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Oxtail, Bearnaise Sauce

Braised oxtail served with Bearnaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Oxtail, Bearnaise Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the oxtails into 4‑inch joints, parboil, and rinse under running water.

  2. Line a saucepan with raw ham, sliced carrots, onions, peppercorns, and herbs.

  3. Place the oxtails on top and add stock to cover.

Cook and cool

  1. Simmer for three hours.

  2. Let the oxtails cool in the stock.

Coat and serve

  1. Dip the oxtails in melted butter.

  2. Coat the oxtails with bread crumbs.

  3. Broil over a clear fire until golden brown.

  4. Serve with Bearnaise sauce on the side.

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 + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Oxtails
Provide the meat that becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
Melted butter
Carries the bread crumb coating and adds richness and browning during broiling.
Fresh grated bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the oxtails when broiled.
Stock
Cooks the oxtails gently and keeps them moist while they simmer.

The step that matters

Broil over a clear fire until golden brown. Buttered, crumbed meat browns quickly over direct heat, so it can scorch before the crust sets and the surface is evenly colored. Watching closely keeps the coating golden rather than burnt.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, butter, bread):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, butter, bread. 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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