Boiled Tongue
Wash and clean the tongue, cover with boiling water, to which add one-third cup each carrots, turnips and onion cut in dice; two sprays each parsley and thyme, one-half teaspoon peppercorns and one-half dozen cloves. Simmer until tongue is tender. Let cool in liquor in which it was cooked, remove the skin and brush with melted butter. Cover with fine, buttered bread crumbs, after arranging in dripping pan. Bake twenty minutes, basting often with hot stock or port wine. Chill and slice thinly; garnish with triangles of buttered toast sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.
A fresh (unsalted) beef tongue treated as a cold buffet centrepiece: poached in an aromatic broth, crumbed and browned, then chilled and sliced. The recipe assumes you know how long a tongue takes, which is the one thing it does not say.
- The hinge: peel it warmThe tough outer skin slips off cleanly while the tongue is still hot enough to handle, and fights you once it is cold. Lift it from the broth, peel immediately, then return it to the liquor to cool if you want the moisture the recipe intends.
- What size, what timeA whole beef tongue runs 3-4 lb and needs roughly 2½ to 3½ hours at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. It is done when a skewer slides into the thickest part with no resistance; undercooked tongue is rubbery and no amount of oven time fixes it.
- Fresh, not corned"Wash and clean" suggests a fresh rather than a cured tongue. Tongue is also sold cured or corned, and that will be far saltier; if that is what you have, soak it and taste the broth before adding anything else. Trim the gristle and fat from the root end before cooking.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is given. Twenty minutes to set and colour a crumb crust wants a moderate to moderately hot oven, 375F, on a rack in the dripping pan so the underside does not steam.
- Basting with portThe recipe says "basting often": hot stock or port applied every few minutes keeps the crumbs from scorching and glazes the surface. Use a tawny or ruby port; much of the alcohol cooks off and leaves a sweetness that suits the clove and peppercorn broth.
- Diced vegetablesOne-third cup each of carrot, turnip and onion is a token aromatic quantity for a large pot. They flavour the broth and are discarded; there is no need to cut them neatly, despite "in dice".
- Chill before slicingWarm tongue crumbles under the knife. Chill it thoroughly, then carve in thin slices on a slight diagonal from the tip back. Save the strained broth as an excellent base for soup.
- YieldSkin, trim and shrinkage account for a fair proportion of the raw weight; a 3½ lb tongue should serve eight or so as a cold course.
Tongue was standard household eating well into the twentieth century, when a beef carcass was bought and used entire rather than sold as a few premium cuts. It suits being cooked ahead, chilled, sliced thin and served with toast in hot weather, in the same tradition as pressed beef and galantines. The double treatment here, poaching then crumbing and browning, is the sort of finish that dressed up an inexpensive cut for company. The garnish of buttered toast triangles with chopped parsley is a common period way of making a cold plate look composed.