Pulled Oxtail Meat and Methods of Preparation

A method of preparing pulled oxtail meat, the method comprising:

• i) portioning raw oxtail into a plurality of sections, each section comprising oxtail bone and oxtail meat;
• ii) seasoning the plurality of oxtail sections to provide seasoned oxtail portions;
• iii) searing the seasoned oxtail portions to provide seared oxtail portions;
• iv) slow-cooking the seared oxtail portions to provide cooked oxtail portions, wherein the internal temperature of the oxtail meat on at least one seared oxtail portion reaches a temperature of about 165° F.;
• v) cooling the cooked oxtail portions from a temperature of about 130° F. to about 80° F. over a period of about 1 to about 2 hours;
• and
• vi) manually separating the oxtail meat from the oxtail bone to provide pulled oxtail meat and cooked oxtail bone.