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Ox-tail Soup

A hearty soup made with beef, ox-tails, okra, rice, salt, and red pepper, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Okra and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 250 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Ox-tail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, combine the beef and ox-tails with enough water to cover.

  2. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam.

  3. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.

  4. Add the okra, salt, red pepper, and rice.

  5. Continue to simmer for 5 to 6 hours.

  6. Remove the vegetables and beef before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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. Okra + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together250 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  2. Okra + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together727 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,265 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef joint
Its marrow enriches the broth with body and rich flavour during long simmering.
Ox-tails
Collagen from the connective tissue breaks down into gelatin, giving the soup a silky body.
Okra
Its natural mucilage thickens the broth and gives it a smooth texture.
Rice
Starch released during simmering helps thicken the soup.

The step that matters

Skim off any foam after the boil. Foam carries impurities and fat that would make the broth cloudy and greasy, so removing it early keeps the soup clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the okra

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, rice):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Okrathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, rice. 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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