P
Hawaiian
Oxtail Soup — Hawaiian Sunday Tradition
Oxtails are blanched to remove impurities, then simmered for four to six hours with ginger, star anise, dried orange peel, and salt until the collagen has completely melted into the broth. Mustard cabbage, peanuts, and cilantro are added. Served with rice, chili pepper water, and shoyu on the side. The broth should be clear but intensely flavourful — rich enough to coat the lips.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1.5 kg
oxtail
cut into sections
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
50 g
3
star anise
Your own market
10 g
dried orange peel
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
10 g
salt
to season
Your own market
200 g
mustard cabbage
roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 g
raw peanuts
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
15 g
fresh cilantro
roughly torn
Your own market
To serve
4 portions
steamed white rice
Your own market
1
chili pepper water
in a small vessel on the side
Your own market
1
shoyu
in a small vessel on the side
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the oxtail sections in a large pot. Cover with cold water, bring to a full boil, and hold for five minutes. Drain and rinse each section under cold running water, discarding all blanching liquid. The oxtail should be clean and free of grey foam or blood.
2
Return the oxtail to the pot. Add the ginger, star anise, and dried orange peel. Cover with fresh cold water by at least five centimetres. Bring slowly to a bare simmer — surface trembling, not rolling — and maintain that temperature without interruption for six hours, skimming any fat or foam that rises in the first thirty minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: a rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the collagen; a held simmer over six hours converts it entirely into gelatin. At four hours the broth is soup; at six hours it is something else.
3
Season with salt. Add the peanuts to the pot thirty minutes before the end of simmering, allowing them to soften in the broth.
4
Add the mustard cabbage in the final ten minutes of simmering. It should wilt fully and lose its raw bitterness while retaining a slight structure — taste a leaf to confirm.
5
Ladle the soup into deep bowls, distributing the oxtail sections evenly. Scatter cilantro over each bowl. The broth should be clear and golden, not opaque, and should coat a spoon with a faint viscous sheen. The meat should fall from the bone at the touch of a chopstick or spoon.
6
Serve immediately alongside steamed rice, chili pepper water, and shoyu, each in its own vessel, allowing each diner to season the bowl at the table.
From the canon — Small, intensely hot Hawaiian chili peppers (niʻoi, birdʻs eye type) crushed and steeped in water with paʻakai. CHILI PEPPER WATER →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Quality oxtails simmered for six hours. Broth is clear, golden, and gelatinous, coating the lips. Meat falls from the bone. Star anise and ginger are perfectly balanced.
02
Estate — Properly simmered with good flavour. Broth is clear and the meat is tender, though the gelatin and aromatic balance may fall slightly short of the highest standard.
03
Market — Under-simmered but reaching the four-hour minimum. Broth lacks full body; meat is tender but does not fall freely from the bone.
04
House — Cloudy broth from boiling rather than simmering, or tough meat from insufficient time. The dish is not realised.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. Broth is clear and golden, not opaque; oxtail sections glisten; mustard greens and peanuts are visible throughout.
◇Smell. Deep beef aroma, warming with ginger and star anise, rises from the pot.
◇Touch. A spoonful of broth coats the lips; a spoon dragged across the surface shows a faint gelatinous pull.
◇Touch. Meat releases from the bone without resistance at the press of a spoon.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the simmer: six unbroken hours at a bare tremble convert collagen to gelatin and produce a clear, lip-coating broth; a rolling boil or insufficient time yields cloudy liquid and resistant meat.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
A cold, light lager or a dry, high-acid white — such as a Hawaiian-style brewed pale ale or a Chablis-style Chardonnay — to cut the richness of the gelatinous broth without competing with its aromatics. Alternatively, serve with cold water, as is traditional at the Hawaiian Sunday table.
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance