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M. a. P
Take cold boiled tongue, mince it fine; mix it with cream or milk, and to every half pint of the mixture, allow the well beaten yolks of two eggs; place over the fire and let it simmer a minute or two ; have ready some nicely toasted bread; butter it; place it on a hot dish and pour the mixture over; send to the table hot.
A late-Victorian breakfast or supper dish: cold cooked tongue bound in a thin egg custard and poured over buttered toast. The whole thing turns on the sauce, which is a custard and will curdle if it is allowed to boil.
- The hinge: never let it boilYolks in cream set around 160-170F and scramble not far above. Cook the mixture over low heat or a bain-marie, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. "Simmer a minute or two" is the period's loose phrasing; treat it as a gentle heating, not an actual simmer.
- Half a pintAn American half pint is one cup (8 fl oz), so the ratio is two yolks per cup of minced tongue and cream combined. British readers should note the imperial half pint is 10 fl oz, which gives a slightly looser sauce.
- Proportions, since none are givenAbout 2 cups finely minced tongue to 1 cup cream makes a generous four servings on toast; at the recipe's own rate of two yolks to every half pint of mixture, that quantity takes six yolks. More cream gives a sauce; less gives something closer to a bound hash.
- Cold boiled tongueReady-cooked beef tongue is still sold at good butchers and Latin and Eastern European markets; a whole one usually runs 2-4 lb and needs around three hours of simmering, then peeling while warm. Cooked corned beef, ham or leftover braised brisket stands in without changing the method.
- Mince, not grindThe period meant chopping fine with a knife or passing through a hand mincer on a coarse plate. A food processor will turn tongue to paste in seconds; pulse it, or chop by hand for texture.
- Season itThe recipe names no seasoning at all. Tongue was often bought salted or pickled, which may be why none is called for. Modern tongue is often only mildly brined, so taste and add salt, white pepper, a scrape of nutmeg or a spoonful of mustard.
- The toastCut it thick and toast it dry and firm. Thin toast under a cream sauce collapses before it reaches the table; butter it while hot so the butter seals the surface a little.
Minced meat in a rich egg-and-cream sauce over toast belongs to a whole family of nineteenth-century "made dishes" whose purpose was to turn Sunday's cold joint into Monday's hot breakfast, and it sits alongside creamed chipped beef, mince on toast and the various savouries served at the end of a formal dinner. Tongue was a staple of the Victorian larder rather than a curiosity: a boiled or pressed tongue kept well, sliced cleanly for a cold table, and its trimmings and ends were exactly the sort of scrap a thrifty cook was expected to account for. Cookbooks of the period often carried such recipes with no seasonings listed and no quantities beyond a ratio, on the assumption that the reader already knew what tongue tasted like and how thick she wanted her sauce.