To Pickle Tongues, &C
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tongues
Cut some of the root away from the tongues and make an incision in the underside.
Rub the tongues well with common salt and place them in a covered tub or pan for four days.
Cure
Pound together two parts of saltpetre, one part of common salt, one part of bay salt, and one part of brown sugar.
Rub the mixture onto the tongues, place them back in the pan, and turn them every two days.
Pickling will be complete in ten days.
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
- Large fresh tongues
- The main meat, which the salt cure penetrates and firms into a sliceable texture.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the tongues keep a pink colour during curing and adds a cured flavour.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, while slowing spoilage during the cure.
- Coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
- Adds salt to the cure, seasoning the meat and drawing out moisture as it works in.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the saltiness with mild sweetness and helps soften the harsh edge of the cure.
The step that matters
Rubbing the cure in and turning the tongues. The salt mixture must reach every part of the meat, and turning them every two days lets the brine form evenly. Uneven curing leaves spoiled or unevenly salted patches.
“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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