Name: Chinese Clear Oxtail Soup
Ingredients: 6 slice meaty oxtail, fat removed; 2 x spring onion, cut in 2 each length; 2 inch ginger root, sliced; 2 tsp salt; 1/2 cup chinese rice wine; 1/2 tsp white pepper

Why it works: Onion and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,595 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chinese Clear Oxtail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Blanch oxtail in boiling water.

Simmer the soup

Place blanched oxtail, spring onions, ginger, wine, and salt in a pan and cover with water.
Cover the pan and bring to a boil.
Simmer until the oxtail is tender.

Serve

Add white pepper on top just before serving.
Serve, placing one piece of oxtail per bowl.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

283Calories

6 gProtein

1 gFat

58 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,595 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ginger + white peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together388 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ginger + rice winetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together283 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Onion + rice winetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together301 recipes

Shared aroma: acetal (cream, earthy).
Rice wine + white peppertop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Oxtail: Meaty pieces that release gelatin and flavour into the broth as they simmer until tender.
Chinese rice wine: Adds aromatic depth and helps lift and round out the meat flavour in the broth.
Ginger root: Contributes a warm, aromatic note that balances the rich meat flavour.

The step that matters

Blanch the oxtail before simmering. Boiling the meat briefly first coagulates and removes surface blood and impurities, so the finished broth stays clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or scummy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, ginger, rice wine):

Garlicfits better
Corianderfits better
Turmericfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, ginger, rice wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Chinese Clear Oxtail Soup