To Fricassee Tongue

A short entry that assumes you already have a cooked tongue on hand and know what "good gravy" means. The hinge is the finish: once the egg yolks go in, the sauce must not boil.

• Starting pointAn ox tongue takes roughly 3-4 hours at a bare simmer to become tender; a calf's or lamb's tongue rather less, in the region of one to two hours. The skin peels off easily while the tongue is still warm and is very hard to remove once cold, so pare it directly after boiling even if you are fricasseeing the next day.
• SlicingChill the peeled tongue under a light weight before slicing. Cold, pressed tongue cuts into clean slices about 1/4 inch thick; warm tongue tears.
• "Good gravy"In this period that means a strong meat stock, often made from beef or veal bones and already seasoned, not a flour-thickened sauce. A well-reduced beef stock is the modern equivalent; about a pint suits a whole ox tongue.
• Sweet herbsThyme, parsley and marjoram, with a bay leaf, tied in a bundle so they can be lifted out before straining.
• MaceBlade mace, the lacy covering of the nutmeg, was the standard warm spice for pale meat sauces. A blade or two, or a pinch of ground mace, is enough for a pint of gravy; more turns the sauce medicinal.
• The stewing timeHalf an hour is generous for meat that is already cooked through. Its purpose is to draw the herbs and spice into the gravy, so keep the heat at a bare tremble or the slices will shred.
• The liaisonBeat the two yolks with a spoonful of the hot strained gravy first, return the mixture to the pan off the heat, and warm it gently to about 160-170F, stirring. Bring it to a boil and the yolks scramble into threads.
• Flour and butterEqual weights kneaded together cold, roughly 1 oz each per pint, dropped into the simmering strained gravy in small pieces. Let the flour cook two or three minutes before the yolks go anywhere near it.
• YieldA whole ox tongue fricasseed this way serves six to eight; sippets of fried bread are a period-appropriate accompaniment.