Oxtail Soup II

This is a so so recipe at best. Oxtail soup is also called poor man's soup. In the old days because it was made from whatever you had available. Now it's poor man's soup because of what oxtails now cost. Anyway, I think this soup should never be made without parsnips first & foremost. I usually use whole peeled tomatoes & squeeze them into the soup. I would also add some zuchinni but add it last or it will cook away, a can of tomato sauce, ketchup & about a 1/2 cup of sugar. Lastly I would serve it will bow tie noodles. Also, the cabbage is optional. If you really like veggies you can add a bag of frozen soup veggies as well. Cucumbers can only make this taste totally disgusting and disturbing, not sure what the author was thinking about by adding cucumbers and that is the reason for the low rating. The other thing, if your going to use the oxtails and the stew meat there is no reason to add all those beef bouillon cubes. Oxtails should be browned prior to just plopping them into the pot of water. It helps to get rid of some of the fat. If you still feel the soup has too much fat on it, before serving it put it into the fridge for until it is cold. The fat will harden and turn white on the top of the soup and you can merely remove it. Before adding the veggies, the meat should be boiled for at least 45 mins to an hour and the scum removed from the top. This creates your beef broth. I feel as though I just rewrote this recipe, wasn't my intention but I think it needed help

Fry the oxtails first. Don't crowd the pan. Get them nice and brown. Deglaze with 1/2 cup of red wine then proceed with the recipe.

I have been making oxtail soup for years, my grandmother's recipe. I can't imagine boiling the tails with the veggies! I always brown my tails and meat, add onion and celery, bay leaves, a can of tomatoes, and water. The meat is rich enough, you don't need the salty artificial flavor of beef bouillon cubes. Instead of potatoes I add barley. I add whatever other veggies I have available. Today it will be carrots, and frozen peas and corn.

Really tasty, and when the grease is dipped off, it if heart healty.

This was absolutely terrible. A complete waste of good vegetables. I have no idea how it was supposed to go together, but it says to put the meat and the veggies together in the pot at the same time. It's done when the veggies are tender--but at that point, the water you've added to cover everything still tastes like--well, water. So you've got a big water soup with veggies and some meat chunks floating in it. Just awful!

This is great! I did add a large can of beef broth to take the place of some of the water. I also eliminated the cucumber and added zuchinni instead. thanks

I've grown up eating oxtail soup. It used to be made usually at the end of the week and throw all the leftover veggies in. I've changed it a bit. I used a pkg of frozen veggies, celery, carrots, onion and garlic. I add my own canned stewed tomatoes and I make my own noodles (my kids used to ask if I made noodles or not-if not they really didn't care for the soup that much). Also and most important I think, you must cook oxtails forever to get them fall off the bone tender. I usually start my soup late morning and let the oxtails, onion and garlic cook in water(add more if needed) at least two to three hours, skimming now and then. I also shred my cabbage and add that after the raw veggies, noodles of course go in last. I also add a bit of tomato juice if I have it handy. I always cooked this on the weekend being a single mom and working during the week. I relaxed making this especially during football season. Great with crusty bread. oh and I usually throw in some parsley (Italian) and some dried basil. Gives it all a nice flavor.

I made this recipe with 2 lbs of oxtails, without the other meat, and without the cucumbers and cabbage. Also added celery and some bay leaves. I also did not use the beef bouillon, instead I used beef stock. My soup is absolutely delicious !!

This is fantastic!!! the meat is so tender and delicious.

Excellent. My 1st time making any type of oxtail soup was for Mothers' Day. I have prepared it every sunday since. My family loves it. I boiled the oxtails for 45 minutes then added the other ingredients and used beef broth instead of plain water. Today, I will take the suggested review by Qaedon to fry 1st. Thank you for this wonderful and easy recipe.

You never cook the vegetables at the beginning, the oxtails need to be cooked for an hour or two to get tender and you add the vegetables the last 20 minutes of cooking after you remove the meat from the bones. let set in trig to swim off the grease . to begin cooking the ox tail put in celery leaves , carrots and onion, beef boullion and bay leaf

I used black rice instead of long grain rice and some Tabasco!!!! It was good and yes I would make it again!!

This turned out really good. I did make some changes. I omitted the plum tomatoes (in error), the cabbage, and the cucumbers. I placed it all in a slow cooker crock pot. Excellent idea to add the 1 lb. of cubed beef stew meat b/c sometimes oxtails are not that meaty. The family enjoyed it.

I tried it just without the celery... turned out awesome!

EVERYONE LOVED IT TWEEKED IT A BIT BUT MOSTLY STUCK TO THE RECIPE. VERY VERY GOOD...I RECOMMEND.

Very flavorful the only alternation i made was i marinaded the oxtail in red wine and a 1/4 of apple cider vinegar for 1 hour, extremely tender fell right off the bone