Rolled Tongue
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the tongue in cold water for 2–3 hours if fresh from pickle, or before cooking if dry.
Place the tongue in a large pot with cold water and the herbs.
Cook
Bring the water to a slow boil, skimming off scum.
Simmer gently until tender (4.5 hours smoked, 3.5 hours unsmoked).
Press and serve
Remove the skin, trim the roots, and remove bones.
Press the tongue fat inward into a round tin.
Place a dish with a weight on top and let cool.
Once cold, turn out, glaze or tie napkin, garnish with parsley.
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
- Ox-tongue
- Is the main meat; its fat and connective tissue become tender and moist during slow simmering.
- Savory herbs
- Add aromatic flavour to the simmering water, which the meat absorbs as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until tender. A slow simmer lets connective tissue break down into gelatin without toughening the meat. A rolling boil makes muscle fibres tighten and turn stringy, so keep the water barely bubbling.
“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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