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Beef Tongue

Beef tongue simmered, peeled, glazed, and served with truffles, morels, and mushrooms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Cure and cook

  1. Soak the dried and smoked tongue overnight in cold water.

  2. If pickled, soak for a few hours.

  3. Salt the tongue with saltpetre and common salt.

  4. Turn daily.

  5. Place the tongue in a pot of cold water.

  6. Simmer over low heat for 1 to 2 hours before boiling.

  7. Continue to simmer for 3 to 4 hours until tender.

  8. Boil until tender enough to peel.

  9. Check doneness with a skewer.

Glaze and garnish

  1. Peel the tongue.

  2. Trim the root.

  3. Glaze it.

  4. Rub the skinned tongue with egg yolk.

  5. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and minced herbs.

  6. Baste with butter.

  7. Brown it.

  8. Garnish the root with a paper frill.

  9. Add a flower on top.

Stew and serve

  1. Stew in a strong gravy, seasoning with soy, mushroom ketchup, cayenne, cloves, and salt as needed.

  2. Serve with stewed truffles, morels, and mushrooms.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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 meat, becoming tender through long simmering and peeling.
Egg yolk (in the method)
Brushed on the skinned tongue to help the breadcrumb coating adhere and brown.
Butter
Basting fat that adds richness and promotes browning on the glazed surface.
Gravy
Forms the braising liquid that gives the tongue moisture and savory depth.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavour to the stewing gravy.
Truffles
Provide an intense, earthy aroma as the served accompaniment.

The step that matters

Simmering until tender. Tongue is dense connective tissue; it must simmer slowly long enough for collagen to soften, or it stays tough and cannot be peeled easily. Gentle heat prevents the meat from breaking apart.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, pepper, clove, allspice, butter, sauce):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, pepper, clove, allspice, butter, 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.

More beef tongue recipes

Boiled 58Pickled 14Baked 13Braised 13Roasted 12Smoked 12 See all 42 →

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