The White Hat Recipe for Kangaroo Tail Soup

Some people think you can have a kangaroo tail soup on the table in just a few hours. What a load of rubbish – that’s just some wimpish broth with some kangaroo meat in it. Some people use beef stock. What an insult! Not only have cattle invaded the lands of the kangaroo, they’re invading it’s soup..

If a kangaroo has died it must be treated with due respect and the maximum goodness extracted from the parts. That particularly includes the marrow and you’re not going to get that goodness from any trendy delicately-seared-segments-ofkangaroo-lovingly-simmered-in-a-coulis-of-baby-vegtables-and-served-in-a-delicate-beef-broth-with-just-a-hint-of-jasmin-and-garnished-with-herbes-de-provence sort of recipe. That’s not going to put hairs on your chest and other parts of your body where they have never previously grown.

You will want is:

• One or more kangaroo tails cut into joints
• Red or white wine vinegar
• Several onions
• Whole cloves and peppercorns
• Whatever root vegetables are to hand

The first thing you will need to do if you are going to get the goodness and flavour of the marrow is to marinate the roo, and I don’t mean for half an hour while you wind down after work. I mean for several days if possible.

Place the roo pieces in a dish (glass, stainless steel or plastic but not aluminium) and cover with vinegar or wine (you may choose to dilute it half-and half with water) together with a number of cloves and peppercorns and several bay leaves. I also like to add some whole allspice if they are handy. Cover and leave in fridge

The soup itself is best suited to slow cooker, a big pot on the stove, a pot over the campfire or woodstove or anything will enable slow cooking for a number of hours. Remove the meat from the marinade. If convenient you can roll the joints in some flour and brown them in some butter or oil in the pan. If it’s not convenient then I wouldn’t get too fussed. Put the meat in the pot, cover with water and add some flavouring vegetables – maybe an onion (no need to chop or even peel) , a few whole carrots, a few sticks of celery. I prefer to keep them large at this stage so they can be distinguished from the smaller sliced crunchier vegetables we will add towards the end. I also add a bit of the marinade and dispose of the rest. Also some more peppercorns, cloves and baya leaves. Then of course there’s salt. There’s no way around it, a soup like this is going to need some sort of salt and a smaller amount added earlier saves having to add a larger amount later.

Now is the time to simmer it for a respectable number of hours. If it’s in a slow cooker then go to work and earn some money - it will be there when you get back. If it’s in a ski hut, then the lair who is confined to cabin with a sprain sustained while trying to impress the snow bunnies can make himself useful by skimming the surface of the soup from time to time. If you are at a campfire you’ll find that kamikaze insects will provide additional protein to the pot unless you cover it - it’s up to you.

About half an hour before serving chop some fresh vegetables and add them to the pot. If you want to get every last bit of goodness out of the vegetables you added earlier you can remove them, push them through a sieve and return the sieved goodies to the soup. You may also choose to thicken it by melting some butter in a separate pan, adding some flour and after that has thickened you may need to dilute it with some of your soup liquid mixed through then add to the soup. Before serving adjust the seasoning. I prefer to keep it undersalted so that everyone can then adjust according to their taste.

Roo tail soup is best served with damper or hearty bread and I prefer Worcestershire sauce to add depth and saltiness.

If you have eaten your soup around the campfire, when you arise in the morning you will find one little bit of the desert has bloomed overnight. That’s where you threw out the marinade.