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Hotch-potch of Ox Tails

A slow-cooked ox tail stew with onions, carrots, herbs, bacon, and a roux-based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,768 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Hotch-potch of Ox Tails

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ox tail

  1. Cut the ox tail into joints.

  2. Blanch the ox tail joints.

Braise

  1. Cover the bottom of a saucepan with butcher's meat trimmings.

  2. Add the ox tail, onions, carrots, herbs, bay leaf, garlic, thyme, basil, and cloves.

  3. Moisten with water but do not cover the meat completely.

  4. Top with slices of bacon.

  5. Bring to a boil.

  6. Cover with a round of paper and simmer on low heat for 4 to 5 hours.

  7. Drain the meat.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Serve with a ragout of roots.

  2. If no sauce is available, make a roux with 2 tablespoons of butter and enough flour to form a paste.

  3. Melt the roux on low heat, stirring to prevent burning.

  4. Add the stock from the ox tail. Mix well.

  5. Strain if necessary.

  6. Prepare the roots as directed for the ragout.

  7. Add the roots to the sauce.

  8. Let boil with a bit of sugar and butter.

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. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tail
Provides the meat and, through slow simmering, the gelatin that enriches the stock.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as they cook down.
Carrots
Contribute natural sweetness and body to the stock and the root ragout.
Bacon
Adds smoky, salty fat that flavors the braising liquid as it renders.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter into a roux.
Butter
Enriches the roux and gives the sauce a rounder, richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Melt the roux on low heat. Flour cooked over high heat scorches before it thickens, so stirring on low heat prevents burning and gives a smooth, evenly thickened sauce.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, carrot, garlic, thyme, basil, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, carrot, garlic, thyme, basil, butter. 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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