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Ox-tail Soup

A hearty soup made from ox tails simmered with onion, carrot, and tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,606 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ox-tail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Wash the ox tails.

  2. Place them in a kettle with cold water and salt.

  3. Skim off the broth as it cooks.

  4. Remove the bones.

Chill and finish

  1. Add the chopped onion, carrot, and tomatoes.

  2. Refrigerate overnight to remove fat from the top.

  3. Add the vegetables.

  4. Boil for an additional 1.5 hours.

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. Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

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

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tails
Collagen breaks down into gelatin during long simmering, giving the broth body and a rich mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds savory aromatic depth as its sugars and flavor compounds release into the broth.
Carrot
Contributes gentle sweetness and rounds out the broth's flavor as it softens.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and savory tomato flavor that brightens the rich broth.

The step that matters

Skim off the broth as it cooks. Foam and fine impurities rise to the surface during simmering. Removing them keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting rather than cloudy or greasy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, tomato):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, tomato. 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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