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Ox Tongue, Boiled
Soak the tongue, put it into a stewpan with plenty of cold water, an onion stuck with cloves, and a bunch of savoury herbs. Bring the water very gradually to the boil, then draw the saucepan to the side, and simmer gently from three to four hours, according to the size. When the tongue is done enough--this may be ascertained by pushing a skewer into it; if the skewer will enter easily, the tongue is done--plunge it at once into cold water, when the furred coating can be easily drawn off. If the tongue is to be eaten hot, wrap it in greased paper, and warm it in hot water for about twenty minutes, after taking off the skin. Glaze it over two or three times, and send it to table with mashed turnips, boiled carrots, or stewed cabbage, or with tomato or piquant sauce. If it is to be eaten cold, place the root end against a board, and put a strong fork into the top and the end in order to bend it into a nice shape, and let it remain until it is firmly set. Glaze it, and before sending it to table ornament the root with a neat frill of cut paper. Or, roll the tongue--that is, turn the thick part into the middle, and press the tongue into a plain round mould just large enough to hold it--put upon it a dish with a weight on top, and let it remain some hours. Glaze round it, and carve it like a fillet of veal. Tongue which is to be eaten cold should be allowed to cool in the liquid in which it was boiled. Probable cost, 4s. to 6s. each. Sufficient for eight or nine persons.
A long, forgiving simmer with two things that decide the result: keeping the water at a bare tremble, and peeling the skin while the tongue is still warm. Most of the rest is Victorian presentation.
- What "soak the tongue" assumesThe soaking, and the absence of any added salt, suggest Cassell's has a salted or pickled tongue from the butcher in mind. A brined tongue wants 8-12 hours in several changes of cold water; a fresh tongue needs no soaking at all, but season the cooking water.
- Size and timeA whole ox (beef) tongue runs 3-5 lb and will take the full three to four hours. It is done when a skewer slides in with no resistance at the thickest part, around 190F internal - collagen-rich meat needs to go well past the usual "done" temperatures before it turns tender.
- Never let it boil"Draw the saucepan to the side" means the barest simmer, an occasional bubble. A rolling boil shreds the outer muscle and leaves the centre tough. On a modern hob this is the lowest setting with the lid ajar.
- Peel while warmThe cold-water plunge sets the skin loose, but do not let the tongue go cold in it. Peel within a few minutes, while it is still hot enough to be awkward to handle - once chilled, the furred coating grips and tears the meat. Trim the gristle, small bones and fat from the root end at the same time.
- GlazeVictorian glaze is meat stock reduced to a syrup that sets tacky when cool, brushed on in thin coats. Reduce a couple of cups of the strained cooking liquid (skimmed, and only if the tongue was not heavily brined, or it will be too salty) until it coats a spoon.
- Cooling and pressingCooling in the liquid keeps the meat moist, but do not leave a large tongue standing in warm broth on the counter for hours. Cool it quickly to room temperature, then press and weight it in the refrigerator overnight. It slices far more cleanly cold and pressed than warm.
- Cost and yield"4s. to 6s." is Victorian money and means nothing now beyond suggesting tongue was a mid-priced buy. The recipe's own figure is eight or nine persons, which suits a whole tongue served cold and thinly sliced; served hot with vegetables it will stretch less far.
- The paper frillOptional and purely decorative - it hid the trimmed root end on the sideboard. Slicing thin from the tip toward the root gives the best pieces.
Boiled tongue belongs to the Victorian cold larder rather than the dinner table proper: pressed, glazed and set in a mould, it kept for days, carved neatly for breakfast, luncheon or supper, and made a handsome centrepiece for a buffet at a fraction of the price of a joint of beef. Much of the tongue sold in Britain then came already cured in brine, often with saltpetre, which is why so many nineteenth-century recipes begin abruptly with "soak the tongue" and add no salt to the pot - the instruction to press it into a plain round mould and carve it "like a fillet of veal" describes much the same pink, close-grained round still sold as pressed tongue today. Ox tongue fell out of everyday British cooking in the later twentieth century as offal generally did, though it never left Jewish, Central European or Mexican kitchens, where lengua remains ordinary food.