How to Make a Bowl of Gelatinous Oxtail Soup
Schedule time to perform all the steps, including the overnight one, and you’ll be rewarded with a bowl of delicious, gelatinous soup along with soft oxtail meat and cartilage!
Follow along on both of my 2-day missions to make oxtail soup:
I’ve enjoyed eating oxtail ever since I was a kid, so I wanted to try cooking a dish that resulted in tender, slippery, and flavorful meat.
My Story
Awhile back, I found a simple oxtail recipe. However, since this cut of meat is not cheap, I bookmarked the recipe and patiently hoped for a sale at the supermarket.
Inspiring Recipe
Recently, I saw packages of oxtail at Costco at a more reasonable price, so I leaped at the chance to test KOREAN OXTAIL SOUP (KKORI GOMTANG) #SUNDAYSUPPER, a recipe from Kimchi MOM.
First Try
I was so excited to finally try the oxtail soup recipe!
Ingredients to Use
Of course with most ingredients I buy at Costco, I ended up with more than was requested on the recipe, so I increased the amount of some of the other ingredients by about one third. With 4 pounds of oxtail, the adjusted amounts were as follows:
- 18 cups of water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of black peppercorns
- 1 1/3 tablespoons of salt
Steps to Prepare
I followed the first five steps as noted in the recipe and chose to remove the fat after cooling the soup overnight, before continuing with the seventh step.
For the last step, I modified it because the oxtail was also refrigerated the night before. After removing the garlic and peppercorns from the pot and before putting the oxtail in the bowls, I placed the meat in the soup and brought everything to a boil. Also, right before I turned off the stove, I added the green onions in the pot to warm them up as well.
Time to Eat
Here’s one of the bowls of oxtail soup ready for the family to taste:
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe after the first tasting:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏🤏 | 💰💰💰 | 🙂 |
My older son acknowledged that the soup took a long time to make, but thought it was so good.
To me, the effort was more worth it than my attempts in making bone broth because the soup was definitely more gelatinous. It even smelled really good before adding the spices! However, I found the soup a little too salty.
Second Try
During the second attempt, my goal was to make the soup less salty.
Ingredients to Use
The package of oxtail totaled 4.4 pounds this time around, so the amounts for the ingredients that I modified are as follows:
- 20 cups of water
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of black peppercorns
- 5 stalks of green onions
Steps to Prepare
I repeated the process that I used during the first try at making oxtail soup, but did simmer it for a little while longer (3 1/2 hours) on the first day.
In addition, I captured some photos as I was boiling the soup on the second day as shown below:
Time to Eat
Here’s a bowl of soup from the second batch:
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe after making the above changes:
| Number of Ingredients | Effort (Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏) | Cost per Serving (<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰) | Taste (Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6️⃣ | 🤏🤏 | 💰💰💰 | 😋 |
With adding only one tablespoon of salt, the soup was not overly salty, but left room for anyone to add more salt based on their own preference. However, the odd thing was that I didn’t get to the right amount of salt until I was sipping the soup towards the bottom of my bowl. Still, I can’t wait until the next time I enjoy this soup with the super soft meat!
Even with the positive outcome of this soup, I can still improve on it in the future as follows:
Continuous Improvement
- Stir the soup more before serving, so hopefully the flavor would be more even.
- Add fresh noodles. (A family member mentioned that all we need is fresh noodles, a reference to what we order at a restaurant for oxtail pho. 😊)
Reflecting on my experience in making oxtail soup, I should teach my foolish self the following:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Blocking time at home to make a dish that’s normally pricey at a restaurant is rewarding and saves a lot of money!
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the KOREAN OXTAIL SOUP (KKORI GOMTANG) #SUNDAYSUPPER recipe from Kimchi MOM?
- Serve the above recipe with noodles?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)