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Ox-Tail

A boiled ox tail served grilled with breadcrumbs and clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ox-Tail

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ox tail

  1. Bring plenty of salted water to a boil in a pot.

  2. Simmer the ox tail for 15 minutes.

  3. Remove the ox tail and place it in fresh water to cool.

  4. Wipe it dry.

Stew and season

  1. Arrange the ox tail in a small stewpan without cutting it.

  2. Cover with beef gravy and stew gently until very tender.

  3. Drain excess liquid.

  4. Sprinkle with salt and cayenne pepper.

Coat and grill

  1. Dip the ox tail in clarified butter.

  2. Coat it thickly with bread crumbs.

  3. Grill the coated ox tail until browned all over.

  4. Serve immediately.

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

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

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tail
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing in liquid.
Beef gravy
Keeps the meat moist and adds savory beef flavor during the stew.
Clarified butter
Helps the bread crumbs adhere and promotes browning on the grill.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust that contrasts with the tender meat.

The step that matters

Stew gently until very tender. Collagen in ox tail only breaks down into gelatin with long, gentle heat. Rushing or boiling hard leaves the meat tough and stringy.

“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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