Boiled Beef Tongue
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the tongue
Put pot on the fire with water to cover the tongue, wash clean, put in the pot with a pint of salt.
If the water boils away, add more so as to keep the tongue nearly covered until done.
Boil until you can pierce easily with a fork.
Take out, and if needed for present use, take off the skin and set away to cool.
If to be kept some days, do not peel until wanted for table.
Notes on batches and salt tongue
The same amount of salt will do for three tongues if your pot is large enough to hold them, always remembering to keep sufficient water in the kettle to cover while boiling.
Soak salt tongue overnight and cook in same way — without salt.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Tongue
- Long simmering in water breaks down tough connective tissue, leaving the meat tender.
- Salt
- Salt seasons the meat and firms its texture during the long cook.
The step that matters
Keep the tongue covered while boiling. If the water drops below the tongue, the exposed meat dries and toughens. Adding water as it evaporates keeps the meat cooking evenly and moist.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.