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Baked Spiced Tongue
1 large tongue 2 tablespoons shortening 1 tablespoon browned flour 1 teaspoon salt shake cayenne 3 whole cloves 1 teaspoon minced parsley 2 pickled cucumbers, chopped 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 cup onion, chopped 1 cup tomatoes 2 cups water Parboil tongue in salted water. Drain, cool slightly and skin. Melt shortening, mix in browned flour and seasonings and rub into tongue. Put into casserole, add other ingredients in order given. Cover and bake 1 hour in moderate oven (375 degrees F.). Allow 1/2 pound fresh tongue to a serving.
A braised beef tongue in a piquant tomato sauce, from an era when tongue was a standard butcher's cut and appeared regularly on Sunday tables. The one thing the recipe understates is the cooking time.
- "Parboil" needs hours, not minutesA whole beef tongue is dense connective tissue and will not become tender in an hour of baking. Simmer it in salted water until a skewer slides in with no resistance -- roughly 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours for a 3-4 lb tongue -- and treat the hour in the oven purely as time to build the sauce and take up flavour.
- Skin it while it is still warmThe rough outer membrane peels away cleanly from a hot tongue and fights you once cold. Slit the skin along the underside and pull it off with the fingers or a paring knife, then trim the gristle and any small bones at the thick root end.
- Size and yieldA "large tongue" is most likely a beef tongue; these commonly run somewhere between 2 and 4 lb. At the stated half pound of raw weight per serving that gives roughly four to eight portions depending on the tongue. Skinning and trimming remove a fair proportion of the raw weight, so expect generous slices rather than large plates.
- Browned flourFlour toasted dry in a heavy skillet over medium heat until the colour of weak coffee, stirred constantly. It thickens less than raw flour but supplies a nutty, roasted note.
- ShorteningIn this period this means lard or a solid vegetable shortening. Butter, bacon fat or oil all work; the fat exists only to carry the seasoning paste onto the meat.
- CasseroleA covered ovenproof pot -- a Dutch oven or lidded baking dish deep enough to hold the tongue with the liquid. The cover matters: uncovered, the two cups of water and one of tomatoes will reduce a good deal and may catch.
- Pickled cucumbersSmall sour or dill pickles, not the sweet bread-and-butter kind, which will make the sauce cloying. Add them near the end if you want them to keep any texture.
- ServingSlice across the grain, thin at the tip and thicker toward the root, and spoon the strained pan sauce over. The dish is as good cold: press leftover slices under a weight in the sauce and serve with mustard.