Thread: just wanted to share tonight's dinner with you guys..

Snails are good & + on the garlic/butter gratin. Caviar is delightful. I put a tablespoon on top of a small serving of cottage cheese as an occasional appetizer. But what I am currently missing the most is a good beef tongue dinner. Used to be a cheap commodity but now hard to find and expensive. Always enjoyed the cooking and peeling of it. Great as a sandwich with horseradish. Tongue tacos aren't too bad either. But if I could only find a recipe that would be similar to a tongue dish my mother used to make I'd be in seventh heaven and damn the expense. It was like a stew, but not filled with all the veggies. She used a couple cans of whole button mushrooms in it (we owned a small grocery store and those were readily available. I believe it had a tomato based stock.Didn't take a long time to prepare as I recall, since the tongue was already cooked. I'm hoping I'm remembering correctly, taste memories can be deceiving.

Oh well, off to the gym to work of a few real and a few imagined pounds.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

Snails are good & + on the garlic/butter gratin. Caviar is delightful. I put a tablespoon on top of a small serving of cottage cheese as an occasional appetizer. But what I am currently missing the most is a good beef tongue dinner. Used to be a cheap commodity but now hard to find and expensive. Always enjoyed the cooking and peeling of it. Great as a sandwich with horseradish. Tongue tacos aren't too bad either. But if I could only find a recipe that would be similar to a tongue dish my mother used to make I'd be in seventh heaven and damn the expense. It was like a stew, but not filled with all the veggies. She used a couple cans of whole button mushrooms in it (we owned a small grocery store and those were readily available. I believe it had a tomato based stock.Didn't take a long time to prepare as I recall, since the tongue was already cooked. I'm hoping I'm remembering correctly, taste memories can be deceiving.

Oh well, off to the gym to work of a few real and a few imagined pounds.

I have a couple of old cookbooks that have recipes for tongue. The one that might be closest to what you would want is below.

Boiled Tongue with Madeira Sauce

3-4 lb. smoked beef tongue
Cold water
Bouquet garni (sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf, and a few parsley stems wrapped in leek leaves or tied around a celery stick)
3 whole cloves
1 med onion
1 clove garlic
½ cup sliced carrots
5 peppercorns

Madeira sauce



Soak the tongue in cold water overnight. The next day, place it in a kettle and cover with cold water. Add the remaining ingredients but for the Madeira sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer to 3 hours or until tender. Cool in the cooking liquid for 1/2 hour then peel and cut off root muscle. Slice diagonally and serve with Madeira sauce.

Madeira sauce is classically made by making a brown sauce that is thickened with a small amount of roux and reduced. Then Madeira is added. You could mimic that be thickening a good, rich stock or broth with a bit of brown roux and spike it with the Madeira. And if mushrooms were typical, you could garnish it with sautéed mushrooms as well.

My favorite beef tongue would be a dark beer stew with mushrooms... with more dark beer in a glass, obviously.

If you like caviar, try karashi mentaiko (spicy marinated pollock roe) one of these days.

OCD, thanks for the recipe. Close but different from what I remember. Wasn't a smoked tongue she use but a fresh cooked and peeled and sliced. My mother cooked kosher so I better look thru the debris of a lifetime and see if I find any of her recipes tucked away somewhere.

Then there were the dishes my father liked (claimed he was from somewhere between Minsk and Pinsk). Mom's father was a kosher butcher and would occasionally bring calf heart and lung that she's saute up for dad. Ate that a few times and enjoyed it. But could not get around his favorite - saute-ed calf brains.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

OCD, thanks for the recipe. Close but different from what I remember. Wasn't a smoked tongue she use but a fresh cooked and peeled and sliced. My mother cooked kosher so I better look thru the debris of a lifetime and see if I find any of her recipes tucked away somewhere.

Then there were the dishes my father liked (claimed he was from somewhere between Minsk and Pinsk). Mom's father was a kosher butcher and would occasionally bring calf heart and lung that she's saute up for dad. Ate that a few times and enjoyed it. But could not get around his favorite - saute-ed calf brains.

Well, its a starting point. You may have to play around with it before it resembles what you remember. And maybe it never will. But along the way you might stumble upon something good.

Only do it once a yr as it is alot of work,Corned beef tongue.
Soak in a pickle Brine for a week,Than cold smoke it for 3 days (90degs) than boil it for a few hrs.
Skin it and slice thin,Is to die for.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Only do it once a yr as it is alot of work,Corned beef tongue.
Soak in a pickle Brine for a week,Than cold smoke it for 3 days (90degs) than boil it for a few hrs.
Skin it and slice thin,Is to die for.

Absolutely!! Good dark rye, slathering of horseradish, dill pickle and off to the races!

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Only do it once a yr as it is alot of work,Corned beef tongue.
Soak in a pickle Brine for a week,Than cold smoke it for 3 days (90degs) than boil it for a few hrs.
Skin it and slice thin,Is to die for.

I was in a restaurant, sitting at the counter having lunch. Guy came in, sat down, asked the waitress, "What's good today." She said, "Tongue is delicious."

He said, "I don't want anything that came out of a cow's mouth ......... give me an egg !" .........

My mothers folks were Amish. Grandmother used to make beef tongue and she pickled it. It was yummie. I still do it but it is not as good as hers

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I was in a restaurant, sitting at the counter having lunch. Guy came in, sat down, asked the waitress, "What's good today." She said, "Tongue is delicious."

He said, "I don't want anything that came out of a cow's mouth ......... give me an egg !" .........

Well, ya know, it takes all kinds.