Good evening, readers. I thought I'd start things off with a bang and discuss something REALLY weird for my first cooking post.
So Aaron and I have some wonderful friends, Ian and Katie, who love to eat and cook just as much as we do. Every couple months, we get together at their place out in the country to visit and feast. We choose a theme for the dinner, and the theme for last Saturday was Germany.
Aaron and I were supposed to bring an appetizer, some side dishes, and dessert. We started brainstorming about the appetizer, and first we were thinking something along the lines of a homemade sausage or charcuterie of some sort. Aaron kept saying, "I think we should do something involving aspic!" I can't tell you how, but from there, we eventually settled upon pickled beef tongue mousse. We had no idea if this is even vaguely German, but I read online that Germans eat sliced beef tongue with horseradish, so...close enough, right?
Now, neither of us had ever HEARD of this dish, but it seemed do-able. An online search yielded no recipes. I decided to use this forum post, which describes how to pickle the tongue, and references a mousse recipe, as a jumping off point. The process is really pretty easy.
So Aaron and I have some wonderful friends, Ian and Katie, who love to eat and cook just as much as we do. Every couple months, we get together at their place out in the country to visit and feast. We choose a theme for the dinner, and the theme for last Saturday was Germany.
Aaron and I were supposed to bring an appetizer, some side dishes, and dessert. We started brainstorming about the appetizer, and first we were thinking something along the lines of a homemade sausage or charcuterie of some sort. Aaron kept saying, "I think we should do something involving aspic!" I can't tell you how, but from there, we eventually settled upon pickled beef tongue mousse. We had no idea if this is even vaguely German, but I read online that Germans eat sliced beef tongue with horseradish, so...close enough, right?
Now, neither of us had ever HEARD of this dish, but it seemed do-able. An online search yielded no recipes. I decided to use this forum post, which describes how to pickle the tongue, and references a mousse recipe, as a jumping off point. The process is really pretty easy.
First, go purchase a beef tongue. I found this cut to be surprisingly expensive, almost $7 per pound. Cows have big tongues, so it'll cost you over $20. Wash the tongue really well. This is pretty fun, as it's really scratchy! Then, mix up a simple pickling brine and throw in the tongue. I used the "tried and true" brine recipe from the forum post, which is 2 quarts water, 200 grams sugar, 300 grams kosher salt, and 1/4 cup pickling spice. I used some pre-mixed pickling spices I had in my cupboard, and then added some extra caraway, celery seed, and red pepper flake. Stir up the brine until the sugar and salt are mostly dissolved, then add the washed tongue. Here is the tongue, sitting in brine in a large plastic container, ready to go into the fridge.
I pickled the tongue from Monday evening until Friday evening. Now, all you have to do is rinse off the pickling brine and spices, and throw that tongue into a pot of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, skim off any scum that rises to the surface, and simmer gently until tender. This should take about 3-4 hours. If you like, you can add some flavorful bits to the water to make the tongue taste even better, such as onion, garlic, herbs, etc. However, for this particular recipe, you'll be adding a lot of good flavors at the end, so I don't find it necessary to add anything to the cooking liquid.
I'm going to pause here and wholeheartedly recommend this recipe if you have further interest in more beef tongue in your life. Lengua (tongue) tacos are the best tacos, and this lengua tastes exactly like your local taco truck.
I'm going to pause here and wholeheartedly recommend this recipe if you have further interest in more beef tongue in your life. Lengua (tongue) tacos are the best tacos, and this lengua tastes exactly like your local taco truck.
Back to our pickled tongue...
Here is our tender-cooked tongue, removed from the broth, cooled, and ready to peel. Peeling the tongue is super easy. Just find a nice edge to start from, and the skin peels right off. Use your fingers to clear off the goopy-feeling bits and globs from the base, and you're left with a lovely, tender and rich piece of flavorful beef. The tip of the tongue is ready to eat at this point. The base may need a bit more cleaning, as there are some large nerves running through the middle. Pull those out if you think they're yucky, it's up to you.
I found this pickled tongue to have a flavor very similar to a rich corned beef, and I think it would make an excellent sandwich with some pickles! You could also use it in a hash, of course.
Here is our tender-cooked tongue, removed from the broth, cooled, and ready to peel. Peeling the tongue is super easy. Just find a nice edge to start from, and the skin peels right off. Use your fingers to clear off the goopy-feeling bits and globs from the base, and you're left with a lovely, tender and rich piece of flavorful beef. The tip of the tongue is ready to eat at this point. The base may need a bit more cleaning, as there are some large nerves running through the middle. Pull those out if you think they're yucky, it's up to you.
I found this pickled tongue to have a flavor very similar to a rich corned beef, and I think it would make an excellent sandwich with some pickles! You could also use it in a hash, of course.
Or...you can make tongue mousse!! The mousse recipe referenced in the forum post is apparently in a meat cookbook written by Bruce Aidells. I don't have that cookbook, so I just had to wing it. First, I chopped up about 2 cups of the tongue meat. I put it into the food processor along with half a brick of cream cheese, a big spoonful of sour cream, a small spoonful of dijon mustard, a minced shallot, a splash of sherry vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. I processed that until it was smooth, then folded in chopped parsley. After tasting, I felt it needed some more acid, so I stirred in the juice of half a lemon, and added a bit more salt for good measure.
I was interested to find that, after processing and combining with the other ingredients, the tongue took on just a bit of a liver-y flavor, but not at all in a bad way. If you enjoy chicken liver pate, you will love this too.
I was interested to find that, after processing and combining with the other ingredients, the tongue took on just a bit of a liver-y flavor, but not at all in a bad way. If you enjoy chicken liver pate, you will love this too.
We served the mousse with a bunch of garnishes, which added crunch and freshness. We had minced white onion and both dill and sweet pickles. Also, sieved hard-boiled egg yolk and white, just for prettiness and color. I highly recommend at least the pickles, but I preferred a combo of pickles and onion. Also, we started out by serving the mousse on crackers, but found it was much lighter and better on a slice of English cucumber.
So there you have it...adventures in pickled beef tongue mousse!
Love to you all. Amy
So there you have it...adventures in pickled beef tongue mousse!
Love to you all. Amy