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Braised Tongue

Braised beef tongue cooked with vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, and mushroom catsup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Braised Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the tongue

  1. Wash the tongue and place it in boiling water; simmer until nearly done.

  2. Remove the skin.

  3. Cut off the single pieces at the root.

  4. Fasten the tip of the tongue to the thick part.

Make the sauce

  1. In a frying pan, melt the butter and brown it.

  2. Add the flour and mix well.

  3. Stir in the stock, the sliced vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, and mushroom catsup.

  4. Bring to a boil.

Braise and finish

  1. Place the tongue in a braising pan or baking pan.

  2. Pour the sauce around it.

  3. Cover and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 2 hours, basting frequently.

  4. If the sauce is not thick when the tongue is done, boil it down until you have about 1 pint.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef tongue
Is the main cut that becomes tender and rich during slow braising.
Flour
Thickens the butter and stock into a smooth sauce that clings to the tongue.
Butter
Adds fat and browned, nutty flavor to the start of the sauce.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens into the braising liquid.
Potato
Breaks down slightly into the sauce, adding body and thickness.
Mushroom catsup
Adds savory, umami depth to the braising sauce.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce by boiling it down. A thin braising sauce will taste watery. Reducing it concentrates flavor and gives the sauce body, so check thickness once the tongue is done and reduce if needed.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, potato, turnip, celery, parsley, sauce):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, potato, turnip, celery, parsley, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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