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Curing Pork Tongues

A method for curing pork tongues using saltpeter, sugar, pickles, and optional soda solution, then cooking and packing in vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Curing Pork Tongues

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean, wash, and scrape the pigs' tongues to remove all blood, slime, and hair.

  2. Hang the tongues on racks by the roots in a temperature not exceeding 36°F (2°C) for 24 hours until thoroughly chilled.

  3. Do not remove the coating on the tongue until cooked.

Cure

  1. Mix 6 ounces of saltpeter and 5 ounces of sugar with a 90 degree pickle per 100 pounds of meat.

  2. Optionally, add a little soda solution to prevent hardening and assist in absorption.

  3. For another method, use 23 pounds of coarse sea salt, 3 pints of good syrup, and 10 ounces of saltpeter for 220 pounds of tongues in a barrel filled with water.

  4. Alternatively, cure in a 75 degree plain pickle with 3 ounces of saltpeter per 100 pounds until cured.

Cook and pack

  1. Cook the tongues.

  2. Scrape the tongues.

  3. Pack the tongues in 45 degree white wine vinegar or in gelatin in tins.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Pork + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,544 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pork + vinegartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork tongues
Form the meat that the cure penetrates and firms as it cooks.
Saltpeter
Sets and preserves the meat's characteristic pink color during curing.
Sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cured flavor.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the tongues during the barrel cure.
Good syrup
Adds sweetness and helps the barrel cure taste mellow.

The step that matters

Chill the tongues thoroughly before curing. Keeping the tongues at or below 36°F for a full day lets them cool through before curing, slowing spoilage bacteria so the cure works on sound meat.

“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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