Oxtail Daikon Soup (bone "healing" part 5) 牛尾白萝卜汤

I tried Beef Brisket and Daikon Soup 牛腩萝卜汤 in a Chinese/Dim Sum restaurant months ago (again, the beef is not a want for me but a need to heal my injured elbow including bone, tendons, cartilage, muscles etc.) and inspired me on how I should cook the remaining oxtail at home. A clear broth of Oxtail and Daikon Soup 牛尾白萝卜汤 it will be.


It is super easy to make this soup and can be a nourishing soup for winter - replenishing iron in the body and improving blood/fluid circulation. For Oxtail and Daikon Soup 牛尾白萝卜汤 you need: 1 medium-size daikon, cut to wedges/rounds; 6-7 pieces of oxtail, blanched and set aside; ginger, onions and garlic. (Note: optional - pinch of whole fennel seeds and black peppercorns as well, for flavor profile).

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Oxtail Soup (bone "healing" part 4) 牛尾汤

It has been more than eight weeks since my right elbow was fractured. It usually takes more than a month (sometimes up to 3-4 months, depending on severity) to completely heal the fractured bones, including injured (broken) tendons, cartilage, soft tissues, biceps, triceps, muscles.

To help myself heal faster and speed up recovery, I have been cooking bone broth at least once a week during the initial stages of recovery and to-date, I have cooked bone broth with pork bones once, beef bones twice, and chicken bones many times.

You can say I am desperate to heal!


This is my first time cooking oxtail and for similar reasons, the purpose is to drink up the "collagen" and minerals (calcium, iron, etc.) that hopefully helps me heal faster. Why did I choose oxtail? It can be beef shanks, other bone parts too.

Oxtail is bony and gelatinous too, and usually takes a long time to cook till fork-tender. If it means requiring a relatively longer duration to cook, it also means they contain more connective tissues, muscle fibers and collagen. These days, I am super sensitive to such words related to the bone. :D

Since it is a first time for me, I reckon the most idiot-proof way is to stove-cook the oxtail with gentle heat over a long duration (at least 3 hours); and with the most basic and common root vegetables such as onions, carrots, and celery to flavor up this Oxtail Soup. Surely, it won't fail me?

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Chicken Feet and Beans Soup 凤爪(鸡脚)黄豆汤 (bone "healing" - Part 3)

I belong to the school that says "yes" to chicken feet. Braised chicken feet is one of my go-to order whenever visiting a dim-sum restaurant.


Apologies if this has given you a fright but it's Halloween :D  ...what's better to present real frightening food? I don't sugar-coat biscuits, cookies and cakes to Franken-fright anyway.

I never thought I would cook chicken feet at home (an ingredient that really needs time to cook down hardly fits my regular cooking-style) if not for my recent bone injury.


As a first attempt to cook chicken feet soup, it was surprisingly a breeze to success. Really, all you need is time and patience to cook down the chicken feet till tender. As chicken feet is mainly gelatin and connective tissues, it typically takes 3 hours or more to be cooked down in soups.

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Four-Beans Pork Bone Broth 猪骨四豆汤 (bone "healing" part 2)

Ever since adapting to a mainly vegetable-seafood (and chicken) diet at home (I still eat pork and beef when I dine out), this is the FIRST time I open my kitchen to pork as I had to find alternatives when my nearest Whole Foods Market ran out of chicken backs!

Pork bones to the rescue!


Since it is mainly the marrow and minerals that was to be extracted from the bones, I was also generally more receptive to cooking this pork bone broth soup at home. It's just the bones, not much meat involved. Pig trotters is another option with its bounty of gelatin but once again - I can only do basic prep. work in the kitchen, so that option was out.

To make up for the protein and fiber, a variety of beans was used in this broth. This Four-Beans Pork Bone Broth Soup uses black-eyed beans, northern beans, peruano beans and soy beans (all the dried beans were soaked overnight, then rinsed before using). Also added were ginger and onions, some coarsely ground black pepper for taste.

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Chicken Bone Broth (bone "healing" - Part 1)

I could not help but fall to the popular Chinese saying "以形补形" (Yi Xing Bu Xing) when I recently injured my elbow and suffered a fracture. Since the saying possibly means: to consume certain food that resembles certain body part/organ to "nourish" that specific part/organ of our own body - I wish I could gnaw at some bones so that I get my bones back...in shape! Now!

Bones, cartilage, collagen, ligaments, tendons - these are everything that is good for me right now; and with only one hand, the easiest dish I could cook and consume regularly is...

SOUP (the "put-everything-in-a-pot-and-let-magic-happens" all-in-one kind of meal)!

Or technically...BONE BROTH! Think chicken, pork, beef....

Let's start with chicken for today.

Luckily, chicken carcass (or backs) is already a regular ingredient I use in my daily cooking with dishes such as chicken porridge and chicken soup. That will be my easiest bet for bone broth as (1) it will have a high concentration of red marrow, not forgetting (2) all the minerals e.g. calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, collagen - easily absorbed nutrients that is good for bone healing/health including repair and strengthening of cartilage, tendons and connective tissue in the body.

Here are a few tips on Chicken Bone Broths:

Tip #1: Buy organic chicken carcass/backs that is free of antibiotics and hormones

Organic chicken backs are sometimes available in Whole Foods Market, Stevens Creek store. They are not expensive at $1.69/lb. Seriously, ever since my injury, I have been cooking (eating/drinking) chicken porridge and soup for at least once a week. How I wish Whole Foods Market save the organic chicken backs for me! Truth is, in the last two trips there, they ran out of organic chicken backs! There goes my easy route for bone broth!

Tip #2: Your butcher is your friend
Request the butcher to chop (and break up) the chicken backs into small pieces - the smaller the better so that the marrow and minerals essentially "leech" out faster into the broth. The kind folks (except for one who was not that helpful) at Whole Foods Market, Stevens Creek Store were always willing to do the work for me. Thank you!

Tip #3: Cook the broth/soup

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