Ox Tail Soup

Ingredients

• 2 ox tails
• 1 neat's foot
• 1 large piece clarified suet or fat
• 3–4 quarts cold water
• 4 onions
• 1 bunch sweet herbs
• 1 carrot
• 1 turnip
• 1 head celery
• whole pepper
• allspice
• 2–3 cloves
• salt
• browned flour
• 1 glass port wine
• mushroom ketchup

Instructions

1. Clean the ox tails and neat's foot well, then cut them into small joints. Soak them in water.
2. Place the meat in a stew-pan with a large piece of clarified suet or fat and let it simmer for ten minutes.
3. Add between three and four quarts of cold water, then add the four onions, bunch of sweet herbs, carrot, turnip, and head of celery. Season with whole pepper, allspice, two or three cloves, and salt.
4. Let the soup stew until the meat is tender enough to fall from the bones, then remove the meat and discard the bones, as they are unsightly in the soup.
5. Thicken the soup with browned flour if necessary. Just before serving, add a glass or more of port wine and a little mushroom ketchup.