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Braized Ox Tongue
Scald a fresh ox tongue in boiling water upon the fire for ten minutes; then immerse into cold water, remove root and superfluous fat. Then place the tongue in a stewpan with a carrot, an onion, one head of celery, a garnished fagot, four cloves, and a blade of mace; add a glass of brandy and enough good stock to cover the whole, and set it to braize gently for two hours and a half upon a slow fire. When the tongue is done, take it out of the braize, trim and put into a stewpan with its own liquor, which has been divested of all the grease, strained through a sieve, and boiled down to half its quantity.
About half hour before sending to the table, set the tongue on a slow fire to simmer until warmed through; roll it in its glaze, dish it up with cherry sauce under it, and send to table; garnish around with a border of potato quenelles.
A classic braise that assumes a cook who already knows how to handle tongue — which means the single most important step goes unmentioned. Read the peeling note first.
- Peel it hotThe recipe says to "trim" the cooked tongue, which is shorthand for stripping off the thick outer skin. It slips away easily while the tongue is still hot from the braise and becomes nearly impossible once cold, so peel the moment it can be handled with a cloth.
- Fresh, not pickled"Fresh ox tongue" means unbrined. Some tongue is sold cured and salted pink, which will fight the brandy and the cherry sauce. Ask specifically for fresh beef tongue, and if you can only get cured, soak it overnight and change the water.
- TimingTwo and a half hours is optimistic for a whole beef tongue of 3 to 4 lb. Count on 3 to 4 hours at a bare simmer, and judge by feel: a skewer should slide into the thickest part with no resistance. Undercooked tongue is unpleasantly firm and no amount of glazing fixes it.
- Garnished fagotA bundle of herbs tied with string — parsley stems, thyme, a bay leaf, sometimes a leek leaf wrapped around the lot. Bouquet garni in modern terms; tie it so you can lift it out whole.
- A glass of brandyPeriod recipes use "a glass" loosely; a wineglass is usually reckoned at roughly 2 to 4 fl oz. Something in the region of 1/4 to 1/2 cup suits a tongue this size.
- Slow fireA bare simmer, with the surface barely trembling. If you prefer the oven, a covered pot at 300F holds it there without attention. A hard boil toughens the meat and clouds the stock you need for the glaze.
- The glazeReducing the strained, degreased braising liquid by half gives a syrupy glaze that clings when the tongue is rolled in it. Reduce further if it stays thin — the gelatin from the tongue does most of the work, so it will thicken noticeably as it cools.
- Potato quenellesSmall oval dumplings of stiff potato purée bound with egg and flour, poached or fried. Duchesse potatoes piped into ovals and baked give a similar border with less fuss.
- YieldA whole beef tongue serves 6 to 8. It slices best after resting in its liquor, and any leftovers are excellent cold and thinly sliced.
Tongue was a standard, unremarkable cut in nineteenth-century kitchens, prized for its uniform texture and its ability to be served hot with a sauce or pressed and sliced cold for a buffet — a joint that stretched two ways. The treatment here is straight out of the French repertoire that dominated ambitious American and British household books: the blanching, the aromatic braise with a fagot, the reduction of the cooking liquor into a glaze, the piped potato border. The sweet-tart cherry sauce follows the older European habit of pairing fruit with rich, gelatinous meats, the same logic that puts cumberland sauce beside cold tongue and ham. That such a recipe could be presented as a matter of routine says a good deal about how much less squeamish the period was about offal.