Of Braised Beef Tongues and Heirlooms

On Saturday morning, I went to Eastern Market and bought this three pound beef tongue. 

“WHY?!” you might ask, and you are justified in asking.  In fact after I paid, the butcher inquired as to whether it was for a science project.  When I said no, that actually I planned to braise it, he said “eyuckkk” and looked at me in disgust.

Well, to answer your question, I actually have a couple of reasons.  First was a recommendation from my Grandmother.  It all began one winter, when I was very happily snowed in at her Portsmouth apartment, completely lost in one of her bookshelves.  Earlier she had made the comment that she was worried I had outgrown the Abercrombie & Fitch gift cards she sent me each Christmas (I had).  “You know, Grammy,” I said. “What I’d really like for Christmas is for you to send me some of your favorite books each year.”  And so it began.  Each year around Christmas time I anxiously await her package, which for two years in a row has arrived the very evening of my Book Club holiday book swap (my grandmother has an odd way of timing gifts– my mother has noted for years that her Hola!s always arrive when she’s had a particularly bad day).

This year, the box was much larger than usual.  A few days later, this note arrived describing its contents (I hope she won’t be upset with me for publishing portions!): “Another Christmas present consisting of things I don’t want any more.  Johanna, you’re the one who started this!  The Spanish pottery is what’s left of Grammy’s collection after Stephen & Kippy and Peter & Jen claimed what they wanted– hope you don’t find this insulting!” Not at all.  Birth order.

“The afghan is sort of an heirloom: it was crocheted by my father’s mother.”   I was particularly excited about the afghan.  In fact the afghan, which modest as always, my grandmother is describing as “kind of an heirloom” (it was made by my great, great grandmother for heaven sake!) was probably the best Christmas present I got this year.

 Conveniently, it also just happened to match all of my living room decor perfectly.  In fact, it matched my living room much better than the one I’d been drooling over from Anthropologie.   The one that I couldn’t bring myself to buy because they wanted $198 for it (for $198 I could hire a great grandma to crochet me one at my house and I bet you she’d throw in a batch of cookies!)

So you’re probably thinking, “this is all nice, Johanna” but what the heck does this have to do with the huge piece of flesh you decided to cook for your friends this weekend?

I’m getting there. “Julia Child’s books are almost too shabby to send for Christmas, but maybe you can think of them as heirlooms, too.  I haven’t used them as much as it would appear– they got their “patina by sitting on open shelves in my damp dusty kitchen.  I don’t know what possessed me to try the tongue recipe, because I didn’t like tongue, but it was so delicious that I made it twice.  Maybe it was a success because we were in Germany then, and there you can get wonderful fresh tongue.  It’s a good memory– but somehow I’m not tempted to try it again.” And so the challenge was on, I would try making the tongue.

But I couldn’t try it in January, since I wasn’t eating meat, and from there I continued to put it off.  I needed an extra push, and it finally came in the form of the Daring Cooks March challenge: brave the braise. And so the stars were aligned; I mean really, what’s more daring than tongue? Michael Ruhlman, whose book “Ruhlman’s Twenty” inspired this challenge (I’ll be needing a copy!) says that braising is one of the most valuable techniques, as it demonstrates what cooking is all about – “transformation, turning raw, tough, inexpensive ingredients [read: tongue] into hot, tender, delectable dishes.”

And delectable it was.  Here’s my take: it tasted very similar to roast beef, except less uniform.  Parts of the tongue are wonderfully lean, tender pieces of meat while others are much too fatty for my taste.  And yes, you can notice the taste buds on some bites.  As I note below, I wish I’d reduced the boiling time a bit, as I would have preferred the meat a bit more rare.  Then there is the sauce, O.M.G. the sauce.  It was the first thing I’ve ever made that made me wish I had a gravy boat.  It’s amazing how rich and creamy it is given how little fat goes into making it.  I could eat it straight with french bread, or just with a spoon…  oh wait, I did.  Also, I recommend serving it to your more adventurous friends.

Langue De Boeuf Braisée Au Madère (Fresh Beef Tongue Braised in Madeira Sauce)

From: The French Chef Cook Book by Julia Child – Featured on the Hundred and Thirty-Second Show

The Tongue: What you need: 3.5-4 lb beef tongue (mine was 3.1)
Large kettle or Stock Pot (mine is 5 gallons)  Preparing the tongue for cooking: Trim any extraneous matter on the underneath and large end of the tongue. To freshen the tongue, and to dissolve any clinging saliva and remove all blood, scrub the tongue with a vegetable brush under warm running water, then let soak 2-3 hours in a sinkful of cold water, and drain.

