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Boiled Beef Tongue

A boiled beef tongue prepared with salt, pepper, vinegar, and sugar, then simmered until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boiled Beef Tongue

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the tongue

  1. Wash the tongue and place it in a pot, covering it with water.

  2. Add 1 pint of coarse sea salt and 1 small red pepper.

  3. Keep adding water as it evaporates to keep the tongue nearly covered.

  4. Cook until the tongue can be easily pierced with a fork.

Peel and finish

  1. Remove the tongue and peel the skin off if using soon; otherwise, leave the skin on for later use.

  2. If using salt tongues, soak them overnight and omit the salt when boiling.

  3. For future use, after peeling, place the tongue in a saucepan with 1 cup of water, ½ cup vinegar, and 4 tablespoons sugar.

  4. Cook until the liquid evaporates.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Beef + vinegartop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,895 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef tongue
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender as it cooks slowly in water.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the tongue and helps season the meat as it simmers.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the finished tongue a sharp, tangy flavour.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Keeping the tongue covered while it boils. As water evaporates, exposed parts of the tongue can dry out and toughen. Topping up the water keeps the meat submerged so it cooks evenly and stays moist.

“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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