How to Pickle Tongue

Beef tongue is a fatty meat from a cow's tongue. Tongue is a specialty dish in many countries, and it has been enjoyed for thousands of years, as far back as the Paleolithic era. Tongue is usually heavily seasoned with spices and onions when cooked. Some cooks prefer to use pickled tongue since it is already spiced due to the pickling process. Tongue is used in Eastern European, Japanese, Korean, English, Portuguese, German and Mexican cuisines. Pickled tongue is easy to make, but it is time consuming and must be made in advance.

Things You'll Need

• 1 beef tongue (fresh)
• Salt
• 1 ½ cups vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ tsp. whole cloves
• 2 tsp. allspice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• Large pot
• Sharp knife

Instructions

1. Place the beef tongue in the pot.

2. Fill the pot with water and salt. You will need 1 tsp. of salt for every quart of water used. Completely cover the tongue with water.

3. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for three hours.

4. Take the tongue out of the pot and remove the skin and roots from the meat. Slice the tongue into 1/8- inch thick pieces.

5. Drain the water in the pan and save 2 cups of the salt water.

6. Pour the reserved salt water, cloves, allspice, bay leaf, cinnamon and pepper into the pan and stir together. Add the sliced tongue and simmer on low for 1 hour. Cover the pot.

7. Remove the tongue and serve. If you want to serve cold tongue, cool the meat in the refrigerator before serving.

References

• "Field Guide to Meat"; Aliza Green; 2005
• "The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating"; Fergus Henderson; 2004