Oxtail Soup

Dinner | British

Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 1 min Servings: 4

Oxtail soup is one of my all time favourites. It was the soup my mum used to make for us in the middle of winter in Wellington, New Zealand, when it was cold and wet. It's savoury, rich, and full of beefy goodness.

Traditionally slow-cooked for hours, it's made by simmering oxtail with vegetables, stock, and aromatics until the meat falls off the bone and the broth thickens into a deeply savoury soup. I’ve stuck close to the English-style version (thick and gravy-like) but added a few extras like star anise and cloves for more lift. Pressure cooking gets you the same result in a fraction of the time.

The oxtail gets browned hard in beef tallow first to build a deep fond, then braised in red wine, beef stock, and chicken stock with the vegetables and aromatics. The pressure cooker cuts what would otherwise be a 3-hour braise down to about an hour. If you don’t have one, a heavy-based saucepan with a lid on low heat for 3 hours gives you the same result. At the end the meat is stripped off the bones and returned to the broth, which by that point should be thick, deeply savoury, and rich enough to serve as is with good crusty bread.

Ingredient Notes

Oxtail: Oxtail is the tail of the cow, cross-cut into sections. The bones and cartilage are extremely collagen-rich, which is why the broth thickens so well during a long braise. Most butchers stock it, though you may need to order in advance for a larger quantity like this. If you buy a whole tail rather than pre-portioned pieces, a cleaver or heavy chef’s knife is needed to cut through the joints.

Beef tallow: Rendered beef fat with a high smoke point, which makes it ideal for browning the oxtail at high heat without burning. I use it in two stages here: the first batch to brown the oxtail (which gets discarded because it picks up flour from the coating), and a fresh amount for the vegetable base. Lard or a neutral high-smoke oil works if you can’t find tallow.

Star anise and cloves: These whole spices add a layer of warmth to the broth that you don’t get from just thyme and bay leaves alone. They’re subtle at the quantities used here. Both need to be removed before serving along with the other whole aromatics. If you’re worried about missing a clove in the finished soup, tie them in a small piece of muslin cloth or a spice bag before adding them to the pot.

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Pressure cooker pot or heavy-based saucepan with lid
Large bowl (for flouring the oxtail)
Tongs
Wire rack and tray
Ladle

Ingredients

1.5kg (3.3 lbs) oxtail, sliced into pieces
⅓ cup (50g) plain flour
sea salt and black pepper
40g beef tallow
2 brown onions, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 turnip, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 star anise
4 whole cloves
250ml (1 cup) red wine
500ml (2 cups) beef stock
1L chicken stock
2 stalks parsley
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
crusty bread, to serve

Directions

Brown oxtail
Portion the oxtail (if you bought it whole). Add the flour, 2 large pinches of salt and about 3 grinds of pepper in a bowl. Toss the oxtail pieces in the flour mix.
Heat half the tallow in a pressure cooker pot on medium-high heat. Brown the oxtail in batches, turning to get a good colour on all sides.
Dice your veggies while you’re waiting for the oxtail to brown.
Once all the oxtail pieces are well browned on all sides, set them aside.
Cook the veg base
Pour off the fat from the pot, then add the remaining tallow. Add the onion and a large pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the celery, carrot and turnip and cook for another 3 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, thyme, bay leaves, tomato paste, cloves and star anise. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute to bring out the aromatics.
Cook
Pour in the red wine and bring to a simmer. Let it reduce by half.
Return the oxtails back to the pot.
Add the beef and chicken stocks along with the parsley stalks. Bring to a simmer, then secure the pressure cooker lid on. Set to high pressure and cook for 60 mins.
Release the pressure and wait for all the steam to release before opening.
Finish and serve
Transfer oxtail to a wire rack over a tray and discard the parsley stalks, thyme stalks, cloves, bay leaves and star anise.
Shred the meat off the bones and return it to the soup, discarding the bones. Give it a stir. Check for seasoning and stir in vinegar.
Ladle into serving bowls and serve with crusty bread for dipping.

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe notes