Skip to main content
Main

Jellied Tongue

A chilled gelatin set of smoked beef tongue in a savory sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Jellied Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tongue

  1. Boil the smoked beef tongue until done.

  2. Save 1 pint of the cooking liquor.

  3. Remove the skin from the tongue.

  4. Let the tongue cool completely.

  5. Slice the cooled tongue.

Make the jelly

  1. In ½ pint of water, dissolve 2 ounces of gelatine.

  2. Strain the grease from 1 teacup of browned veal gravy.

  3. Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of burned sugar, and 3 tablespoons of vinegar into the gravy.

  4. Add the reserved cooking liquor to the gravy.

  5. Mix in the dissolved gelatine.

  6. Stir in 1 pint of boiling water.

  7. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag.

Mould and serve

  1. Pour a little jelly into the bottom of a mold.

  2. Add a layer of sliced tongue to the mold.

  3. Add more jelly until the mold is full.

  4. Set the mold in a cold place to harden.

  5. Dip the mold briefly in hot water.

  6. Turn the mold out onto a garnished dish.

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

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

  2. Beef + vinegartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,895 recipes

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

  3. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked beef tongue
Provides the main meat and savory flavor of the dish.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly that holds the sliced tongue.
Veal gravy (in the method)
Supplies concentrated savory flavor and body to the jelly.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the rich jelly.
Burned sugar
Darkens the jelly's color and adds a slightly bitter caramel note.

The step that matters

Let the tongue cool completely before slicing and layering. Warm meat releases moisture and fat that can cloud or weaken the gelatine set. Gelatine sets only as it cools, so the jelly must be liquid but not hot when poured and the mold must be chilled to harden evenly.

“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

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes