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Boiled Calves' Tongues
Soak the tongues for an hour or more in cold water. Put them in a kettle and cover well with cold water. Bring quickly to a boil and skim. Add, for each tongue, 1 medium-sized carrot scraped and sliced, 1 small white turnip, 1 small onion stuck with 2 cloves; add to the whole a bunch of sweet herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Boil slowly two hours. Take them out and skin them. If they are to be served cold, return them to the liquor and leave them in it to cool.
They may be served hot with macaroni, spaghetti, or rice as a border.
A straightforward braise in aromatic broth. The only real skill is peeling the tongues at the right moment.
- Skin them hotThe tough outer membrane slips off cleanly only while the tongue is still steaming. Let it cool and you will be paring it away in strips. Hold each one with a cloth or a fork and start the peel at the thick end.
- Cooking time and donenessTwo hours at a bare simmer suits calves' tongues of about 1 to 1.5 lb each; a skewer should slide into the thickest part with no resistance. Beef tongue, which is more commonly stocked now, is two to three times the size and will need three to four hours.
- Keep it below a boil"Boil slowly" means a lazy simmer with the surface barely trembling. A hard boil toughens the meat and clouds the liquor you may want to serve it in.
- Bunch of sweet herbsThe period phrase for a bouquet garni: parsley stems, thyme and a bay leaf tied with string. Tie it so you can lift the whole bundle out.
- White turnipA small purple-top or Tokyo turnip, not a rutabaga, which is coarser and sweeter and will dominate the broth.
- Cooling in the liquorSound practice, and worth following even if serving hot within the hour, since it keeps the meat moist. Cool the pot to lukewarm on the counter, no longer, then refrigerate tongue and liquor together; the broth sets to a light jelly.
- SaltAdd salt after the first skimming and taste again at the end. These are fresh tongues, not pickled or corned, so all the seasoning has to come from the pot.
- YieldOne calf's tongue serves two to three people. Slice it thin across the grain. The recipe offers both services, hot with a border of macaroni, spaghetti or rice, or cold in its jellied liquor.