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Ox Tongue, Fresh, Boiled
Soak a fresh ox tongue for an hour or more. Trim it neatly, and put it into a large stewpan with plenty of cold water, a bunch of savoury herbs, an onion stuck with three cloves, half a dozen peppercorns, and a table-spoonful of salt. Let it boil, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and simmer very gently for three hours. Ascertain whether the tongue is done enough by pushing a skewer into it, then take off the outer skin, serve the meat on a hot dish, and send piquant or tomato sauce to table in a tureen. Probable cost, 3s. to 4s. Sufficient for eight or nine persons.
A straightforward long simmer, but the two details that matter are the difference between a good tongue and a poor one: keep the water at a bare tremble, and peel the skin while the meat is still hot.
- Skin it hotThe rough outer membrane slips off cleanly within a few minutes of the tongue leaving the pot and becomes very stubborn once cool. Lift it onto a board, slit the skin along the underside and pull it away from the tip back toward the root; trim any gristle and small bones at the thick end.
- Fresh, not curedThis is an unsalted tongue, as distinct from the brined or "pickled" tongue that is pink throughout and needs a long soak, often with a change of water. If you use a cured one, leave the tablespoon of salt out of the pot.
- "Draw to the side of the fire"On a range this means the gentlest possible heat: bring to the boil, then hold it so that only an occasional bubble rises. A rolling boil toughens and shreds the muscle.
- TimingThe recipe gives three hours but no weight; a larger tongue will want longer, up to four hours. The recipe's own test governs: the skewer should meet almost no resistance at the thickest part. Tongue is forgiving of extra time and unpleasant when underdone.
- Bunch of savoury herbsA bouquet of parsley stalks, thyme and a bay leaf, tied with string. Add a carrot and a stick of celery if you want the cooking liquid to be worth keeping — strained, it makes good stock.
- Piquant sauceIn period cookery this means a brown sauce sharpened with vinegar, shallot and chopped gherkin or capers. A sharp horseradish or mustard sauce serves the same purpose.
- Cost and yield3s. to 4s. is Victorian money. Eight or nine servings assumes thin slices as part of a larger dinner; carve across the grain, starting at the tip.
- Serving coldIf you want it pressed and cold, curl the peeled hot tongue into a deep basin or tin, weight it, and chill overnight in a little of its liquid.
Tongue sat in an odd position in the Victorian kitchen: offal by butcher's reckoning, yet a dish grand enough for a cold buffet or supper table, especially when cured, pressed and glazed. Here it is given as a plain boiled joint with a sauce sent separately in a tureen, which is the ordinary family treatment; salted, pressed and moulded versions were also common, since a pressed tongue keeps and slices neatly for days. The technique is an old one -- a tough, collagen-rich muscle brought slowly to tenderness in aromatic water -- and the aromatics named, an onion stuck with cloves and a tied bundle of herbs, are the usual English boiling-liquor seasonings of the period, used for boiled fowl and boiled meats alike. Fresh tongue is now uncommon on British and American butchers' counters, though it remains a familiar cut in Jewish, Mexican and East Asian cooking.