Fresh Beef Tongue: Buying, Preparing

[Chef Fowke]

Did you clean and trim the tongue before you poached it in the court bouillon?

[suzilightning]

i grew up eating cow tongue instead of beef in new england dinners(think corned beef dinner). after cooking, pop would peel the tongue before thinly slicing it. then it was boiled potato, carrots and cabbage with mustard.

[Abra]

No, poach whole, let cool until you can handle it, then peel off the skin and trim. I think it would be imposible to do that before cooking. Then I let it sit in the fridge overnight, to get nice clean slices. In that sense it's a perfect restaurant dish, since it can just be finished in sauce à la minute.

edit to say: sorry, brain fart alert! I meant sauce gribiche, just slipped a cog, although ravigote would be good too.

Edited January 9, 2009 by Abra (log)

[Peter the eater]

Today I cooked my first tongue. It was purchased fresh a few weeks ago and cryovac-ed by me. I love seeing the "freeze or consume within 48 hours" sticker indicating half price. It's half a beef tongue -- 784 grams for $4.31. Considering the unpopularity of tongue around here, $11/kg is rather pricey. I believe the pork and lamb tongues are a bit cheaper.

I simmered the tongue for an hour and a half with celery, onion, garlic and bay leaves. The broth is delicious -- I was expecting more scum.

I peeled it after cooling then diced the meat. There's some strange anatomy inside a beef tongue but I managed to get around 60%. I'll likely make a soup with barley tomorrow.

There's an issue with simmering a half tongue -- the cut side was down for the first hour and cooked differently since it was in contact with the bottom of the pot. It looked a bit gray and well-done compared to the insides.

I like the lean beefy flavor and the fine texture. Tongue would be a good candidate for a sous vide approach.

[Qwerty]

Keller's new(ish) book Under Pressure has a recipe for a corned beef tongue that I've been itching to try. I've been wanting to make my own corned beef for a while and think that a tongue would be delicious.

Plus, nobody else in my family would go near it so I'd get to eat it all.

[Peter the eater]

Plus, nobody else in my family would go near it so I'd get to eat it all.

My family was somewhat disturbed by the big tongue in a pot. Cubing the meat lessens the impact but I quite like the remarkable cross section of sliced tongue -- it's a unique part of the animal.

[Domestic Goddess]

The key thing is to scrape/peel the white covering on the tongue once it is boiled tender. In the Philippines, we have a recipe called Lengua Estofado and the tongue is served sliced with a sweet-savory sauce.

My mother makes a mean beef tongue with gravy. It's a treat for us since my mom rarely makes it (she finds cooking and cleaning the tongue too ardous).

[YK81]

Hi everyone!

Ok here is my issue!

I bought this beef tongue and wanted to cook it as per mr. Keller's UNDER PRESSURE recipe. In this recipe you have to let the tongue in a brine for 28 days (!!!!!!!omg!?) before you sous vide it for 24 hours!!! Clearly not the "i need a quick snack" recipe!

Anyway... i have followed the recipe to the letter. Only difference is that I have put the brine/meat in the refridgerator... (1-3 Celsius) rather than the 12 degrees Celsius indicated in the book. The meat has now been in the brine for 16 days.

My question is: what should i do? This all sounds very inappropriate to me... should i go ahead with the recipe or just throw the meat away?

And what is the science behind 'aging' a meat like that? Dont bacteria grow at 12 degrees celsius, or does the brine prevent anything from growing... or does pasteurizing the meat during the 24 hour sous vide process means that all pathogens will be killed anyway?

Thanks in advance

YK

[ChefCrash]

What's in the brine?

I corned a piece of beef 9" in diameter in 10 days.

Edited July 26, 2010 by ChefCrash (log)

[YK81]

It s a pretty basic salt and sugar brine, with aromatics... you are also supposed to use a small amount of curing salt... but didnt have any, would this be a problem...? it was 5 gr curing salt, in a 1.5 liter brine, if i remember correctly.

