Oxtail Soup

Name: Oxtail Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 45 min
Total time: 2 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 1.5kg (3.3 lbs) oxtail, sliced into pieces; ⅓ cup (50g) plain flour; sea salt and black pepper; 40g beef tallow; 2 brown onions, diced; 2 sticks celery, diced; 2 carrots, diced; 1 turnip, diced; 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 sprigs thyme; 2 bay leaves; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 star anise; 4 whole cloves; 250ml (1 cup) red wine; 500ml (2 cups) beef stock; 1L chicken stock; 2 stalks parsley; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; crusty bread, to serve

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Oxtail Soup

Ingredients

1.5kg (3.3 lbs) oxtail, sliced into pieces
⅓ cup (50g) plain flour
sea salt and black pepper
40g beef tallow
2 brown onions, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 turnip, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 star anise
4 whole cloves
250ml (1 cup) red wine
500ml (2 cups) beef stock
1L chicken stock
2 stalks parsley
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
crusty bread, to serve

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Pressure cooker pot or heavy-based saucepan with lid
Large bowl (for flouring the oxtail)
Tongs
Wire rack and tray
Ladle

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Directions

BROWN OXTAIL

Portion the oxtail (if you bought it whole). Add the flour, 2 large pinches of salt and about 3 grinds of pepper in a bowl. Toss the oxtail pieces in the flour mix.
Heat half the tallow in a pressure cooker pot on medium-high heat. Brown the oxtail in batches, turning to get a good colour on all sides.
Dice your veggies while you’re waiting for the oxtail to brown.
Once all the oxtail pieces are well browned on all sides, set them aside.

COOK THE VEG BASE

Pour off the fat from the pot, then add the remaining tallow. Add the onion and a large pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the celery, carrot and turnip and cook for another 3 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, thyme, bay leaves, tomato paste, cloves and star anise. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute to bring out the aromatics.

COOK

Pour in the red wine and bring to a simmer. Let it reduce by half.
Return the oxtails back to the pot.
Add the beef and chicken stocks along with the parsley stalks. Bring to a simmer, then secure the pressure cooker lid on. Set to high pressure and cook for 60 mins.
Release the pressure and wait for all the steam to release before opening.

FINISH AND SERVE

Transfer oxtail to a wire rack over a tray and discard the parsley stalks, thyme stalks, cloves, bay leaves and star anise.
Shred the meat off the bones and return it to the soup, discarding the bones. Give it a stir. Check for seasoning and stir in vinegar.
Ladle into serving bowls and serve with crusty bread for dipping.

Notes

Brown the oxtail in batches

Crowding the pan drops the temperature and steams the meat instead of searing it. You want each piece to have direct contact with the hot tallow and enough space around it for the moisture to evaporate. Work in batches of 3 or 4 pieces at a time and don’t move them until a proper crust has formed on each side. The colour you build here directly affects the depth of flavour in the finished broth.

Cooking method

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, cook as per the above method in a heavy based saucepan with a lid. Once the stock has come to a simmer, cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer soup on low for 3 hours, until meat is fall-apart tender.

Cook support

Why don’t I reuse the first lot of tallow? As we cooked the oxtail in flour, there will be lots of flour now in the tallow. If we use this in the soup, it will change the texture.

Sourcing

Whole oxtail can be sourced from your local butcher or ask them to portion it for you if you are not confident with the cleaver method.

Substitutions

You can use lard or oil if you do not have beef tallow on hand. If you want to make this dish gluten free, just toss the oxtail in cornflour (cornstarch) instead of plain flour for a gluten free version, just double check that your stocks are GF and swap the bread out for GF bread.

Storage

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to several days, or frozen for several months.

Serving ideas

For some extra flavour when serving you could melt some Cheddar or Gruyere cheese on thick sliced toasted bread to serve with the soup.

Ingredient Notes

Oxtail:

Oxtail is the tail of the cow, cross-cut into sections. The bones and cartilage are extremely collagen-rich, which is why the broth thickens so well during a long braise. Most butchers stock it, though you may need to order in advance for a larger quantity like this. If you buy a whole tail rather than pre-portioned pieces, a cleaver or heavy chef’s knife is needed to cut through the joints.

Beef tallow:

Rendered beef fat with a high smoke point, which makes it ideal for browning the oxtail at high heat without burning. I use it in two stages here: the first batch to brown the oxtail (which gets discarded because it picks up flour from the coating), and a fresh amount for the vegetable base. Lard or a neutral high-smoke oil works if you can’t find tallow.

Star anise and cloves:

These whole spices add a layer of warmth to the broth that you don’t get from just thyme and bay leaves alone. They’re subtle at the quantities used here. Both need to be removed before serving along with the other whole aromatics. If you’re worried about missing a clove in the finished soup, tie them in a small piece of muslin cloth or a spice bag before adding them to the pot.