Rosy Oxtail Soup

A canned-soup embellishment of the kind that filled mid-century chuck-wagon and patio cookbooks. Two of its ingredients are no longer stocked, and one instruction carries the whole dish.

• The hinge: never boil the wineThe hinge: don't let the wine boil hard -- the recipe says to reheat only to boiling point, so take it just there and no further. A rolling boil will drive off some of the alcohol along with the wine's fruit.
• "1 can condensed"A standard condensed soup can of the period held about 10 to 11 oz, much as now. One cup of water plus half a cup of wine is a little more liquid than the label's own dilution, so the finished soup runs thin.
• Condensed oxtail soupCanned oxtail soup is still made in Britain and turns up in some import aisles, but it is scarce in American supermarkets.
• Burnt onion juiceA bottled seasoning of browned onion, close kin to a browning sauce, and no longer easy to find. Half a teaspoon of a browning-and-seasoning sauce, or the juice pressed from a deeply caramelized onion, is the nearest stand-in.
• Rind of one lemonPare it in wide strips with a peeler, taking no white pith, and let it steep during the five minutes. It is removed at the straining stage, so no zesting is needed.
• StrainingThe strain is not optional housekeeping; it pulls out the rind and the meat shreds so the finished soup is clear enough for the paprika to read as color. Line the sieve with a coffee filter or cloth if you want it bright.
• Wine choiceSomething dry and unoaked: a light red or even a dry ros"
• WatercressChop it fine and stir it in off the heat. Thirty seconds of residual warmth wilts it; longer turns it drab and grassy.
• YieldAbout two and a half cups, or three small cups as a first course. The recipe salts with the simmering liquid; go lightly and taste, since canned soup is already salted.