Ox-tails make an especially good soup, on account of the gelatinous
matter they contain.
Ingredients: Two ox-tails, a soup bunch, or a good-sized onion, two
carrots, one stalk of celery, a little parsley, and a small cut of pork.
Cut the ox-tails at the joints, slice the vegetables, and mince the
pork. Put the pork into a stew-pan. When hot, add first the onions; when
they begin to color, add the ox-tails. Let them fry or _sauté_ a very
short time. Now cut them to the bone, that the juice may run out in
boiling. Put both the ox-tails and fried onions into a soup kettle, with
four quarts of cold water. Let them simmer for about four hours; then
add the other vegetables, with three cloves stuck in a little piece of
onion, and pepper and salt. As soon as the vegetables are well cooked,
the soup is done. Strain it. Select some of the joints (one for each
plate), trim them, and serve them with the soup. Or, if preferred, the
joints may be left out.