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Ox-Tail Soup
233. Boil an ox-tail, divided at the joints, slowly in a pint of water with a small lump of butter or good beef-dripping, for three hours, till the water is reduced one-half; then add half a carrot and turnip, an onion, and a small head of celery, a little lemon, and common thyme and parsley. Five or six peppercorns and a pinch of cayenne should be added, and also a tea-spoonful of salt. When the vegetables are quite tender, take them out and pulp them through a coarse sieve, after which mix with them two table-spoonsful of flour, and rub all up with the gravy in the stewpan; then add three pints of boiling water, stirring it in. Finally, boil up for a few minutes, and add a little browning, or good brown gravy. It may be made clear by omitting the flour. 234. FOR CLEAR OX-TAIL SOUP, nothing farther than the stock, for which a receipt is given at par. 221, will be required, except ox-tails cut through at each joint, and boiled tender in a stewpan. Add a little more salt and pepper. 235. FOR THICK OX-TAIL SOUP, thicken the same with flour and
A frugal Victorian method that builds a thick soup from one tail and very little liquid, then extends it at the end. The unusual part is the small initial quantity of water: the first three hours are a covered braise as much as a boil.
- The hinge: keep it barely simmering and coveredA pint of water will not cover a jointed ox-tail, so the pan must be lidded and the heat low enough that the liquid only reduces by half over three hours. Left uncovered or at a rolling boil it will scorch dry well before the meat gives way.
- Ox-tail todayAsk the butcher for a tail cut through the joints, about 2 to 2 1/2 lb. Supermarket tails are often sold pre-cut in packs; two packs of thick middle sections work better than the thin tip end, which is mostly bone.
- Skim the fatOx-tail renders a great deal of fat, and the recipe never says to remove it. Lift the fat off before adding the three pints of boiling water, or chill the braise overnight and take the set cap off in one piece.
- Quantities of vegetables"Half a carrot and turnip" means half of each; a small head of celery is roughly what we would call a few inner stalks with the heart, not a whole modern bunch. "A little lemon" is most likely a strip of peel or a thin slice rather than juice, though the recipe does not say.
- BrowningVictorian "browning" was burnt-sugar caramel sold for colouring soups and gravies. Gravy browning is still available, or use a teaspoon of dark soy or a spoonful of well-reduced brown stock for the same effect.
- Sieving the vegetablesPulping the cooked vegetables through a sieve and rubbing them with the flour is what thickens the soup; a food mill or a short burst with a stick blender does the same. Cook the flour in the gravy for a few minutes before the water goes in, or it will taste raw.
- Yield and servingFinished, this makes roughly three and a half pints, enough for six as a first course. Pick the meat off the bones and return it to the pot before serving rather than sending the joints to table.
- The clear versionParagraph 234 depends on the stock receipt at 221 elsewhere in the book. Without it, use a good clear brown beef stock and poach the jointed tails in it until tender, then strain carefully and season.