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Sheep's Tongues
Boil them till the skin can be taken off; split them, and put them into a stew-pan, with some gravy, parsley, mushrooms, and one minced shallot, and some butter, some pepper, and salt.
Stew till tender, and strain the gravy over them; or they may be glazed and served with the gravy under them. Sheep's tongues may also be skinned, larded, braised, and glazed; and served with onion sauce.
A nineteenth-century offal preparation that assumes you know how long a tongue takes and what "glazed" means. Both are worth spelling out.
- The hinge: peel while hotThe skin comes away cleanly only while the tongue is still steaming; let it cool and it welds on. Lift each tongue from the pot, hold it in a cloth, slit the skin lengthwise and strip it off, then return the peeled tongues to finish.
- How long "till the skin can be taken off" isLamb or sheep tongues need roughly 1.5 to 2 hours at a bare simmer, older sheep longer. Test with a skewer at the thick end rather than by the clock.
- SourcingSheep and lamb tongues are not a supermarket item in most places; order from a halal or Middle Eastern butcher, or a whole-animal shop. They are often sold frozen in packs, and weigh roughly 2-4 oz each.
- "Gravy" means stockIn this period gravy is unthickened meat broth, not a flour-bound sauce. Use a good brown veal, lamb or beef stock; the tongue cooking liquid is often too salty and too muddy to serve.
- GlazedReduce the strained braising liquid to a syrupy, sticky state and brush it repeatedly over the tongues, which shine as it sets. It is a reduction, not sugar, and it wants a stock with real gelatine in it.
- LardedThreading strips of chilled pork fat through the meat with a larding needle. Wrapping the tongues in thin sheets of fatback or bacon before braising gets you most of the same effect with none of the equipment.
- Quantities and yieldThe original gives none. For four people figure 8 tongues, about 2 cups stock, 4 oz mushrooms, one shallot and 2 tablespoons butter; season at the end, after the stock has reduced.
Tongues of all sizes were standard household meat well into the twentieth century, and Housekeeping in Old Virginia (compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree, 1878) treats them as unremarkably as it treats a roast. Sheep's tongues in particular were cheap and firm enough to hold a glaze, which made them a staple of the cold sideboard and the made-dish course alike; potted and pickled versions are generally said to have been sold commercially in Britain and America through the same period. Two finishes are offered here: a simple stew with parsley and mushrooms, or the larded and glazed treatment with onion sauce. Such cuts have largely disappeared from home cooking.