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Clear Ox-tail Soup

A clear broth made from ox tail, beef, veal, and vegetables, seasoned with herbs and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Clear Ox-tail Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ox tail

  1. Soak the ox tail in salt water for 24 hours, changing the water frequently.

  2. Bone the ox tail. Tie the meat in a thin cloth.

  3. Break the bones into small pieces.

  4. Place the bones in a stew pan. Cover with cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil.

  5. Strain the broth.

  6. Wash the ox tail in cold water.

  7. Return the meat and bones to the stew pan. Add stock and 1 dessert spoon of salt. Boil.

  8. Skim off the scum.

Make the soup

  1. Add the prepared vegetables, herbs, peppercorns, cloves, and mace. Cover.

  2. Cook slowly for about 3 hours.

  3. Strain the soup. Set the meat aside.

  4. Let the stock cool to remove the fat.

  5. Clarify the stock with coarsely chopped beef, veal, and egg whites.

  6. Return the clarified stock to the saucepan.

  7. Add sherry, lemon juice, and some meat cut into small pieces. Season to taste. Bring to a boil.

  8. Serve.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tail
Provides the main meat and gelatin-rich body for the broth.
Egg whites
Attract and trap cloudy particles so the stock clears when clarified.
Sherry
Adds aroma and a mellow, slightly sweet depth to the finished soup.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the rich broth.
Lean beef
Adds meaty flavor and, with the egg whites, helps clarify the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum and cooling to remove fat. Removing scum as it rises keeps the broth clean-tasting, and chilling lets fat solidify on top so it can be lifted off, leaving a clearer, lighter soup.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, clove, sherry):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, clove, sherry. 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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