Boiling the tongue: Place the tongue in a large kettle, covered by 5 inches of water. Bring to a slow boil.  Skim off any greyish scum until it ceases to rise. If the tongue is not salted, add to the kettle 1 1/2 Tsp of salt for each quart of water.  Boil slowly for *2 hours, covered or partially uncovered. The tongue at this point is about 2/3 cooked and still quite firm.  *I think I boiled mine for too long, as it was pretty well cooked through.  I would recommend checking on it after 1.5 hours. 

Peeling the tongue: When the tongue is cool enough to handle, slit the skin all around the top edge and peel off the top surface of the tongue using your fingers, and a knife if necessary. The skin will come off quite easily on the top; underneath you will have to slit the skin in lengthwise strips and remove it with a knife. Trim the fatty parts away, and any loose meaty bits of the thick part of the tongue underneath, and remove any bones that may be lodged in the flesh of the tongue.

This is where I expected myself to lose it.  Let’s just say that this step sounds less than a’peeling’ when you wake up horribly hungover and read through the evening’s recipe.  Shockingly it didn’t bother me (not much grosses me out). 

Slicing the tongue: Make slices about 3/8-inch thick and as uniform in diameter as possible. To do this, the plan of attack is to cut several vertical slices at the thick end and then begin to slice on a bias, slanting toward the thick end as you come off the hump, slanting more and more until the knife is almost horizontal with the cutting board as you reach the tip.  Madeira Sauce:

The Madeira sauce can be made in advance or while the tongue is soaking or boiling.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/2 Cup Onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 Cup Carrots, finely diced
  • 1/2 Cup Celery, finely diced
  • 1/4 Cup  Boiled ham, finely diced
  • 3 Cup Beef stock or bouillon
  • 1 Tbsp Tomato paste
  • 1/2  Tsp Dried Thyme
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 2 Tbsp Arrowroot powder*
  • 1/4  Cup dry Madeira, or a dry sherry
  • Salt
  • Pepper
A few notes about my substitutions and “whoopsie” moments: *After talking with the wonderful women over at Hill’s Kitchen, I learned that I can sub corn starch for arrowroot at a 1.5/1 ratio. I used 3.5 Tbsp Corn starch, and this worked just fine.  With a small kitchen and limited budget, I love taking advantage of this type of economical substitution. * When I went to add the stock, I realized that I had looked at beef stock in the store, but failed to actually purchase it.  I had chicken and vegetable stock on hand, so I used 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup vegetable stock and it turned out just fine. *The Madeira we purchased wasn’t what I would call a dry wine, but I loved how it tasted enough to sip on it with dinner. *Out of laziness, I tried to “dice” the veggies in my food processor (I hate cutting onions!)  What came out was closer to a puree.  Again, the sauce was great, so apparently it’s a flexible sauce (shhh, don’t tell Julia!)!

Directions:

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan; stir in the onion, green pepper, celery, and ham. Cover the pan and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned.
  2. Add the stock or bouillon, tomato paste, thyme and bay leaf and simmer for 30 minutes, then remove from the heat
  3. Stir the arrowroot (or corn starch) in a small bowl with just enough wine to make a smooth paste; stir in the rest of the wine, then beat into the hot liquid. Bring to a simmer for about 2 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and cleared. Correct seasoning [with salt and pepper].

Braising the tongue: Arrange the sliced tongue in a casserole or skillet, pour on the sauce with its vegetables, cover, and simmer slowly for 30-40 minutes, or until the tongue is pierced easily with a fork.

Serving suggestions: Lightly butter a hot serving platter and mound hot mashed potatoes or buttered noodles in the center. Arrange upright slices of the tongue against the mound and spoon a bit ot the sauce over each slice. Surround the tongue with the braised vegetables. Pour the remaining sauce into a warm gravy bowl. Accompany with hot French bread and a red Bordeaux wine. 

Johanna

15 Comments Hide Comments

Johanna, this was such a great read to start the day, even though I’m a little sorry to realize that I somehow overlooked some very nice Spanish pottery. That afghan is sure familiar from my childhood – I remember sick days on the couch, cozied up in it. I’m glad it’s found a happy home! Can you send Grammy hard copy of this blog (complete with pictures!)? It would make her day.

