The end of July – and all I can hear is splashing, dripping and splattering

Food by Lois

It’s nearly August and the rain has been coming down non-stop for the last six hours. I’m sitting here on a summer’s night, and all I can hear is splashing, dripping and splattering – the splattering means the gutter is overflowing with the quantity of water coming off the roof…

So here is a nice warming meal to think about… perfect for this wintry weather, and it is cooked in a Nottingham jar – I don’t think they still make them, they are a nineteenth century version of a slow-cooker…

Ox-tail Soup (1896)

  • An ox-tail
  • 2 oz dripping
  • an onion
  • a bunch of herbs
  • l oz flour
  • pepper and salt
  • a tablespoonful of ketchup
  • two quarts of water
  1. cut the tail through every joint, chop the largest.through length-ways
  2. mix the flour, pepper, and salt on a plate, roll each joint in this
  3. and fry in the dripping to a nice brown
  4. peel the onion, cut in rings, and fry also
  5. put all the ingredients into a large Nottingham jar with a lid
  6. pour over the water, and let it stew in the oven four hours
  7. before serving skim off all fat that may have risen to tho surface
  8. lay the meat in a tureen
  9. and strain the soup over

If not convenient to stew in the oven, use a saucepan with tightly fitting lid, but the former method will be found the best when practicable

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