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Oxtails Stew

A Jamaican stew of oxtail simmered with bacon, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and butter beans.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Oxtails Stew

Time3.5 to 4 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oxtail

  1. Trim away excess fat from the oxtail.

  2. Place the oxtail in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes to blanch.

  3. Drain the oxtail well on absorbent paper.

  4. Coat the oxtail with cornflour.

  5. Sprinkle the oxtail with salt and pepper.

Brown and build the stew

  1. Heat cooking oil in a heavy skillet.

  2. Brown the oxtail on both sides.

  3. Remove the oxtail from the skillet when browned.

  4. Pour off the excess fat from the skillet.

  5. Dice the bacon.

  6. Fry the diced bacon for a few minutes.

  7. Return the oxtail to the pot with the bacon.

  8. Add the carrots to the pot.

  9. Add the sliced onions to the pot.

  10. Add the crushed garlic to the pot.

  11. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pot.

  12. Add the hot water to the pot.

  13. Cover the pot.

Simmer and finish

  1. Simmer gently for 3.5 to 4 hours or until the oxtail is almost tender.

  2. Add more liquid if necessary.

  3. Season the stew.

  4. Cover the pot again.

  5. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

  6. Add the butter beans to the pot.

  7. Allow the stew to simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

526Calories
14 gProtein
29 gFat
57 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 14 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lima Bean1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Beannot in our table0

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.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Oxtail
Provides meat and gelatin-rich connective tissue that becomes tender and silky during long simmering.
Cornflour
Coats the oxtail so it browns well and helps thicken the stew's sauce.
Bacon
Renders fat and adds savoury, smoky flavour to the base of the stew.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding depth to the stew's flavour.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body to the liquid, rounding out the stew's flavour.
Butter beans
Add starch and creamy texture to the stew near the end of cooking.

The step that matters

Browning the oxtail. Searing dry, coated pieces in hot oil creates browned surfaces through the Maillard reaction, which builds deep savoury flavour that carries into the stew. Pale, crowded pieces will taste flat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, sugar, clove, garlic, carrot, tomato, thyme):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar, clove, garlic, carrot, tomato, thyme. 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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