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Braised Tongue with Aspic Jelly
Boil the tongue until tender, then place it in a stewpan with two onions, one head of celery, four cloves and salt and pepper; cover it with the liquor it was boiled in; add one glass of brandy, one teaspoon of sugar, one blade of mace, one bunch of thyme and one bunch of parsley. Let it simmer gently for two hours. Take out the tongue, strain the liquor it was boiled in, and add to it one box of gelatine which has been soaked in one glass of cold water. Heat it and pour over the tongue. Serve cold.
A two-stage dish: the tongue is boiled, then braised in its own broth, and the strained broth becomes the jelly that coats it. The hinge is the aspic — it must be defatted and clear, or the finished dish looks muddy no matter how well the meat is cooked.
- Which tongue, and how longA fresh beef tongue of 3 to 3½ lb needs about 3 hours at a bare simmer before it is tender; a cured or pickled tongue should be soaked and the first water discarded, or the aspic will be too salty to eat. Either way, peel the tough outer skin and trim the root while the tongue is still hot — it will not come away once cold.
- "One box of gelatine"Genuinely ambiguous: boxed gelatine of this period was commonly reckoned at about 1 oz in total, sometimes in sheets and sometimes divided into papers, and its setting strength varied by brand. Work from the liquid instead — modern powdered gelatine is usually figured at one ¼-oz envelope per 2 cups of stock, and rather more than that if you want an aspic firm enough to slice and unmould; a rich tongue broth will also gel somewhat on its own.
- "One glass"Period usage is unstandardised: a wineglassful was generally reckoned at about 2 fl oz (¼ cup), a tumblerful at more, so read it as somewhere between ¼ and ½ cup, both for the brandy and for the cold water used to bloom the gelatine. Sprinkle the gelatine over the cold water, let it stand until spongy, then dissolve it in the hot strained broth off the heat.
- A head of celeryThis means the whole bunch, stalks and leaves, not a single rib. Split it lengthwise so it fits the pan; it is aromatic here and gets strained out.
- Blade of maceA blade is one piece of the lacy covering of the nutmeg. If you have only ground mace, a scant ¼ teaspoon is the equivalent, though it will cloud the broth slightly.
- Clearing and defatting the liquorStrain the braising liquid through a cloth, chill it until the fat sets on top, and lift the fat off before adding the gelatine. Skipping this leaves greasy flecks suspended through the jelly.
- Setting and unmouldingSlice the tongue or leave it whole, arrange it in a loaf pan or bowl, pour the warm gelatine broth over, and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Dip the mould briefly in hot water to turn it out.
- YieldA tongue of this size, jellied, serves 8 to 10 as a cold course, cut in thin slices with mustard or a sharp green sauce.
Cold jellied tongue was standard buffet and supper-table food in the late nineteenth century, when a well-set aspic was a mark of a competent kitchen and the natural gelatine in bones, feet and skin was a resource rather than a nuisance. Commercial granulated gelatine reached American groceries around 1890, and it is what makes this version quick — earlier cooks would have boiled down a calf's foot for the same result. Tongue itself was inexpensive and widely served in this period, whether fresh, pickled in brine, or smoked; that it now reads as an unusual cut says more about modern butchery, which sends most offal elsewhere, than about the meat.