I decided upon this one – Boiled Ox Tongue: to Serve Cold, because I could take it into work and force my new labmates to eat it and (hopefully) put some comments on here! The recipe calls for a 2 ½ to 5 pound pickled (i.e. brined) ox tongue – these you can order form your butcher (in the UK at least). I thought I would pickle it myself using this now tried-and-tested brine method from English Food. The tongue needs 5 to 7 days in the brine tub, but there is no maximum time really - you can’t oversalt anything, because you can soak it in water for 6 or so hours beforehand. It’s recommended you do this with a pickled tongue from the butcher’s shop.
The tongue before brining |
The pressed but unsliced tongue |
Remove the tongue from the water and allow it to cool slightly. Peel away the skin and remove any gristly bits from the thick end. The tongue is now ready to be pressed. Coil the tongue and place it in a 5 or 6 inch loose-bottomed cake tin with base removed. If you can’t get hold of one (I couldn’t) you could invest in a proper tongue press. I actually used a straight sided mixing bowl that I happened to have and it worked very well. Place the tin base on top (or something similar) along with a couple of tins of food and allow to cool and press for several hours or overnight. When cool, transfer to the fridge.
When you are ready to eat it, slice it thinly and serve with a salad and some horseradish sauce so says Lady Jane Griggers. If you want to be all Victorian about it ‘press the tongue into a slipper shape, and then decorate it with aspic jelly and bits and pieces’. However, The Grigson goes on to say: ‘I think we have lost sympathy with over-presented food of this kind: it always arouses my suspicious – I wonder what the caterer is trying to conceal.’
FYI: the tongue is the only muscle in the body not attached at both ends.
#258 Boiled Ox Tongue: To Serve Cold. I’ve not had much experience of eating tongue, except the kind you get already sliced for sandwiches and always found it a little bit on the tasteless side and have never really cared for it. This was much better, though didn’t pack much of a flavour-punch; which was a shame because when I pulled it hot out of the stock, it smelt absolutely delicious. Perhaps I over-cooked it. Anyways, this tongue was wonderfully tender and moist due to its high fat content and gelatinous qualities. Nice, but I’m not doing back-flips: 5/10.
5 comments:
I thought the tongue was delicious. Its taste was the perfect foil for the horseradish sauce. If something can taste old-fashioned, this did. I can't really remember when I grew to like tongue, but I do. It's really more flavorful than most meats, especially prepared this way. Neil's the best, even brought rolls and lettuce for us to enjoy it properly, though it might have been a tad warm out, easily 25.
That's a lot of effort for a 5/10 Neil! Was it gross peeling it? Sounds like the faint hearted, i.e. me, would struggle. Well done on your efforts though.
I still haven't made up my mind about it. I think I'll do another tongue recipe soon and see...
I'm glad I didn't see the tongue before it was cooked, I'm squeamish that way! But it was quite moist and flavorful, and horseradish went well with it.
Thanks for the message, dusty!
I am curing another tongue so i can do another recipe this weekend. not quite sure what yet though...
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