Rich Beef Barley Soup

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I'm so sad to write this review. It is the first time ever that one of Ina's recipes wasn't a success ..for me and my husband. We found it lacking in the "rich" "favor" that promised us a Unami experience. It wasn't as fatty as I thought it might be so I skimmed the impurities off the top at the beginning of the boiling cooking time with the broth. Maybe that helped a bit. The other problem I had with the recipe was the amount of salt in it. For some it might not be a problem but if you look at it, it has 3 tsp of salt. Kosher salt has 480 mg of sodium per 1/4 tsp while sea salt has 500 mg per 1/4 tsp. Salt is delicious but do the math...this has double the daily amount one should have per day. Yes, it serves 6 but you're still having lotsbof salt.

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Excellent Recipe. It is very oil. You must skim the top of the soup several times.(I used paper towel and laid it on top of the soup. Once this is done, what you have left is a very rich, hearty soup. I think it takes more than the 2 1/2 hours to make the oxtail tender, so I left the soup at a medium heat for 2 hours, and then added the precooked barley and simmered for another hour. Made a beautiful soup for a cold winter day! Thanks Ina! This was my first try with oxtails! My family throughly enjoyed it!

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WOW! Read the previous reviews, glad I did. Couldn't find oxtails so I used 4 beef shanks bone-in and since I like extra meat I also bought 1/2 lb stew meat as a supplement. I used half stock (Swansons, both and broth low sodium. I added sliced cremini mushrooms with the vegetables and sauteed it. I added 1 Tbsp. worchestire when I added the meat,1 tsp dry thyme instead, stock and broth. Oh, the aroma! Glade needs to bottle this!. After the soup was done, I separated the meat from the bone. The stock and mushrooms gave it a little earthy taste. The balsamic vinegar I recommend using a dash of it in your bowl before you seat down to devour it. Using the balsamic would get lost if you add it while it's cooking. Note: don't cut your vegetable to small otherwise it would get lost in the soup. The next day the soup had the fat floating on top so I scooped it out. When reheating it, it tasted so much better. I would definitely make this again.

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Abort, abort! I followed the recipe to the letter. My whole family turned their noses up to this soup. Too oily from the oxtails and a strong game flavor. Broth was watery and I'm sad. This is the first Ina Garten recipe that didn't turn out well.
Sorry Ina, I'm still a believer.

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very good my hubby liked it a lot and said it didn't even need any locatole(type of cheese, spelled wrong. That is a huge compliment since he won't even taste it without cheese. This time he did and he loved it. I followed the directions as I always do the first time and the oxtails really made it good. Wasn't sure I'd like them haven't even tasted the meat yet but it made the soup good. I think next time I won't use so much evvo it made it a little oily. I also cut the vegetables too small so if you read all the reviews DON'T DO IT ;-

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Delicious!!! Instead of oxtails (store didnt have them I cut up a chuck roast and browned that. End result was so good, everyone went back for more.

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Delicious! We followed the directions precisely; however, I just felt as though the finished product needed small bites of the beef in it. So, we pulled the oxtail pieces out after one hour of cooking and let them cool. Then we picked apart the meat from the bone and fat and returned it to the soup in bite-sized pieces. It was very savory and beefy when finished, but I felt as though the soup needed some "brightening" up. So, I added only one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the pot, and that was precisely the element that had been missing. As the previous reviewer mentioned, cremini mushrooms would be an excellent addition to the vegetable saute.

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Wonderful beef flavor and great texture with the barley. Also used reduced sodium beef broth and glad I did. Added 8 oz sauteed cremini mushrooms, otherwise followed the recipe as stated. Will make this again.

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I wasn't sure about the oxtail, I really thought it was a beef part to throw away. Not at those prices! It was $5.00 per pound and the recipe calls for two pounds. What great flavor. Followed Ina's directions exactly, even though the barley cooking directions were a bit different than those on the package. The soup was excellent! Very comforting. I used low sodium beef broth and I did need to adjust the seasonings at the end. This was the first time I have cooked with barley and it will be a new staple in my pantry. Thanks, Ina!