German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

  • Recipes By Region
  • European Food
  • German Food
  • German Cooking Basics

By

Jennifer McGavin

Jennifer McGavin

Jennifer McGavin learned to cook German food while living in Germany for 11 years and has worked in the food industry for many years.

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Updated on 12/3/21

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German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (1)

Traditionally served as a first course for big events like wedding suppers, Christmas Day, or New Year's, German Oxtail Soup is a special treat. A rich beef and vegetable broth with paprika and pepper to add a little bite and Madeira and cream to round everything out, this soup takes awhile to make but is a real taste extravaganza.

There are two main versions of Oxtail Soup, one is a clear broth with beef bits, but this recipe makes a "gebundene" version, thickened with a little flour and cream.

Ingredients

  • 1 to 2 pounds soup bones

  • 2 to 3 pounds oxtail, bones included

  • 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 parsley root, or parsnip, peeled and chopped

  • 3 cups chopped celery root (celeriac) or 3 to 4 stalks celery, chopped

  • 1 to 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

  • 1 to 2 medium onions, chopped

  • 4 carrots, sliced

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1 tablespoons sweet ground paprika

  • 1 cup dry red wine

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 5 whole cloves

  • 5 juniper berries

  • 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed

  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper, plus more as needed

  • 1 ounce dry sherry, or Madeira

  • 1 dash cayenne pepper, optional

  • 3/4 cup cream

  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, or brown rice flour

  • 1 tablespoon parsley, fresh or dried, optional garnish

  • Baguette, optional for serving

Steps to Make It

At least 6 hours before serving or the day before serving:

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Wash soup bones and oxtail bones free of any debris and pat dry. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet and brown bones with meat on all sides at medium heat.

  3. Meanwhile, clean and chop your vegetables. If you can't find parsley root, celeriac, and leeks, increase the celery, onions, and carrots to make 6 cups of chopped vegetables. These are to flavor the strong, beef broth and will be discarded later.

  4. Remove the beef from the pan, add oil if necessary and brown the vegetables for several minutes. Add the tomato paste and the ground paprika to brown for 1 minute. Do not let them burn! Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits.

  5. If the pan is large enough, add the meat back into the vegetables. Otherwise, find a stock pan to hold all the bones and the vegetables, or split into two pots to simmer.

  6. Add the whole herbs and spices and one teaspoon of salt and some ground pepper. Add water to cover everything and let the broth simmer for 2 to 4 hours or more on the lowest setting on your stove.

Two Hours Before Serving:

  1. When the meat is fork tender, remove the bones to a platter to cool.

  2. Pour the broth through a strainer and discard the vegetables. You should have 6 to 8 cups of broth.

  3. Cool the broth and remove the layer of fat on the top. This can also be done overnight, making this a good soup to make ahead and finish just before serving.

  4. When the bones are cool enough to handle, remove the meat and chop into bite-sized pieces. Discard the rest of the bones and cartilage. Refrigerate shredded meat until the last step.

One Half Hour Before Serving:

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Reheat the broth gently on the stove. Add 2 tablespoons of Madeira or dry sherry. Add some freshly ground pepper and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Add salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

  3. Mix a few tablespoons of cream with the flour to make a slurry. Pour into the gently simmering soup, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for 10 minutes.

  4. Add the rest of the cream and the meat. Heat through, but do not boil.

  5. Serve as a first course with awarm baguette and parsley sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

  • German Cooking Basics
  • Beef Mains
  • Soups
  • Vegetable Recipes
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
994Calories
65g Fat
18g Carbs
78g Protein

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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6to 8
Amount per serving
Calories994
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 65g84%
Saturated Fat 27g135%
Cholesterol 295mg98%
Sodium 558mg24%
Total Carbohydrate 18g7%
Dietary Fiber 4g13%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 78g
Vitamin C 9mg46%
Calcium 126mg10%
Iron 8mg43%
Potassium 1280mg27%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

  • Tomato
  • appetizer
  • german
  • birthdays

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German-Style Oxtail Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do Germans eat oxtails? ›

Common soups in German restaurants include oxtail, beef or chicken broth with noodles, dumplings, or rice, goulash, split pea, cream of asparagus, turtle soup (Echte Schildkrötensuppe) and cream of lobster.

What country is oxtail soup from? ›

Why do you brown oxtails before cooking? ›

Browning your oxtails will not cook the meat. Instead, it will enhance its color and aroma by caramelizing its exterior. Browning beef oxtails in a hot skillet before braising will also add rich depth and flavor to the meat.

What is special about oxtail soup? ›

One of the defining characteristics of oxtail soup is that it contains a large mass of solid ingredients, rather than ingredients that have been diced or shredded as is the norm with Chinese soup.

What is the most popular meat eaten in Germany? ›

Whilst there are regional variations in food culture, most German recipes focus heavily on bread, potatoes, and meat, especially pork, as well as plenty of greens such as types of cabbage and kale. Cake, coffee, and beer are all highly popular elements of German cuisine too - which will be good news to most!

Why is oxtail soup so expensive? ›

Why is it more expensive to make an oxtail dish now? It's simple supply and demand. Each cow only has around six pounds of viable oxtail to go around, compared to the other 400 plus pounds of viable cuts you can get from the rest of the cow.

Is oxtail soup good for you? ›

Oxtail is rich in Collagen, a vital protein for our body's growth and repair. Oxtail is high in fat so an ideal energy source for a Ketogenic, Paleo, or Carnivore Diet. With over 70% fat, Oxtail is Ideal for anyone on a high fat / low carb or no-carb diet. Oxtail must be slow-cooked to break down the connective tissue.

How long does it take to boil oxtails until tender? ›

Fill with enough water to cover oxtails and place over high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook oxtails until tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Why do you coat oxtail with flour? ›

The idea behind coating meat with a sprinkling of flour before browning in a hot pan is pretty simple: Flour is full of starch that will caramelize quickly and give a deeper color and flavor. You most often see this technique called for in stews, where flour is used to thicken the cooking liquid.

Why is my oxtail so tough? ›

As the meat braises, the collagen inside the cut cooks down and becomes gelatin; as it dissolves, the meat's fibers relax and tenderize. However, if the cooking temperature is too high, these muscle fibers will shrink and seize up, toughening.

Who eats oxtail soup? ›

Oxtail can be found in Italian, Russian, and British cuisines, as well as Asian, African, Jamaican, and Spanish. It will always be cooked slowly and served as a stew, soup, or braised in a liquid like red wine.

Is oxtail soup good for your stomach? ›

That's because oxtail is packed with amazing connective tissues, cartilage, fat and bone and while its cooking these are broken down to the most amazing tender meat and nourishing collagen rich broth packed with nutrients that are great for healing your gut lining.

Why do you soak oxtail before cooking? ›

By soaking and blanching the oxtail before cooking any impurities are removed. To cook: Oxtail requires long, slow cooking to produce tender, succulent meat.

What meat is popular in Germany? ›

The average annual meat consumption is 59.7 kg (132 lb) per person. The most common varieties are pork, poultry, and beef. Other varieties of meat are widely available, but are considered to be insignificant. Meat is usually braised; fried dishes also exist, but these recipes usually originate from France and Austria.

What is a traditional German meat? ›

The most common one is probably the “Sauerbraten”, a traditional German pot roast, renowned for its unique marinating process, where the meat, typically beef, is steeped in a mixture of vinegar or wine, water, herbs, spices, and sometimes vegetables for several days.

Which is famous beef dish from German? ›

This traditionally German roast recipe is served with a brown gravy made with, of all things, gingersnap cookies. This classic dish is a must try.

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