Ox Tongue

A Main Meal and more.

I first published this "how to" guide back in winter 2008 on www.themillbrooker.blogspot.com in a slightly different format.

For anyone who's never tried this operation, it's simplicity itself. All you need is a little bit of patience. One ox tongue will easily provide the meat for a meal for four and enough pressed tongue afterwards for sandwiches and snacks for days and days.

First up, go to a proper butcher (we use Mr Gliddon in Torpoint, but you'll have your own favourite animal chopper-upper). You'll probably have to order the whole tongue, most places don't keep them just lying around. We get ours vacuum packed by the butcher so I can freeze them until I'm ready to cook.

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Ingredients.

One whole ox tongue.

Two beef stock cubes.

2 carrots, chopped

One onion coarsely chopped

Any other bits of root vegetable you have lying around, chopped up.

A stick or two of celery, chopped

Loads of water.

Whole black peppercorns.

Gelatine.

Port (optional)

What to do:

Put the whole tongue into a deep pan and cover with cold water. Add the stock cubes (ok - it's cheating to use a cube, but what the hell) and the vegetables.

Finally (again this is only if you want to) pour in a couple (or three or four) tablespoons of port. Use the really cheap stuff, though; it's dreadful to use the good stuff in cooking when you could give it to me to drink.

Bring the whole lot to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for three hours. Yep - that's right THREE hours. Tongue is a really tough muscle and you need to cook it for a long time.

Take the tongue out of the liquid, the rough outer layer of skin should now peel away easily using your fingers. If it doesn't, put the whole thing back in the pot and simmer for a bit longer. Try to peel it again. And so on.
(If your butcher hasn't already removed the small bone at the base of the tongue, it'll come away easily at this point as well).

Once you've got the thing peeled, slice off any that you want to use for immediate eating hot and put to one side (keep it hot in a small quantity of the the stock and serve with whatever veg and carbs you like).

Curl the rest of the tongue into a container just big enough to contain it.

Mix up some gelatine as per packet instructions, and then add about a pint of the stock that you've cooked the tongue in (add salt if you like a saltier flavour).

Pour this over the curled up tongue and place a flat(ish) plate over the top and then weight it down with anything you've got to hand. I use an iron door-stop on a piece of kitchen roll in a cast iron saucepan.

Leave to cool and then refrigerate.

As mentioned above, one tongue will easily provide the meat for four good sized hot meals and enough cold meat for a week's worth of sarnies.

The stock you cooked it in makes a very tasty winter soup by adding a potato and boiling it again until the potato is tender, then whizzing the lot with a hand blender.

Yummy yummy yummy - and so very inexpensive in these difficult financial times. Just you listen to Old Uncle The Millbrooker.

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To drink? Nothing better with this dish than a traditional English ale, choose your own favourite (mine would be a Betty Stogs or perhaps a Fursty Ferret). If you really want wine, I'd go for a nice deep Bordeaux (try anything from the St Emilion or Pauillac regions that's within budget).