Tongue

Anyway, whilst I was kept up all night last night by the constant "PING" sound of water hitting the base of this pot I put under the drip from my roof that left me overtired and with a manic glint in my eye today,

 

 

I was also  SUPER excited, because I has a blog!!!!!!(one), and I know it's a big hit, because everyone I know has been telling me:

And I've been all like:

and it's been great. So to kick things up a notch, here's something you can do for fun that you may just end up doing a lot. 

Let's Cook!

Here is a little segment where I'll tell you my experience with a dish, and you can do it (if you're game) and get back to me! In my holidays, I get a little experimental, so today we'll be 

COOKING TONGUE!

wait wait wait I know what you're thinking...

and that's exactly what everyone tells me.

But actually, it's a traditional Italian recipe, and it's delicious! Just ignore the fact that it's tongue. You can do it! Unless you're ...chicken!!! 

Here's what you need:

• 1 tongue (of course. make sure it's a big ol' beef tongue, or you'll need lots of little ones.)
• 2tbs flour
• 2tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 onions
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 and a half cups tomatoes all crushed up, or a can of tomatoes
• 2 cups red wine
• 5 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 and a half cups of beef broth or the equivalent in  stock
• more flour as needed
• salt
• some cheesecloth (optional)
• salt
• Fresh herbs of your choosing (i like tarragon, basil, parsley and oregano for italian food)
• lots of time

I'm not going to lie to you, this dish takes a long time to cook. Not so much the Chopping and Preparing, they only take about 30 mins altogether if you're a reasonable cook, but the actual cooking time takes ages... three and a half hours. 

The steps:

1: aquire the tongue. 

This is difficult, because most butchers won't just supply these. Ask at a specialty shop, and you might get lucky like I did. 

 

But it just so happened:

If you aren't so lucky, ask to order it in. They surely have tongues, and you probably eat them all the time in saussages. Did I just spoil saussages?

2. Now boil the tongue. If you can stomach it. If you're not... CHICKEN!!! (sorry, I won't do that again). Come on. Just drop it in a pot of water and bring it to the boil on the stove. Don't look at it, put a lid on. let it boil for an hour and a half. Figure out how to knit in that time. Knit me a pony. 

with jetpacks.

My "how to draw cool pictures" book says that all pictures are a combination of ovals and simple shapes. by this logic, I have drawn what is potentially a masterpiece. I love my logic.

Now the icky bit. Don't wince. If I can spend two hours of quality time with cadavers every Tuesday, you can do this.

 

Cadavers= awful conversationalists.

 Anyway, the icky bit.

3. PEEL THE TONGUE. you can do it. the outside goes all white. you don't want to eat this bit, it's got all the tastebuds on it. if you eat the tongue with the taste buds on, you are effectively tongue-kissing a cow. 

hellooooo, gorgeous.

 Once this is over with, congrats! Just getting to this stage deserves an award. I'll feature you on my next post saying something self-appreciating and amazing.

4. Now peel and slice the onions and garlic,
5. Brown these with the olive oil in a BIIG saucepan until they go golden. Now brown the tongue on the outside and add the tomatoes and the wine. Careful not to get boozy on the fumes, because you're bringing it to the boil. 

6. Add about half the stock, and put it down to a simmer. 

Crafters will love this next bit:
7. put the bay leaves, cinnamon and cloves in a little cheesecloth bag and tie it with kitchen string. 

If you're like me with string, you can just throw them in. I won't tell anyone. just remember to pull them out afterwards. 

me with string

Fun Activity!

while you have the cloves out, chew on one. your tongue goes numb! amazing! apparently people used to chew cloves before the days of local anasthetic at the dentists. Yes, I know, I also prefer the anaesthetic.

8. Simmer the stuff with the lid off, add the rest of the broth as necessary. 

after 2 hours, remove the spices and tongue and puree the rest with a stick blender. 

Another Fun Activity! Get someone to hold the stick blender when you're done, and lick the sauce off of the end! It's an exercise in trust and/or hospital visits :)

9. Cook the liquid until it's thick, add flour if you need, but make sure you don't just throw the flour in big chunks or you will end up with big clots of flour. I recommend mixing flour with a little cold water to form a paste, then stir the paste through.

10. Add salt to taste, and chop your herbs and stir them through.

11. Chop the tongue into thick slices, and stir that through as well.

12. Eat and enjoy!

You may want to serve it with pasta. 

voila!

Tongue really is a tender, tasty meat, but so many people have preconceptions about what they eat.

so serve it to your friends, and don't tell them what it is.