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.
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.
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.
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.
So there you have it...adventures in pickled beef tongue mousse!
Love to you all. Amy