[sheepish]

When I cure air dried hams, prior to air drying, I pack them in salt and don't worry too much about the temperature, although typically I'm doing that in the cooler months which probably equates to somewhere between 5 and 14C here. With brines I try and keep them cool. For large brined hams I drop cool-box freezer blocks into the brine where the brine bucket won't fit into a fridge. So 12C does sound warm for a brine based on what I've been used to doing

Curing salt contains nitrite and nitrite is used to prevent the formation of the bacteria that causes botulism - although I think a big part of adding it is always that it keeps the meat pink, rather than letting it go grey. So without this I think you are correct to keep the brine refrigerated. I certainly wouldn't throw it away from where you are. Just had a skim through the brining section in Jane Grigson's "Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery" and it doesn't mention keeping brine particularly cool, but it is old enough to use saltpetre (nitrite) in the brine recipes.

I'd like to know how you get on because I've spotted it in Under Pressure too and like the idea of it. I have the vac-packer and the saltpetre, still working on a water bath I can leave for 12 hours :-)

[rocketshipdog]

I have done beef tongue sous vide in 24 hours at 155 without brining and it came out quite delicious.

I worked it into this recipe afterwards.

http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/chorizo-bacon-and-tongue-tacos-with-guacamole-and-pickled-onions

[budrichard]

Seems like Culinary over kill.

I always use veal tongue, simmer with aromatics for a few hours, cool, peel and then use. Works fine every time and a lot simpler.

When 'corning' I always use a stash I have of saltpeter to prevent bacteria growth and corn about 3 weeks. It's basically there to preserve color also.

It's really your decision what to do with your tongue.-Dick

[ScottyBoy]

Well if you're already half way there why bail out now? I say stay the course and see what the results are when you follow the recipe. Then you can compare results from different brine times in the future.

[Chris Hennes]

Seems like Culinary over kill.

I always use veal tongue, simmer with aromatics for a few hours, cool, peel and then use. Works fine every time and a lot simpler.

When 'corning' I always use a stash I have of saltpeter to prevent bacteria growth and corn about 3 weeks. It's basically there to preserve color also.

It's really your decision what to do with your tongue.-Dick

The whole notion behind all of Keller's cooking is that "fine" is not good enough. What's the harm in seeking perfection, or hell, even just something different? Beef prepared this way has a vastly different texture than the traditional technique, it's simply not the same end product.

The omission of the curing salt should not be taken lightly: it's good that you have refrigerated the beef up to this point, if you had tried to cure sans the TCM at room temp you would definitely have to discard the beef. The TCM changes both the flavor and the color of the finished product, so be aware that what you wind up with is NOT going to be Keller's recipe. Personally, I'd order me some curing salt ASAP (it's only a couple dollars at butcher-packer.com) and add it now, then finish the curing process in the fridge.

[budrichard]

"The whole notion behind all of Keller's cooking is that "fine" is not good enough. What's the harm in seeking perfection, or hell, even just something different? Beef prepared this way has a vastly different texture than the traditional technique, it's simply not the same end product."

There is certainly nothing wrong in seeking something different but perfection is a subjective judgement when it comes to cooking and I doubt that this recipe is 'perfection' but I won't make it because I can very simply prepare excellent tongue using the ingredients and method described. I have also long ago gotten off the Celebrity Chef bandwagon.

In terms of food safety adding an ingredient that will insure safety AFTER the process is well underway is not the safe thing to do, but as I said only the Original Poster can make the decision about whether the thing is safe to eat.-Dick

[FoodMan]

Well, by now the original poster must've made his decision, but it is worth replying to clarify a couple fo things. What he neglected to mention in the original post is that this recipe in Under Preassure is for a CORNED beef tongue that is layered in between bread slices and cooked sort of like French toast. It is Keller's refined take on a deli corned tongue sandwich. He was not just making a cooked beef tongue dish or a stew. Whether his dish is perfect or not is besides the point, but he does make it his point to refine his dishes over and over again. Of course perfection is subjective, but Keller's recipes never failed me and he is who he is because of his obsessive seeking of 'perfection'. I guess I am still on the bandwagon...

