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Oxtails, to Prepare

A braised oxtail dish with bacon, veal trimmings, carrots, onions, bouquet garni, and a crispy breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Oxtails, to Prepare

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oxtails

  1. Soak the oxtails in water for 2 hours.

  2. Blanch the oxtails in boiling water for 15 minutes.

  3. Rinse the oxtails in cold water and drain them.

Braise

  1. In a stew pan, layer ham or bacon, veal or beef trimmings, carrots, onions, bouquet garni, and peppercorns.

  2. Place the oxtails on top of the layered ingredients.

  3. Cover the oxtails with buttered paper.

  4. Add enough stock to moisten the ingredients without covering the tails.

  5. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  6. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the oxtails from the pan and place them on a hot dish.

  2. Garnish the dish with carrots tossed in veloute and braised vegetables.

  3. Season the oxtails with salt and cayenne pepper.

  4. Roll the oxtails in melted butter, then coat them in breadcrumbs.

  5. Broil the oxtails until golden.

  6. Serve the oxtails with mayonnaise or tartare sauce.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Oxtails
Provide the meat that becomes tender and rich during long, slow simmering.
Veal or beef trimmings
Add gelatin and savoury depth to the braising liquid.
Ham or bacon
Adds salty, smoky flavour to the braising base.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic flavour to the braising liquid and garnish.
Melted butter
Carries seasoning and promotes golden browning under the broiler.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the oxtails.

The step that matters

Simmer without covering the tails. Stock should only moisten the base so the oxtails stay partly exposed. Fully submerged meat braises and steams rather than staying concentrated, and the buttered paper keeps the tops moist while the bottoms cook gently.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, carrot, onion, pepper, butter, sauce):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, carrot, onion, pepper, butter, sauce. 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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