The Soup We've Been Waiting For!

A long time back I came across this post by Monica at the simply being well blog and I filed it away in my mind. I was really impressed with how excited she was about this soup, but I really didn't know how to go about sourcing oxtail. A few weekends ago I ordered "soup bones" from the farmer where we buy our meat and she gave me oxtail. So it was obviously a sign from the universe!

I would just like to share that both my children say something along the lines of "Yum. Yum. Yummy!" as they slurp this soup up! Coming from children who used to scream, "This tastes like chicken feet!" not in a complimentary way, a triple yum followed by slurping speaks highly of this soup.

I did not follow Monica's technique or recipe exactly, because I didn't want the meat to cook for 20 hours. That just seemed like it would be too long. So I searched around and found this post from the Cheeselave blog and then this is what I did:

My Version of Oxtail Soup

First make the Stock

1.6 pounds oxtail
3 carrots, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
peppercorns, lightly crushed

In some tallow, brown the oxtail on all sides. Then add the vegetables, peppercorns and water to cover and bring to a boil. Skim stock, then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 12 hours. At this point I removed the bones/meat and pulled the meat from the bone. Tossed the bones back in and let them continue to simmer for another 8 or so hours.

Now for the Soup

I chose to make a very-thick-with-vegetable soup so you could adjust this for your preference.

5 carrots, washed and sliced in my food processor
2 onions, also sliced thin in the food processor
1/2 of a small green cabbage, finely shredded (by hand)
two big handfuls of yellow wax beans, chopped in to bite size pieces
2 - 3 quarts of oxtail stock
All the meat, fat, soft parts from the oxtail, chopped into very small pieces
a nice knob of ginger, sliced in the food processor (this makes it easy to take out of the girls soup)
5 leaves of chard, destemmed and chopped
one bunch of parsley, chopped
Himalayan salt to taste
tallow or some other fat for cooking

Put the carrots, onions, cabbage and wax beans in your soup pot with some melted tallow. Cover and let those start to cook. After the vegetables are becoming tender, add the stock and bring to a simmer. Add the ginger, chard and parsley closer to the end, so they can just wilt into the soup. Add the meat to warm through and season with salt.

When you serve, be sure to add some extra fat to your bowl! Enjoy!

Tasting notes: This soup has a sweet flavor to it and the meat is tender, despite having simmered for 12 hours. In my next batch I will try leaving the meat in for the full 20 hours just to see how it turns out  I used my dutch oven to brown the oxtail and make the stock and soup and I think I put too much water in so didn't get the gel in the stock as I would have liked. I am going to try again. And soon!