fashion, baby.
Everything everyone else said but also, there’s only one per cow. Same with hangers, skirts, tongue etc. It takes a lot of cows to fill a master case of tails. And there ain’t a lotta cows right now. (I work in food sales.)
People learned how to cook the cheap tough cuts properly so they were no longer considered worthless. Not they are expensive
Because oxen are unionized!
Gentrification of food
Because people won’t shut up about stuff. If you find something cheap and like it, don’t post about it on the internet.
All beef is expensive right now if you haven’t noticed
Cause white people like it now.
Long story short, there is a cow shortage in the US. This is causing beef prices to spike.