Grandma's barley soup with oxtail

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 kg oxtail or beef for cooking
• 1 marrow bone
• 1 onion(s), white
• 300 g pearl barley, medium
• Salt and pepper from the mill
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables, fresh or frozen
• 5 waxy potatoes, as needed
• 2 stalks of lovage

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 55 minutes

Tastes best after reheating!

Place the beef or oxtail in a saucepan with pepper, salt, and onion. Simmer for about an hour. I always pre-cook the pearl barley in water for about 15 minutes. Then place it in a sieve and rinse briefly. Peel and dice the potatoes, then boil for about 20 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain. Clean and wash the soup vegetables and chop them finely along with the rinsed and patted dry lovage. Strain the broth and bring to a boil with the finely chopped meat, soup vegetables, and lovage. Now add the thoroughly rinsed pearl barley and potatoes to the broth and simmer for about 30 minutes. Caution: the pearl barley will continue to swell! When reheating, make sure the soup does not boil, otherwise it will become cloudy. Lovage, also known as Maggi herb, is an important ingredient—it gives the broth its excellent flavor.