Name: Ox-tail Soup
Ingredients: 1 quart split peas; 6 quarts water; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; ox-tail (cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces)

Ox-tail Soup

Ingredients

1 quart split peas
6 quarts water
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
ox-tail (cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces)

Directions

Prepare

Pick and wash the split peas, then soak them in water overnight.
Prepare the ox-tail by removing the small cord from the underside and cutting it into 3 or 4 inch pieces.

Cook

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt.
Add the soaked peas and the prepared ox-tail to the boiling water.
Boil for 3 hours until everything is soft.
Strain the mixture, return it to the pot, and boil for an additional 5 minutes.

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas: Break down during long boiling to thicken the soup and give it body.
Ox-tail: Releases gelatin and flavor into the broth, adding richness and body.

“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.