Rabo de Toro (Oxtail)....Where?

Which carnicería is most likely to have it?

Maybe start with the one in the Ajijic Plaza?

Live and Learn.  The rest of the story.

I have seen what I know in the US as oxtails in the El Torito butcher case for years.  Never bought it, but recently saw a recipe for it that I want to make.  I have had oxtail in Spain and it is listed as rabo de toro on the menu.  

There was none in the case yesterday at El Torito so I asked for it at the counter.  I speak decent "food" Spanish.  When I asked for rabo de toro, the young man said, No, as in, No we've never had it.

I explained I saw a small pkg. of it in the case just 2 days before.  No, he said and the older man in the back came out and joined in.  I did my best to describe it, but still a firm (but polite) No.  The younger man pointed to sliced chamorro in the case and said, maybe I saw that and thought it was rabo de toro.  Well, I know sliced chamorro when I see it, but I also know when to end a conversation on a friendly note where everyone saves face. Es posible, I said.

Fast forward today at Mr. Bull.  I asked if they have rabo de toro and the two women in the store pretty much recoiled in horror.  I told them that earlier today the person who answered my message to Mr. Bull's FB page had said, Sí, that rabo de toro was sold at both locations in Ajijic.

After several seconds of quizzical looks, one woman walked me over to a freezer and took out a pkg. of what I immediately recognized as oxtails.  She asked if I meant this, cola de res (I did not know the term).  I pointed to the pkg. and said that was exactly what I wanted.  Then I asked if it wasn't the same as rabo de toro.  No, they both said to me, cola de res is res.  And rabo de toro is not res, they both agreed.  Huh??  For some reason they do not consider a bull to be beef???

I made my purchase and happily left with my rabo de toro  cola de res  oxtails.  

In researching after I got home, I found that both terms mean oxtail, but rabo de toro is common in Spain while cola de res is used in MX.  I remain confused by the two señoras' insistence that el toro (bull) is not res (beef).  

If nothing else I will enjoy the irony that this conversation took place at a butcher shop whose name can only be translated as, Señor Toro

Evidently bull meat isn't marketed in the US or Mexico.  Bulls are considered breeding animals, not suitable for eating.

Even in Spain rabo de toro (tail of the bull) is now just plain old oxtails.

While the local store employees understood the literal translation of the term, they could not comprehend why this gringa wanted bull meat!

Sanish Rabo de Toro Recipe

Rabo de Toro is a Spanish dish of stewed ox tail cooked for several hours in a red wine and tomato stock mixture.

Traditionally, Rabo de Toro was made out of the tails of fighting bulls – a male cow who had succumbed to a bull fight. Today, is more popularly made with ox tail. The ox tail comes from both male and female domesticated cattle raised for their meat and milk.

Bull meat is the processors choice animal for hamburger, frankfurters and lunch meat. They bring a premium price over cow meat as they dress out a higher percentage of meat per carcass.