So we buy our beef by the quarter, once every year or two, and right now we're down to the last few pounds of our most recent purchase. Occasionally I find a steak in a stray corner of the freezer, but most of what's left is hamburger. Still, there's no putting it off much longer: Eventually I have to cook …
THE TONGUE!
(cue Wilhelm scream)
(or maybe that sound from Psycho)
My approach so far is to put it in the crockpot overnight, covered with water and with an onion and a bay leaf, and then after it's been slow-cooked for that night and part of the next day, to peel it and chop it up and put it in a covered bowl in the fridge, long enough, I hope, for me to forget about the horrifying visuals.
And then after it's been there long enough, I talk myself down and put it in some kind of recipe. Hopefully one that will help me forget, because getting drunk first isn't an option.
This evening's attempt will be tacos de lengua. I roasted some poblano and sweet bell peppers, and I have some tomatillos and onions and some other stuff, plus the necessary tortillas and cheese and such-like. Will let you know how it goes.
UPDATE. The tacos turned out really good; I think this will be my permanent beef tongue recipe (although fried rice also occurred to me, and maybe that's what I'll turn the leftover taco filling into). I loosely applied the directions in this recipe for "taco truck style" tacos de lengua. I saved back some of the meat, plain, to make meat-n-cheese tacos for a picky kid; another picky kid ate bean-and-cheese tacos with leftover frijoles negros I had in my fridge.
bearing blog 