Here in Chicago, I have not noticed any decrease in short rib popularity. It’s always been fairly popular, but the prices have skyrocketed. Oxtail I still don’t see much of in menus, so maybe we’re running behind. I don’t think I’ve had oxtail here anywhere but some Jamaican or Belizean places or my kitchen.
I went to a Brazilian-style grill restaurant (I am not sure how authentic it was - their whole thing was that you had a card with a stop/go sign on it and as long as you keep it with thee green ‘go’ sign upwards, they keep bringing you meat which they serve from skewers or carve from a huge joint, directly onto your plate).
One of the things that went round was skewers of chicken hearts - just simply seasoned and charcoal-grilled with a good sear on them - they were delicious just like that (much more tender than other varieties of heart I’ve tried.
Nope. I’m one too. Maybe not quite as bad as the folks who set their daily itinerary by internet influencer “best of …” lists while dying of FOMO, but I are one too. They say recognizing you have a problem is the first step to solving it. 
As to oxtail specifically, my GF is a Caribbean islander. I’ve always enjoyed that sort of food very occasionally. When I lived where I could find it. Now hanging out with her and living in greater Miami with lots of other Caribbeans I have a lot more opportunities to eat that sort of cuisine. Which includes more oxtail.
Well, when i make oxtail soup, i cook the broth, and then i remove the meat from the bones, which is a ton of work. And then i chill the broth to remove the copious fat, which is a step i don’t usually need to take. (Because chicken broth is “cheap” enough, being made from leftovers, not from special-purchased ingredients, that i don’t mind throwing some of it away when i skim the fat) So the whole thing takes me two days and includes a tedious and fussy step.
I see. I serve and eat with bones intact, and I don’t bother with the chill and skim except maybe if there’s leftovers the next day. It’s not really necessary. I was just watching a Cook’s Country episode where they make Jamaican oxtail soup and they did it the same way I do: brown up the oxtails (they did it over caramelized sugar, which I’ve not done but am excited to try), pour over your water or broth, cook for about 3-4 hours over low, serve. (OK, they added butter beans in there like an hour before serving.) I suppose it depends on your tolerance for fat. I only skim the next day when I’m making broths or stocks to use later, but I’m used to/grew up with more rustic fare. The idea of skimming fat off a soup was pretty much unknown to me until I was in my 20s.
My husband has no tolerance for fat, and laboriously trims every bit of visible fat off meat he’s served. If i served him a soup covered with visible fat, he wouldn’t eat it.
The ox tail soup i make isn’t rustic, it’s very elegant, it chills to a gorgeous clear consomme, although i typically serve it hot. It might be fun to try a more rustic version, but the tails are very fatty, and my husband wouldn’t eat them. So I’ll have to try that at a restaurant, not serve it for supper at home.
Gotcha. Yeah, the stuff I’ve gotten at ethnic resturants with oxtail has been pretty … rich.
Maybe it was the recipe I used. I liked the result, but it seemed like there were a lot of steps. I bookmarked the recipe for wine-braised oxtails, but it has since been paywalled. And I also had to get the oxtails, which don’t seem to be a common item in the two supermarkets here. I just felt that I could have achieved a meal just as good without so much bother. Again, I don’t remember now what was the bother, but it did seem I did a lot of work for the result.
(Not that this has anything to do with mince vs ground beef. )
I am defrosting two ox tails now. 
We’ll stop by in a week when the soup is ready. 
What you consider fads is how foods get passed along. I remember back before tiramisu was a thing. Or cheesecake. Or yogurt. Or espresso drinks. Your sneering at the “lemmings” who follow fads is absurd. Would you rather people be afraid to try new things because it wasn’t what they grew up with? How else but word of mouth (even if it’s via internet) do you think people are going to learn of new foods and discover how good they are? How large of a fad is just large enough but not too large in order to meet your approval?
Back on track, the thing I miss the most from a previous job were the mincemeat tartlets a co-worker would bring in every December, made with beef mince. I was the one of the only people who ever ate any - more for me!
Speaking of fad food gossip, I heard a story on the radio this morning projecting (predicting? announcing?) the flavors of the year: artisinal masa, sour cherry, pistachio and ‘briny.’ Pass it around!
Big fan of all those flavors, though I’m not sure I know specifically artisanal masa. Pistachios are my favorite nut along with walnuts, and sourcherry is a Polish flavor I grew up with. Can’t wait to see what 2025 brings.
True, the ‘artisinal’ was my own addition, based on the restaurant with a Mexican corn sourcing program in the story. But maybe we’ll see masa flavored Pringles or pistachio breakfast cereal this year.
I love sour cherries! It would be great if they got more play. Briny can be a nice grace note. I’m meh of pistachio and unfamiliar with masa. Overall, sounds like a nice lineup.
In a fun coincidence I’m going to a group dinner party tomorrow = Sat held at a restaurant billing itself as African diaspora inspired takes on sorta nouvelle cuisine.
One of their featured items is oxtail lasagna. I might just have to order that in honor of this thread. Sounds & looks seriously yummy.
As long as everyone stays away from my cheap shank meat. Given that anything I get into seemingly becomes popular in 2-4 years, the hipsters will get hold of shank soon.
I could do with a nice lamb shank.
One of my favourites as well. I remember when they used to be cheap, but now they are as expensive as leg.
Even though, according to a number of posters, the two terms can be synonymous, I have never seen or heard of beef in the U.S. as being advertised or sold as “minced burgers”. Am I correct on this? In fact, in my personal experience, the term has always been used with negative connotation, for example; “The Chiefs are gonna’ make minced meat out of the Texans tomorrow.”