Bourbon maple coffee neck bones

"Beefy"

I know you have heard of oxtails, but have you heard of neck bones? In Jamaica, Oxtail is like that golden child who always steals the show because they are so outgoing and extroverted they scream look at me, I’m delicious and beautiful and worth the ridiculous prices restaurants and grocery stores charge to have me. Meanwhile their sibling neck bone, on the other end of the cow, is just as delicious and beautiful but, are not very popular, no one really makes it and showcases it and shows it off, no one does anything new and different with it. A quick google search of neck bones will show links asking what is it? and what to do with it? rather than the 50 pages of recipes you get when you search for oxtails.

So here I am to add a gold star to the lapel of neck bones. Not just slow cooked with gravy. But seared and cooked until tender soaking up a delicious spicy sauce filled with bourbon, maple syrup and coffee.

Call it breakfast neck bones. Why? because I couldn’t think of a better vessel to serve these up on rather than some eggo waffles. Especially since it has coffee and maple syrup in there.  Mashed potatoes were a top contender, but I wanted some crispy waffles underneath this juicy plate of bones and meat. Ideally If I had a waffle iron I would have made some orange zest waffles. The flavor of the orange zest in the waffles would be perfection with the coffee maple and bourbon. This idea however I will have to try the next time I make these. I have the waffle iron in my amazon shopping cart, just need to get around to ordering it.

I originally was going to smoked the neck bones (but last post I smoked the oxtails). So I decided to skip the smoking, not only because I smoked twice this month, but smoking meat really transforms the taste completely and I wanted a more pure neckbone flavor rather than for it to be a hickory or pimento or apple wood smoked meat. So I went for a simple sear, then slow cooked in the sauce until tender. It’s not an instant gratification dish, you have to wait until the neck bones decide they want to come out of their shell and be tender. But trust me, it’s worth every single second of that wait.

Ingredients (printable recipe)

3 lb beef neck bones

1 ½  teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon Black pepper

½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon Onion powder

2 tablespoon coconut oil

Sauce

2/3 cup bourbon

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon vinegar

Instructions

• Season the neck bones with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and onion powder
• Allow it to marinate over night
• In a pot add coconut oil and on high heat sear both sides of the neck bones
• In a bowl combine bourbon, maple syrup, soy sauce and vinegar, mix until everything it combined
• Once the neck bones have been seared add the sauce and bring to boil
• Cover tightly with foil and place in a 300 degree oven for 2- 4 hours or until the meat is tender
• Alternately you can put in your slow cooker and cook until tender
• Once tender allow the sauce to reduce to a thick glaze on the stove top.
• I served my neck bones with waffles

From @greedygirlcooks insta stories 

Xoxo Greedygirl