To Boil Tongue
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the tongue in plenty of water for 24 hours if it is old and hard, or for a few hours if it is fresh from the pickle.
Choose a plump tongue with a smooth skin for the best results.
Cook
Place the soaked tongue in a pot with plenty of cold water and add the bunch of savory herbs.
Gradually warm the pot for 1 hour, then simmer very slowly for 3.5 to 4 hours, depending on the size of the tongue.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Tongue
- Forms the main body of the dish; slow simmering makes its dense meat tender.
- Savory herbs
- Adds a gentle aromatic flavour to the cooking water that seasons the meat.
The step that matters
Gradually warm the pot, then simmer very slowly. Heating gently and keeping the water barely simmering lets the tough connective tissue in the tongue break down slowly. Boiling hard can toughen the meat and leave it stringy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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