Fry the oxtails first. Don't crowd the pan. Get them nice and brown. Deglaze with 1/2 cup of red wine then proceed with the recipe.

This is a so so recipe at best. Oxtail soup is also called poor man's soup. In the old days because it was made from whatever you had available. Now it's poor man's soup because of what oxtails now cost. Anyway, I think this soup should never be made without parsnips first & foremost. I usually use whole peeled tomatoes & squeeze them into the soup. I would also add some zuchinni but add it last or it will cook away, a can of tomato sauce, ketchup & about a 1/2 cup of sugar. Lastly I would serve it will bow tie noodles. Also, the cabbage is optional. If you really like veggies you can add a bag of frozen soup veggies as well. Cucumbers can only make this taste totally disgusting and disturbing, not sure what the author was thinking about by adding cucumbers and that is the reason for the low rating. The other thing, if your going to use the oxtails and the stew meat there is no reason to add all those beef bouillon cubes. Oxtails should be browned prior to just plopping them into the pot of water. It helps to get rid of some of the fat. If you still feel the soup has too much fat on it, before serving it put it into the fridge for until it is cold. The fat will harden and turn white on the top of the soup and you can merely remove it. Before adding the veggies, the meat should be boiled for at least 45 mins to an hour and the scum removed from the top. This creates your beef broth. I feel as though I just rewrote this recipe, wasn't my intention but I think it needed help

This is great! I did add a large can of beef broth to take the place of some of the water. I also eliminated the cucumber and added zuchinni instead. thanks

This was absolutely terrible. A complete waste of good vegetables. I have no idea how it was supposed to go together, but it says to put the meat and the veggies together in the pot at the same time. It's done when the veggies are tender--but at that point, the water you've added to cover everything still tastes like--well, water. So you've got a big water soup with veggies and some meat chunks floating in it. Just awful!

Really tasty, and when the grease is dipped off, it if heart healty.