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Boiled Beef Tongue

A boiled beef tongue seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar, and optionally vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Boiled Beef Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Boil

  1. Wash a fresh tongue and just cover it with water in the pot.

  2. Put in a pint of salt and a small red pepper.

  3. Add more water as it evaporates, so as to keep the tongue nearly covered until done, when it can be easily pierced with a fork.

  4. Use a cupful of salt for three tongues, ensuring enough water to keep them covered while boiling.

  5. If salt tongues are used, soak them overnight, omitting the salt when boiling.

Finish

  1. Take it out, and if wanted soon, take off the skin and set it away to cool.

  2. If wanted for future use, do not peel until it is required.

  3. After peeling a tongue, place it in a saucepan with one cup of water, half a cup vinegar, four tablespoonfuls sugar, and cook until the liquor is evaporated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

55Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
14 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

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 + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tongue
Is the main cut; long simmering in salted water makes it tender enough to pierce easily.
Salt
Seasons the meat and, in the brine, helps cure and firm the tongue as it cooks.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the glaze-like liquor that reduces around the peeled tongue.
Vinegar (in the method)
Adds acidity to the finishing liquor, balancing the sweetness of the sugar.

The step that matters

Keep the tongue covered while it boils. If the water drops below the meat, the exposed part dries and toughens while the rest stays wet. Adding water as it evaporates keeps the tongue evenly cooked until a fork pierces it easily.

“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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