German oxtail soup is another dish in the category of gelatinous dishes that Swabians love. And it is not even made from weird parts like pig head, cow nose, or tripe. It’s a cut of beef that almost anyone loves. It’s meaty, fatty, and gelatinous!
Oftentimes, you hear the fairytale of oxtail being a poor man’s food and how wholesome it is because the tail is part of nose-to-tail eating. That’s a nice bedtime story to tell yourself but poor Swabians certainly didn’t eat oxtail soup with Madeira wine. They ate other weird parts of the pig and cow; like blood, kidneys, stomach, or the ears and nose. The highlight for many was the pig brain soup that was served at weddings. Oxtail is not one of the cheapest cuts of beef in Germany.
Having said that, oxtail is delicious and you cannot mess it up. However, German oxtail soup is a refined dish. If it is served in restaurants, they defat the beef broth. I don’t do that. You can see the fat floating on top of the soup. The picture is less pretty but that fat tastes good. Removing it is a waste of flavor!
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The two versions of German oxtail soup
There are two versions of German oxtail soup: The cloudy soup (“gebundene Ochsenschwanzsuppe”) and the clear soup (“klare Ochsenschwanzsuppe”). The cloudy soup is thickened with a roux whereas the clear soup is clarified like a consommé with minced meat and egg whites.
Just before serving, the cloudy German oxtail soup is enriched with Madeira wine (some cheap people use sherry). Madeira is a Portuguese island. It is the place where the first African slaves worked on European sugar plantations before the sugar production was outsourced to the Caribean Islands. Today, it is a popular tourist destination.
I guess now you can see why German oxtail soup was traditionally not a poor man’s food (at least in Swabia). It is a food that was popular among wealthy people.
- The broth is defatted (not by me). That’s something no poor Swabian would ever do!
- The clear soup is clarified with minced meat and egg whites to get it crystal clear. Ok, which poor Swabian would waste meat and eggs to clarify a broth?
- The cloudy soup is enriched with Madeira wine. Which poor Swabian could afford this foreign delicacy?
- Oxtail is a meaty, fatty, and tender cut of beef. This makes it a popular cut of beef rather than a “waste product”.
Things to consider when preparing the dish
I always use my pressure cooker to prepare broths and stews. But it is your choice if you want to wait several hours until the meat is tender. I don’t have that time. Oxtail is a tough cut. About 3 hours of simmering is the minimum to get oxtail tender in a Dutch oven. The pressure cooker achieves that in 45 minutes.
Besides that, this dish is pretty straightforward. I don’t thicken my oxtail soup a lot. I just aim for a slightly creamy texture. If you like your oxtail soup thicker, you can thicken it more with extra flour or cornstarch. That also prevents the fat from floating to the top. I don’t mind about the fat droplets. They are delicious!
It’s important that you add some of the Madeira wine just before serving. This soup is alcoholic. You don’t want to boil all the alcohol off. Alcohol is a great solvent for aroma compounds. It intensifies the flavor and makes the soup extra delicious.
German Oxtail Soup (‘Gebundene Ochsenschwanzsuppe’)
Ingredients
For the broth:
- 1.5 pounds (650 grams) oxtail
- salt, to taste
- 3 tablespoons lard
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- a bunch of soup vegetables (carrots, celeriac, leek)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- a few sprigs of thyme
- a few sprigs of parsley
For binding and finishing the soup:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons white flour
- 1/2 cup Madeira wine (+more for serving)
- salt, to taste
Instructions
Prepare the broth:
- Season the oxtail pieces generously with salt. Heat the lard in a pressure cooker or Dutch oven over high heat. Sear the oxtail pieces from all sides until golden brown throughout. Remove from the pan and turn down the heat to low. Drain any excess fat expect about 1 tablespoon of lard.
- Fry the tomato paste in the remaining lard over low heat until aromatic, about 3-4 minutes. Add the soup vegetables, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, thyme, parsley, and oxtail into the pressure cooker or Dutch oven. Cover with about 5 cups of water so that the broth ingredients are fully submerged. If using a pressure cooker, cook the broth on the high-pressure setting for about 45-60 minutes, until the oxtail is fall-off-the-bone tender. Let the pressure release naturally. If using a Dutch oven, leave the broth to simmer, covered, over the lowest possible heat for 3-4 hours or until the meat is tender.
- Strain the finished broth through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve the oxtail pieces. Discard the vegetables and spices.
Bind and finish the soup:
- Heat the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the flour and sweat the butter-flour mixture (‘roux’) over medium heat until it is still pale in color but smells nutty, about 3-4 minutes. Whisk in the Madeira wine. Then add the broth. Leave the soup to gently simmer for about 10 minutes to cook off some of the alcohol and any leftover raw flour taste. Season the finished soup to taste with salt.
- Separate the meat from the oxtail pieces and divide evenly among the serving bowls. Pour about 1-2 tablespoons of Madeira wine into each serving bowl. Then pour the hot soup into the serving bowls and serve immediately while the soup is still hot.
mmmmmh, herrlich!
Ja, ein wirklich leckeres Gericht vor allem bei dem kalten Sauwetter hier die letzten Tage…