Meditations

Tasty Taste Buds


cow_tongue

Even though I haven’t lived at home for years, my mouth still waters when I think about the “schtka, schtka, schtka” sound that the pressure cooker made. That meant my mom was making beef tongue. I know, none of my other friends ate it, but by the time I realized it was unusual, it was too late. I was hooked on the flavour and tenderness of it. My mom made it with some soy, a couple of bay leaves, a whole lotta garlic, and she always served it with hot German mustard. When I moved away from home, it was the one dish I missed the most, and I couldn’t make it myself without a pressure cooker. So, a few years back, I decided to remedy the situation (buying my own pressure cooker is cheaper than flying to Edmonton!).

The other night, Mark and I decided to try a variation on my mom’s recipe. I resisted – why mess with a good thing? The process was a little more complicated than my mom’s, but, the result was excellent.

Ingredients
1 beef tongue (2 kg)
3/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp peppercorn
2 bay leaves
2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 c cherry wine (we used blackberry port)
1/2 c chopped olives
olive oil
1 c tomato sauce

Method
Soak the tongue in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Peel or cut the whitish skin off
Rinse
Slice tongue diagonally into small pieces
Put in pressure cooker with soy, vinegar, wine, sugar, onion, peppercorn, bay leaves, olives, and garlic.
Cook for 20 minutes
Fry tongue in oil until dark brown
Add the tongue and tomato sauce to the pot with the marinade and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid off.

The tomato flavour was a good addition. And, it cooked faster because we cut it into smaller pieces rather than leaving it whole.

You can buy beef (and pork) tongue at T&T. I’ve only found it frozen, and sometimes you have to ask for it as it is often in the back. And, you really do need a pressure cooker for this – it can be really chewy and tough if you don’t.

Do you eat tongue? How do you prepare it?

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