Most often when I see beef neckbones at the grocer they’ve got very little meat, but yesterday I picked up some that have a decent amount of meat at $2.50/lb.
What is your favorite prep for this meat? I got 3 packages for about 10 pounds total, so I may make some pho broth. But I also wanted to make a beef dish other than my regular “beef stew” (whether American style or Haitian or Jamaican style) and was hoping folks here would have some good recommendations.
Many thanks!
Those look really nice - a lot of meat. I’ve never cooked with beef neck-bones, but I have puttered with a beef vegetable soup over the years using meaty beef shank bones (I bought them out of curiosity once a number of years ago when they were cheap). I will look for these and try them in my soup. Here’s what I’ve managed to write down:
Brown two large meaty beef shanks seasoned with salt & pepper in olive oil - remove and sauté 1 chopped onion, 2 c. chopped celery with leaves, 3 chopped carrots. Put beef back into pot along with 1/2 lb. cut fresh green beans, about 1/4 large head diced cabbage, small can chopped tomatoes, 2 cans rinsed butter beans, a can of beef consommé and 3 cans low sodium beef broth, pinch of red pepper flakes, 3 large sprigs fresh thyme and 2 bay leaves. Simmer covered all afternoon. Salt/pepper to taste. I take the beef shanks out, discard the connective tissue, pull the meat into pieces and add the meat and marrow bones back into cook for awhile. Because I use broth, it’s very beefy. This soup freezes really well.
Looking forward to other responses - it’s getting near soup season!
Roast, then braise.
But the weather these days (at least where I am) is a bit too warm to think about braising anything, even something as scrumptious as neck bones.
I’m down with that. Give them color, then a long steamy bath and that meat will fall and the leftover broth heaven. I’m used to collard/mustard greens with pork neckbones. If I saw the beef, I’d love to try them. I’ll ask my butcher, if I remember.
I am only (somewhat) familiar with pork and chicken necks, but I’ll lurk around. Sounds interesting!
You know dang well whatever meat comes off of that neck is great and the flavor from the vertebrae will be the essence of beefiness. I just buy the other end and make oxtails, since i never see neckbones. Have to chat with my butcher.
Hey Greg - the only reason I get the beef neck bones is because they’re about 1/4 the price of oxtail. I do still prefer oxtail and will grab it the (very few) times the local store has it BOGO, getting it down to around $5/lb.
The meat from the neck bones is very tasty like you said, but you’ll find that you don’t get quite as much of that collagen-laden mouthfeel from it the way you do with tail. It’s good, but just not as good.
By way of a sort of very loose, napkin-back comparison, I put either type of remainders into the instant pot for several hours, strain, then boil down to reduce. Once it’s cooled down to about room temp, I’ll pour into quart freezer baggies. The oxtail stock will go to jelly at cool room temp (about 72°F) while the neck bone stock usually needs to go under about 60 before it jellies up.
I have mentioned before that I’m a nerd, right?
I buy tails when they’re $2.50 lb. Like I said, I’ll talk to my butcher. Maybe my next pot of greens will have a beefier edge. I just adore stock from things like that. The gelatinous thing is gold. Wish I could find a lamb neck. I want to try beef necks, though. See if my meat dealer can hook me hup.
Those look scrumptious! I have never made but but would probably check out some osso bucco or Jamaican oxtail recipes for inspiration. Or maybe Chinese red cooked?
Last day of this sale for the beef neck bones at $2.50 (new “regular” price will be $3.00/lb).
I stopped in and they had one package that was fairly meaty, just like the one above (re-post).
This is what I got - hardly a scrap of meat on them. I asked about the difference and he said it’s just varying lots. Some (few) have a lot of meat like what I’d gotten before, most do not.
I didn’t want to buy them and would not have, had I seen them on the shelf, but since I made him go to the trouble of cutting them I felt it wouldn’t be right to not buy them.
I guess these will become just stock, since there’s not enough meat on them to bother cooking for eating.
Oh well. Live and learn. 
I would add some red wine before the stock, etc., but burn off the alcohol before proceeding.
Don’t forget the marrow.
Interesting coincidence there. For the first batch I ended up combining ingredients from 2 recipes but mainly following the instructions/method on one of them. It called for 2 cups each red wine and beef broth.
In his narrative, he said to add the wine first atop the sautéed mirepoix and simmer 10-15 minutes to burn off the alcohol [1], then return the meat to the pot and add the beef broth. But on his recipe card the instructions had you add both liquids at the same time as you were reintroducing the beef.
I decided to follow the recipe card in this case - because it was such a long cook (about 4 hours), I figured it wouldn’t matter too much. If I use that recipe again (and if I can remember how I mashed the 2 original recipes together) maybe I’ll follow the burn-off instructions instead and see if it makes a detectable difference in the end.
I know it matters for a quicker cooking period because I have, once, just dumped in wine late in a process before (making a gravy, according to instruction, too) and could really smell/taste that “raw wine” essence.
[1] I read somewhere that the USDA published an alcohol content versus cook time experiment. At 10-15 minutes apparently you’ll still have about half the original alcohol, and at an hour it’ll be down to about 25 percent of the original. I’m fine with either - I just don’t want that raw full strength flavor - but I did have a discussion about it with a visiting relative long ago who, for religious reasons, doesn’t consume alcohol. I ended up switching to different dishes than I’d planned, the couple of nights she was over for dinner. No biggie.
That what I do. I have a little bottle of reduced wine. I never add starlight wine to anything. Reduce it first and use as you go. I like Cab Sauv most of the time.
Is it cool enough by you to pss pound that stuff for 4 hours? I think I’m going to use my old turkey fryer as my outdoor stock pot cooker. When it hits 100 is WI, we get a little uncomfortable.
Hah! Our electric bill runs to $400/month in the summer. I keep the house at 73°F. It was 98 yesterday so we caught a break - it was supposed to peak at 101.
I will sometimes boil down stock to concentrate it on the grill’s side burner, so as not to have all that humidity going into the house. But with just a small bit of wind, it’s hard to keep a Dutch oven out there at the perfect simmer. Although I guess I could have put it into the main cabinet of the grill - once up to heat and closed, I can usually keep it to a solid 275, 300, 325 (whatever) as long as there’s not strong wind.
I like just a bit less tannins when cooking and usually grab a cheapo $7 Aldi pinot noir.
Hey, that’s my other. I’ll also go Shiraz or Merlot. I’ll reduce a Winking Owl Cab Sauv, though. Works in a pinch. honestly a little goes a long way after you reduce it. I think the only time I don’t reduce is when I make coq au vin.
I no longer own a gas grill, but I do miss the little side burner for the application you state. $400!? Dayamn! I get psst when it’s up to $180, but, most of the time, we don’t need AC. This summer more than others, that’s for sure.