Wow! You are truly a DARING Cook! Great, awesome, spectacular job!! First off, I love the idea of you asking for Grandma for books that she loved, that is a wonderful idea! Second, that afghan is very beautiful, and it matches your living room (and my bedroom) perfectly! 🙂 And finally, the beef. I am so impressed that you made beef tongue, and I am really glad that you liked it, too!

Thanks Jenni! All those years of me grousing that my Grandmother made me try food I didn’t like seem to have paid off. I’m really enjoying these challenges so far.

Carol aka PoisonIve says:

I thought that Audax did the most interesting braise with squid – but your Beef Tongue is neck and neck for the most interesting braise ingredient! What a beautiful post and your final plating looks very yummy. I am so glad you enjoyed the challenge! Fantastic job!

Thanks Carol, not only for the kind words but for hosting a challenge that finally pushed me to try the tongue! I’ve seen so many great recipes from your challenge– I just went and looked at his squid pasta and am now wanting a second dinner!

So, I decided to try the braised tongue and it turned out fantastic! I had a few preparedness issues (did not have any celery, it was 9:00 p.m. and raining…replaced it with some red and orange bell peppers and two teaspoons of celery seed. Also, forgot the Madeira when I went shopping so I used some sort of dry red wine we had in the fridge, don’t ask me what it was, I’m a beer guy.)

I also followed your advice on the cornstarch and it worked just fine. Oh, yes, I almost forgot…I planted some fantastic-smelling Greek Basil in my garden this Spring and I used about 1 teaspoon of that when I cooked the vegetables. All in all, the result was extremely tasty, tender and made my wife happy (that is the important part). Thanks!!!

Fabio

I’m so glad you made this and enjoyed it! Sounds like you were able to fudge it a bit and still get great results! And let’s be honest: a happy wife is a happy life!

Sue in RI says:

In the recipe for the sauce, in the directions in step 1, you mention onion, green peppers, celery and ham, while in the ingredients you specify onion, carrots, celery and ham. I assume the ingredients list is correct? Also, the Madeira Sauce is not so forgiving that using not-so-great beef stock won’t negatively impact the result. I used Trader Joe’s Organic Beef Broth and my sauce was pretty tasteless and needed some tweaking. When I tasted the Broth straight, I could see why. Blech. Next time will use Stock, not Broth, either home-made or Swanson’s, which has always worked well for me. Of course, Julia would recommend making your own. As for the tongue, it is much faster to use a pressure cooker, and there are many websites with instructions for that, should one choose to, as I did. Anyway, thanks for the recipe. It inspired me to make something I haven’t made since 1973 when I cooked most of the way through “The French Chef Cookbook” (Yes, before the movie!!). 😉

Yes, you are correct that the ingredients list is correct– the recipe does not call for green pepper– no idea where that even came from! It’s interesting that you had such trouble with the sauce — I clearly fudged it with the broth, and mine turned out great! I’m sure stock is always the best bet, but honestly, I just don’t have that kind of time or patience (this recipe took more of both than my usual meals!)

If I were to make this dish regularly, I would certainly be willing to give a pressure cooker a try– but I wanted to stay as true to the recipe as possible- I was really making this for the sentimental purpose of trying out a recipe my grandmother recommended and made decades ago… and I’m quite sure she wasn’t using a pressure cooker!

I’m glad the recipe inspired the same sentimentality in you! I’m impressed that you cooked your way through the book– the recipes aren’t easy!

What a lovely read; all my favorite things in one article! Crocheted afghans (with chevron stripes at that), old cookery books, crockery and – right at the top of the list – braised veal tongue in Madeira sauce!

I often trawl the net to compare my recipes for certain favorite dishes with other people’s. My (great grandmother’s) recipe adds a shot of ruby port to the sauce and a teaspoon of red currant jelly. Definitely worth it for the added depth of flavor and color of the sauce.

As for dicing veg for roux based sauces, I agree: it’s really not worth it. Get your grater or kitchen machine out instead and grate everything up to a pulp. That will release tonnes more flavor, bind and give you a lump-free sauce.

I will definitely give the arrow root a go. I use a flour and butter roux (cook out to hazelnut brown – tablespoon of each) as the base for the sauce myself, and then later add a shot of slacked corn flour if the sauce needs thickening.

LOL – I love the reaction when people hear that you’re planning to cook and (eat!) the tongue. My butcher was just as horrified until I brought him some to try. It’s now his favorite dish to. Or so he says…

johannaelsemore@gmail.com says:

Thank you for stopping by, Evainni, and for the wonderful cooking tips! I love to hear from others who have made the same dishes — as good as things are, there is ALWAYS a way to make them better! Happy New Year.

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