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Halal-conscious recipe

Oxtail soup without wine

Barney Desmazery's slow-braised oxtail soup with Halal oxtail, vegetables, thyme, bay and star anise, cooked in Halal stock with no red wine, then shredded into a silky broth.

  • Cuisine British
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield 6 bowls
  • Time 4h 25m
  • Last updated

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

Printable view
A hearty meat stew
Photograph from our ingredient library: a slow-cooker oxtail stew by CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange (CC BY 2.0), not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange from England · CC BY 2.0

Why Halal checks matter here

The published soup marinates the oxtail in half a bottle of red wine and cooks it in the marinade, the oxtail needs Halal slaughter, and bought beef stock is a meat product.

This is a dark, rich soup of oxtail braised for hours with vegetables, herbs and a little star anise, then shredded back into its own broth. The source marinates the oxtail in half a bottle of red wine and cooks it in that marinade; wine is the khamr the Qur'an forbids, and this site counts wine cooked into food the same way, so here the oxtail is only salted with the herbs and spices, and 375 ml more stock goes in where the wine would. That swap is ours.

It follows Barney Desmazery's oxtail soup for BBC Good Food. Oxtail is beef, so it needs a Halal butcher, and the beef stock needs a Halal or vegetable version (see stock cubes). The tablespoon of ketchup is cooked into a paste with the flour before the liquid goes in.

Plan it over two days: the oxtail braises for 3 hours 30 minutes, then the broth chills overnight so the fat sets and can be lifted off before the soup is finished.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • Red wine The published recipe marinates the oxtail in half a bottle of red wine and pours that marinade into the soup. Wine is the khamr the Qur'an forbids, and on this site that includes wine cooked into food. Leave the wine out and add the same volume of extra stock, as here. See Wine.
  • Oxtail and beef stock Oxtail is beef tail, Halal only from cattle slaughtered the Halal way, and bought beef stock is a meat product; UK stock cubes such as OXO and Knorr contain meat fat that is not certified Halal. Buy the oxtail from a Halal butcher and use a Halal-certified or vegan vegetable stock. See Ox tail and Stock cubes.

Safe substitutes

  • ½ bottle red wine → 375 ml more Halal beef or vegetable stock (our swap)
  • 2 litres beef stock → 2 litres Halal beef or vegetable stock

Allergens

celery, gluten (flour)

Ingredients

Aromatics

  • 1.5 kg Halal oxtail, cut into about 4 pieces
  • small handful thyme sprigs, tied together with the bay leaves and parsley stalks
  • 2 bay leaves
  • small bunch fresh parsley, leaves and stalks separated
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns, roughly crushed
  • small piece star anise

Soup

  • 4 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, bashed once and peeled
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 1 tbsp ketchup
  • 375 ml Halal beef stock or vegetable stock (our swap for ½ bottle red wine)
  • 2 litres Halal beef stock or vegetable stock

Method

  1. Season ahead. Up to two days ahead, put the oxtail in a bowl and season with a little salt. Tie the thyme, bay leaves and parsley stalks together and add them with the peppercorns and star anise. Cover and chill. The source pours red wine over at this stage; this version leaves it out.
  2. Brown the oxtail and vegetables. Heat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan). Lift the oxtail out of the bowl, keeping the herbs and spices. Heat a drizzle of the oil in a large casserole and brown the oxtail, in batches if needed, then set it aside on a plate. Add another drizzle of oil and cook the onion, carrots, celery and garlic until just starting to brown.
  3. Braise. Stir in the flour and ketchup and cook to a thick paste. Add the herb bundle, spices and the 375 ml of stock that replaces the wine, and simmer for 1 minute. Nestle the oxtail back in and pour over as much of the 2 litres of stock as fits, chilling any extra for later. Bring to a gentle boil, skim off any froth, then cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the meat is very tender.
  4. Shred and chill. Leave the soup to cool slightly, then lift out the oxtail and shred the meat with two forks, discarding the bones. Put the meat in one bowl and sieve the liquid into another, then cover both and chill overnight.
  5. Finish. Lift off and discard the fat that has set on the broth. Simmer the broth in a saucepan until silky, adding more stock if it is too thick, then stir in the shredded meat until warmed through. Season, ladle into bowls and scatter over the parsley leaves, if you like.

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Oxtail soup' by Barney Desmazery (serves 6: 1.5 kg oxtail in about 4 pieces, salted and chilled for up to 48 hours with a bundle of thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves and parsley stalks, ½ tsp crushed black peppercorns, a small piece of star anise and ½ bottle of red wine; browned in batches in some of the 4 tbsp sunflower oil; 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks and 2 bashed garlic cloves cooked until just browning; 1 tbsp plain flour and 1 tbsp ketchup cooked to a paste; the marinade poured in and simmered 1 minute; the oxtail returned with as much of 2 litres of beef stock as fits, brought to a gentle boil, skimmed, covered and cooked 3 hours 30 minutes at 160°C (140°C fan), stirring once or twice; the meat shredded off the bone, the broth sieved and chilled overnight; the fat lifted off, the broth simmered until silky, the meat stirred back in and finished with parsley leaves). The source also gives gas 4, which does not match 160°C, so we give the oven temperature only. We specified Halal oxtail and a Halal or vegetable stock, left out the wine and added 375 ml more stock, half a standard 75 cl bottle, with the herbs and spices; that swap is ours. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Oxtail soup — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    By Barney Desmazery. Serves 6, prep 25 minutes, cook 4 hours: 1.5 kg oxtail marinated with herbs, peppercorns, star anise and ½ bottle red wine, browned, braised with vegetables, flour, ketchup and 2 litres beef stock for 3 hours 30 minutes at 160°C, shredded, chilled overnight, skimmed and simmered until silky. We replaced the wine with extra stock.

  2. Wine analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Why wine is Haram, including wine cooked into food.

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