For what it's worth:

- Leaving the meat to cure or pickle, preferably with the curing salt for the suggested period is a good idea. That is not to say that budrichard's shorter (by a week) time frame is going to result in a bad result, but I would try Keller's pickling method first if I am following his recipe.

- Curing salt will help preserve the meat and give the attractive pink color. Leaving it out and curing it in the fridge is ok as well, provided that you do not also reduce the amount of salt in the brine. The final color will be greyish as oppposed to rosy pink if the curing salt is left out.

- Adding the curing salt halfway through the process will do no harm, and will probably help.

Hope you can give us an update of how it turned out for you YK81 at some point.

[HungryChris]

Bought a beef tongue before leaving for vacation and mixed up a batch of brine using Morton Tender Quick (6 cups of water and 1 1/2 cup of the TQ). Injected the brine in several places to insure the entire tongue is cured, then added peppercorns, bay leaves, brown mustard seeds and  a little cider vinegar. Put this in the downstairs fridge for a little over 2 weeks. Cooked for one hour in the instant pot and peeled. Covered with a dry rub of brown sugar, cumin, salt garlic powder and lots of ground pepper. Made a slightly different rub for some baby backs which I will smoke at the same time as the corned tongue. Currently smoking at 225 F with hickory. At the 4 hour mark, the ribs will come out, 1 for dinner, the other for a gift and exchange for fresh eggs from Deb's BIL. At that  time I will evaluate the tongue.

 

HC

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[HungryChris]

Here they are just out of the smoker. Snuck a little piece of each and was pretty happy with the flavor and tenderness. My last batch of smoked ribs were a little too salty for my taste so I cut the salt in half and added more cumin, garlic powder. I am hoping the tongue will be pastrami like and make good sandwiches.

HC

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[Shelby]

Looks super good, Chris.  I don't think I've ever had beef tongue.

[Anna N]

 Used to love beef tongue and I bet I still do but one would have to go to a delicatessen to find it here and I don't often think about it when I am in the deli.  Must try to remember to get a few slices next time.

[HungryChris]

24 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Looks super good, Chris.  I don't think I've ever had beef tongue.

 

When I was a little kid, I helped my mother prepare for a small dinner gathering one day. I remember chopping olives and mixing in cream cheese. I also remember being grossed out when she pulled out this beef tongue and simmered it on the stove for a few hours and peeled off the skin. The next morning I saw there were a few platters of goodies left over. One of them was the absolute best tasting and most tender ham I had ever eaten, or so I thought. I really enjoyed it. It changed my life. The first one I ever saw as an adult, I bought and cooked. It is one thing, like scrapple, that I am the only fan of in the house. I think it was a beef tongue corning in the basement fridge  that got that fridge the nick name "forensics lab" and is usually uttered with a rolled eye.

Edited April 10, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[rotuts]

a tongue sandwich on the appropriate fresh bread + fixings is a gift from the Gods.

[huiray]

I eat beef tongue frequently. I've posted about various iterations of it, many of them bought from stores in Indy that make them in various forms, if one were so inclined to read about them. It's good stuff. Just look on the dinner or other threads. I've used them in many kinds of dishes – perhaps those who have not have had it might explore this at some time. 

Edited April 10, 2016 by huiray (log)

[HungryChris]

Bought some Russian rye and Lorraine Swiss this morning. Sliced the smoked, corned beef tongue thinly and steamed it to resemble pastrami. The sandwich exceeded my expectations. I just know if I could get Deb to taste this sandwich without worrying about the contents, she would be hooked, but oh well. A little mayo under the cheese and Dijon mustard and pickled onions transported me to the Second Avenue Deli or Katz. Beautiful!