Spiced Tongue

6 servings for a 3 pound beef tongue

Ok, I bet a lot of you are going EWIE, but I know that some of you are going to be interested in this recipe.  I remember when I was a little girl being totally freaked out when my mother brought to our dining table “the tongue” and it was a big one—unpeeled.  She peeled it in front of me and I thought that I would get sick.  But I braved it and ever since have enjoyed the lesser loved dishes including sweet breads, liver, kidneys, snails and well, you get the picture.  So, when I saw 4 pork tongues at the grocery

store the other day, I was happy indeed.  This was my first experience with pork tongues.  They turned out delicious however they were much harder to peel than the other tongues I had encountered.  There are many ways of cooking a tongue but this recipe is one which ends up having a nice sweet sauce on it and I think that even first timers may enjoy it.

Ingredients for boiling the tongue:

1. One fresh beef tongue (3 lbs.) but I cooked my 2 lbs. of 4 pork tongues
2. 1 Tsp. salt
3. 1 onion studded with 3-4 cloves
4. 6 sprigs of fresh parsley
5. 3 celery stalks with leaves
6. 2 peeled carrots cut into large pieces
7. Few whole pepper corns
8. 1 bay leaf
9. Water to cover

Instructions for boiling the tongue:

1. Place the tongue and the ingredients above in a tall pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover the pot and simmer until the tongue(s) are fork tender—about 2 ½ to 3 hours.
2. Remove the tongue(s) from the water and cool slightly.
3. When cool, if need be, cut of bones and gristle at the thick end; slit the skin from the thick end to the tip on the underside.  Use a paring knife to loosen the skin at the thick end pull and peel off the skin from the thick end to the tip.
4. At this point you can slice it and serve it with mustard, horseradish or whatever you enjoy with tongue.  You can eat it hot or cold.  However, after slicing this is what I do if I don’t feel like just having slice tongue with a homemade mustard, horseradish,  piquant or nice vinaigrette sauce:

Ingredients for the spiced tongue sauce:

1. 3 strips of lemon peel
2. 1 Tsp. cinnamon
3. 2 Tsp. brown sugar
4. 1/8 Tsp. freshly ground pepper
5. 2 C. white wine or dry vermouth
6. 1/2 C. raisins (optional)
7. 1/2 C. Blackberry or currant or cranberry jelly or sauce (optional)

Instructions for the spiced tongue sauce:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2.  Simmer (but don’t boil) the sauce ingredients so that they are mixed well.
3. Place the tongue slices in an oven proof casserole dish and add the sauce ingredients and bake, covered in the 375 degree oven until the meat absorbs nearly all the liquid—about 35 minutes.
4. I serve this with roasted fingerling potatoes and a nice side vegetable.