Japanese Style Oxtail Noodle Soup Recipe

Feature: Quick Read

Words by BRIDIE NEWMAN

Ah, soup. The most humble of meals. Comforting, nourishing, often healthy. But can it be showstopping? Yes, if you ask expert chef Jeff Baker from our new beef provider Farmison & Co. His interpretation of a simple Japanese-style broth using oxtail (available from our butcher’s counter in the Fresh Market Hall) promises a wonderful supper, especially on a cold winter’s evening.

The oxtail gives a rich and unctuous liquor for the noodles to soak into, leaving the meat on the bone for a deliciously messy dining experience. Though you can remove the meat off the bone once cooked if preferred. Or even use short ribs. Tried and tested, we can heartily confirm that it is indeed a showstopping soup. Happy cooking!

Serves 3 to 4

1kg oxtail, cut into rounds

Cooking oil to sear

30ml rice wine vinegar

5cm piece root ginger, finely chopped and soaked in the rice vinegar

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Punnet of shiitake mushrooms, tough stalks removed

30g Okinawa sugar or soft brown sugar

500ml dashi broth

75ml light soy sauce

75ml mirin

Bok choy or seaweed to serve

Cooked wheat noodles (Udon noodles are fine too)

Spring onions, finely sliced to garnish

In the oven and on the hob (4 hours)

1. Heat the oven to 150°C /130°C fan assisted (gas 2).

2. On the hob, sear the oxtails in a little oil then remove from the pot.

3. Add the garlic in a little oil and cook until softened, then add the mushrooms followed by the ginger in rice vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a syrup.

4. Add the dashi broth, soy sauce, and mirin. Bring back to a simmer.

5. Add the oxtail back to the pan and cover with a lid. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 4 hours until the meat starts to fall away from the bone easily. At this point, it’s optional to skim away the clear oil floating at the surface or leave it in which results in a slightly heavier dish.

6. Fold through bok choy or seaweed and ladle the broth over a bowl of cooked noodles. Garnish with spring onions.

In the pressure cooker (1 hour)

1. In sear mode, sear the oxtails in a little oil then remove from the pot.

2. Add the garlic in a little oil and cook until softened, then add the mushrooms followed by the ginger in rice vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a syrup.

3. Add the dashi broth, soy sauce, and mirin. Bring back to a simmer.

4. Add the oxtail back to the pan and close the lid with the setting for high-pressure cooking.

5. Cook the oxtails for 45 minutes on high pressure mode.

6. Once pressure is released, carefully open the lid. At this point, it’s optional to skim away the clear oil floating at the surface or leave it in which results in a slightly heavier dish.

7. Fold through bok choy or seaweed and ladle the broth over a bowl of cooked noodles. Garnish with spring onions.

Make Your Ingredients Count

There’s a lot to say for knowing where your meat comes from. We all want to have confidence in the provenance and integrity of what we’re eating. Farmison & Co supply Harrods with the very best of British, free-range, grass-fed beef from its small network of trusted farmers who rear their herds the traditional way, naturally and slowly. Family farming has defined life in the countryside for hundreds of years and rearing high-quality meat is an art form – something Farmison & Co respect and celebrate with its “eat better meat” ethos. The process is also paramount to flavour. Just as the terroir of a wine impacts its taste, great-tasting beef starts in the field. Whether it’s Aberdeen Angus steak, your Sunday roast essentials, or our heritage breed of the month, the beef you buy from the butcher’s counter at Harrods or on Food to Order is bred to perfection to yield more marbling and fuller flavour.

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