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Sheep's Tongues, Larded and Roasted
Soak and boil four tongues as for broiling. Skin them, and lard the upper portion evenly with thin strips of fat bacon. Wrap each tongue separately in a sheet of oiled paper, tie them to a spit, and roast them before a clear fire. When done enough, arrange them on a hot dish, garnish with cut lemon, and send good brown gravy to table in a tureen. Time to roast the tongues, an hour and a half. Probable cost, 4d. to 6d. each. Sufficient, three or four tongues for a dish.
A two-stage dish: the tongues are boiled and peeled first, then larded and finished at the fire. Everything depends on getting them tender in the pot, because the roasting stage only browns and bastes.
- "As for broiling"Cassell's assumes you have read the neighbouring entry, which is not reproduced here. The usual preparation was to soak the tongues in cold water for some hours to draw out blood, then simmer them gently in fresh water until a skewer meets no resistance — roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours for lamb or sheep tongues. Any aromatics are a matter of choice.
- Peel them hotThe skin lifts away cleanly only while the tongue is still steaming; once cold it grips and tears the meat. Lift them out one at a time and slit the rough skin at the tip with a knife point, then strip it back.
- SourcingSheep's tongues are no longer a supermarket item. Halal, Turkish, Greek and Caribbean butchers usually have lamb tongues, fresh or frozen; each weighs roughly 3 to 5 oz. The recipe reckons three or four enough for one dish.
- LardingCut fatty streaky bacon or unsmoked pork back fat into matchsticks, chill them firm, and thread them through the thick upper surface with a larding needle. Without a needle, lay the strips over the top and tie them on — barding rather than larding, and nearly as effective here since the roasting time is short.
- Oiled paperParchment brushed with a neutral oil does the same job: it keeps the bacon from scorching and holds the fat against the meat. Foil is less suitable, since it traps steam and gives poorer colour.
- Instead of a spitA rotisserie works as written; otherwise set the wrapped tongues on a rack over a shallow tray in a hot oven, 425F, and turn them once. Open the paper for the last ten minutes to colour the bacon.
- The time is for an open fireAn hour and a half before a clear fire does not translate directly to a modern oven; since the tongues are already cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes should be enough. Longer only dries them.
- GravyThe cooking liquor from the boiling stage, skimmed hard and reduced, makes a good brown gravy. Serving it separately in a tureen keeps the larded surface crisp.
Tongue occupied an odd position in Victorian cookery: ox tongue, pressed and glazed, was a genteel cold-table centrepiece, while sheep's tongues were cheap enough — fourpence to sixpence each, as Cassell's notes — to appear in the household economy sections of late-century compendia. Larding and spit-roasting them applies a grand French treatment to a humble offal cut. The technique is older than the book: larding with strips of pork fat was long-standing practice for lean meat set before a fire, and oiled paper wrappers were one defence against the fierce, uneven radiant heat of an open fire. Both largely fell out of use as closed ovens became the norm.