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Ox Tongue, Boiled

A boiled ox tongue served hot or cold, often glazed and accompanied by mashed turnips, boiled carrots, or stewed cabbage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,901 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Ox Tongue, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the tongue in cold water.

  2. Place the tongue in a large pot with cold water, the onion, and the herbs.

Cook

  1. Gradually bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

  2. Simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours, depending on the size of the tongue.

  3. Check doneness by inserting a skewer; it should enter easily.

  4. Plunge the cooked tongue into cold water to remove the skin.

Serve

  1. If serving hot, wrap the tongue in greased paper and warm it in hot water for 20 minutes.

  2. Glaze the tongue 2 to 3 times before serving with mashed turnips, boiled carrots, or stewed cabbage.

  3. If serving cold, shape the tongue with a fork and let it set.

  4. Glaze the tongue and decorate with a frill of cut paper before serving.

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. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Ox tongue
Is the main meat; long gentle simmering makes it tender enough to skewer and peel.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until a skewer enters easily. A rolling boil toughens and breaks up the meat, while a gentle simmer lets the connective tissue slowly soften. Testing with a skewer confirms the tongue is tender throughout before it is cooled and peeled.

“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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