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To Pickle Tongues

A preserved tongue pickled in a salt and saltpetre brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Pickle Tongues

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut off the root of the tongue, leaving some kernel and fat.

  2. Sprinkle salt on the tongue.

  3. Let it drain from the brine until the next day.

Cure

  1. Mix a large handful of salt with 1 tablespoon of saltpetre for each tongue.

  2. Rub the mixture well into the tongue daily.

  3. After a week, add a little more salt.

Store

  1. Store the tongue in a tub of beef brine.

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

What each ingredient does

Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the tongue and seasons it while it cures.
Saltpetre
Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and give it a pink colour.
Beef brine (in the method)
Keeps the tongue submerged in salted liquid so the cure continues to work evenly.

The step that matters

Rubbing the cure into the tongue daily. Salt and saltpetre only preserve the meat where they reach it, and they move inward slowly through the flesh. Working the mixture in well and repeating it each day gives even penetration and reduces the chance of spoiled spots.

“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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