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Ox-Tail

Ox tail simmered, seasoned, breaded, and grilled.

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

Parboil and cool

  1. Boil a salted pot of water and simmer the ox-tail for 15 minutes.

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

  3. Wipe the ox-tail and place it in a small stewpan without cutting it.

Stew

  1. Cover the ox-tail with beef gravy and stew gently until very tender.

Coat and grill

  1. Drain the ox-tail slightly, then sprinkle with salt and cayenne.

  2. Dip the ox-tail in clarified butter, then coat it with bread crumbs.

  3. Grill the ox-tail until evenly browned, then 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
Provides the meat that becomes tender through long, gentle stewing in liquid.
Beef gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour while the ox-tail stews until tender.
Clarified butter
Carries fat to the crumb coating, helping it brown evenly on the grill.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust on the outside of the meat.

The step that matters

Grill until evenly browned. The crumb coat browns through dry heat, but the meat is already cooked. Grilling too long dries the crumbs and the surface while the interior stays tender, so watch closely and turn the piece for even colour.

“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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