Oxtail Soup

I'm not sure I can accurately express my love of oxtail soup. It is, of course, completely delicious in its own right. I've eaten a lot of delicious food in my life though. I've made a lot of delicious food! Oxtail soup, though, is special. Oxtail soup is a labour of love.

The first time I tasted oxtail soup, it was a special treat made by my father. He spent all day simmering the tails, straining the soup, and then labourously picking the tender, luscious meat from the bones. The broth was thick and rich, the meat tender and succulent. The soup itself was delicious and this was magnified by the sheer time and effort that was needed to prepare it.

Expensive ingredients can be delicious and luxurious, but there's something special about a dish that takes time. And not just time simmering. Not time left stewing in a crockpot or roasting in an oven, but active, involved, preparation time. Oxtail, with all its bits of bone and connective tissue, forces you to slow down. It forces you to dedicate time to your cooking and makes the resulting concoction something truly extraordinary.

I've been meaning to try my hand at oxtail soup for a while now. Sadly, my dad seems to have lost his recipe. There are, of course, loads of recipes available online but, given the time that would go into this, I wanted to make sure I had a really good base recipe from which to work. I looked at a few, but none really sang to me. But, as so often happens, I stumbled upon something that looked really wonderful when I wasn't even looking for it!

I followed the recipe as written pretty closely, but I'll provide the full recipe here anyway, just because I liked it so much.

Oxtail Soup with Onion and Barley
6 Tbsp. bacon grease
4 lbs. oxtails
salt and pepper
3 large shallots, chopped fine
4 small carrots, chopped fine
2 ribs celery, chopped fine
6 small cloves garlic, minced
2 c. dry red wine
2 tsp. dried thyme
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
6 oz. white pearl onions
6 oz. yellow pearl onions
3 yellow onions, sliced
1/3 c. bourbon
2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. pot barley
garlic croustini, for serving

1. Season tails with salt and pepper and brown in oil/grease.
2. Remove tails and set aside. Add more oil/grease to pan and sauté shallot, carrot, and celery until lightly browned.
3. Add garlic and sauté for another minute or two.
4. Add 2 c. red wine and cook until reduced by half.
5. Add 4 c. water, thyme, parsley, and more pepper and return tails to pot.
6. Simmer, covered, for 3-4 hours.
7. Remove tails and set aside. Strain broth through a fine-mesh sieve. Mash and press solids until they have all (or very nearly so) been worked through into the broth below.
8. Boil pearl onions for 5 minutes. Cool, trim, peel, and halve. Set aside.
9. Add more grease/butter to pan and slowly cook onions until they being to caramelize (60+ minutes).
10. Add the pearl onions to the pan along with the bourbon/Tennessee whiskey. Cook until the liquid evaporates.
11. Combine chicken broth, oxtail broth, onions, and barley. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer, covered, for an hour or so.
12. In the meantime, pick the meat from the bones. Add the meat to the soup and allow it to warm through. Serve with garlic bread or garlic croustini.

Honestly, I only used bacon grease here because I had a bunch left over from the bacon from the fry-up and the pesto pizza. Otherwise, I probably would've just gone with olive oil for browning the tails and sautéing the vegetables and butter for the onions.

The biggest change I made to this recipe was probably when it came to straining the broth. I did strain it but, rather than discarding the solids, I forced them through the sieve. It took a while to work it all through (and there was still a small amount of residue left in the sieve at the end), but it makes the broth nice and rich, so I think it was worth the extra time.

I reduced the barley somewhat because I was worried about how much it would expand and whether or not it would end up sort of stealing the show. In retrospect, I think it would've been fine to include the full amount of barley, but it might be worthwhile adding a bit of extra liquid if you do. I think this would be a good use for the cooking water from the pearl onions actually.

This soup came out so, so good! The meat, of course, is tender and succulent; the broth rich and flavourful. The depth of flavour added by the wine and bourbon though really took this version of an old favourite to a new level for me. And the caramelized and pearl onions were a welcome addition as well. Definitely a keeper!