Community Cookbook: Continent’s Oxtail Lo Mein

Continent Brooklyn opened on June 1 in Williamsburg’s Hotel Indigo (500 Metropolitan Ave.) with inventive food and beverage menus inspired by Chef Scotley Innis’ Jamaican upbringing and a variety of international flavors.

“I’m excited to be back in my hometown and show the culmination of my work to this point through Continent Brooklyn,” said Chef Innis. “With the Continent brand, we have created a cool and magnetic experience based on the traditions, flavors, and techniques I’ve learned around the world. In Continent Brooklyn, I want to show people a slightly different part of myself as a New Yorker with Jamaican roots and offer an experience that is true to who I am but also feels authentic in its new home in Brooklyn.” 

For this week’s addition to the Community Cookbook, Chef Innis has shared his recipe for oxtail lo mein, which uses Jamaican-style oxtail pulled off the bone and tossed in sautéed baby bok choy, chambray onions and assorted bell peppers.

Learn how to make Continent’s Oxtail Lo Mein below and find last week’s Community Cookbook recipe here.

Continent’s Oxtail Lo Mein

Ingredients for Part 1

4 pounds of oxtail, rinsed with water and vinegar and patted dry

Cooking oil

1/4 cup of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of Pickapeppa sauce

1 tablespoon of all-purpose seasoning

1 tablespoon of oxtail seasoning

1 teaspoon of onion powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of Gravy Master, plus 1 more tablespoon later

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Fresh herbs: thyme, scallion, scotch bonnet pepper

1 large onion, diced

1 red or green bell pepper, diced

1 can of butter beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups of ice cubes

5 cups of water

Ingredients for Part 2

8 ounces of completed pulled oxtail 

4 ounces of completed oxtail stew

6 ounces of lo mein noodles

1 baby bok choy

1/2 ounce of green and red bell peppers

1/2 ounce of chambray (also known as Cambray) onions

1/2 ounce of sesame oil

1/4 ounce of soy sauce

1/2 ounce of brown sugar

topping: shredded carrots and green onions 

Directions Part 1

1. In a bowl, combine soy sauce, Pickapeppa sauce, all-purpose seasoning, oxtail seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of Gravy Master, and minced garlic. 
2. Rub this mixture all over the oxtail pieces. (Optionally, you can marinate for 2 hours.)
3. Heat a large Dutch oven over low to medium heat. After 3 minutes, add enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the Dutch oven. Heat the oil for another 3 minutes. 
4. Add the oxtail pieces in batches, browning them on all sides for about 30-40 minutes. (Be careful not to burn them.)
5. Once oxtail is browned, add 5 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of Gravy Master. Cover the Dutch oven and increase heat to medium. 
6. After 1 hour, add 2 cups of ice cubes to the pot. Stir until ice melts.
7. Add butter beans, diced onion, diced bell pepper, and fresh herbs (thyme, scallion, scotch bonnet pepper) to the Dutch oven. 
8. Season with 1 teaspoon of all-purpose seasoning, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 1 teaspoon of oxtail seasoning. 
9. Stir well, cover, and cook on medium heat for another 45 minutes or until oxtail is tender. (Check seasoning and adjust if necessary and set aside.) 

Directions Part 2

1. In a separate pot, sauté bell peppers, chambray onions and bok choy for one minute. 
2. Set vegetables aside, then add soy sauce and bring to a boil. 
3. Add brown sugar and cook till dissolved, then add oxtail stew and bring to a boil. 
4. Add vegetables back to pot. 
5. In a separate pan, cook lo mein noodles in boiling water for 8 minutes. 
6. Combine noodles with the vegetable and stew mixture, and bring to a boil.
7. Toss in another pan with sesame oil. Simmer for about 1 minute until noodles are fully coated in the mixture. 
8. Transfer all ingredients into a serving bowl then top with pulled oxtail and garnish with shredded carrots and green onions.