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Ox Tail Soup

A hearty soup made by simmering ox tails with cloves, onions, allspice, and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ox Tail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the ox tails in warm water while preparing the vegetables.

  2. In a large stew-pan, combine the ox tails, cloves, onions, allspice, black pepper, and cover with cold water.

Simmer and cool

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours, skimming off any scum that rises.

  2. Remove the tails, strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pan, and set aside to cool overnight.

Finish the soup

  1. The next day, cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, skim the broth, and return 2 quarts of it to the pan with the meat.

  2. Simmer gently for another 30 minutes.

  3. Season with salt, Cayenne pepper, and a splash of wine or brandy if desired.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Clove + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tails
Supply the meat and collagen that give the broth body and a rich, savoury flavour.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they simmer for hours.
Cloves
Contribute a warm, aromatic spice note to the broth.
Allspice
Adds a warm, peppery aroma that complements the beef flavour.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum during the 3-hour simmer. Impurities and fat that rise early cloud the broth and can taste bitter. Skimming them as they form keeps the soup clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, allspice, pepper. 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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