Kangaroo Tail Soup

Medium·35 min active + 2 hours 45 min resting

A rich, gelatinous soup of kangaroo tail slow-simmered with onion, carrot, and tomato until the meat falls off the bone and the broth turns deep and silky. A hearty bush-and-colonial dish from the most flavourful part of the animal.

Kangaroo tail soup is a traditional Aboriginal preparation (the tail is rich in gelatin and flavour) that also became a colonial Australian classic.

Spoon up kangaroo tail soup and the broth is deep, dark, and silky with dissolved gelatin, the pulled tail meat tender and richly savoury, the vegetables melting in. Bite: profoundly meaty and lip-coating from the gelatin, the most flavourful, almost oxtail-like part of the kangaroo. A slow, warming bush soup from nose-to-tail tradition.

The tail is full of connective tissue and bone; long, gentle simmering dissolves the collagen into gelatin, giving the broth its silky, lip-coating body and the meat its fall-apart tenderness — the same principle as oxtail soup, applied to the kangaroo's richest cut.

Variations

With barley. With native herbs. Thicker (as a stew). With root vegetables. With red wine. Pressure-cooked.

On the Palate

Where Kangaroo Tail Soup sits in the Aboriginal Australian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

8 steps · 35 min active + 2 hours 45 min waiting

1
10 min
Joint a kangaroo tail at the segments; brown the pieces in oil.
Watch out
Get a deep brown crust on the tail pieces before anything else — that seared surface is where the soup's depth of flavor comes from.
2
6 min
Add chopped onion and carrot and cook until coloured.
3
4 min
Add chopped tomato and cook a few minutes.
4
6 min
Cover well with water; bring to a simmer and skim.
Watch out
Skim off the grey foam as it rises to the top before you settle into the long simmer — clear it now and the finished broth stays clean and bright.
5
2 min
Season with salt and herbs.
6
165 min
Simmer gently 2.5-3 hours until the meat falls off the bone.
Watch out
Keep it at a lazy bubble, not a rolling boil, for the full 2.5-3 hours — you'll know it's done when the meat slides off the bone at a nudge and the broth feels silky on the lips.
7
5 min
Lift out the tail, pull the meat, and return it to the broth.
8
2 min
Adjust seasoning and serve hot.