Boiled beef tongue has always been considered a delicacy. It can replace sausages and meat, and also make a great addition to salads and appetizers. The main thing is to cook it correctly!
The main tricks and cooking rules
Treat the choice of beef tongue very responsibly, otherwise, no matter how you cook it later, nothing good will come of it. Take a closer look at the offal, it should look as fresh as possible. A dry top or a grayish tint indicates that such beef tongue has been on the counter for too long. If the product is soft and does not return to its former shape after being pressed with a finger, then its shelf life has long passed.
Wash the beef tongue thoroughly immediately before cooking. Soak it for 45 minutes in slightly warmed water. Then rinse under the tap. Equip yourself with a hard bristle brush and a knife to scrape off any dirt.
Trying to peel off the outer shell from raw offal is not worth it. So you will only spoil it, and the desired delicacy will not appear on your table.
It is necessary to cook the product in several stages and always with spices. Be sure to stock up on bay leaves, dried herbs, allspice and black pepper, and prepare the seasonings that you love the most.
Beef tongue tastes even better if vegetables and roots are added to the pot during cooking. The broth in which the offal was cooked can, if desired, be used in the process of preparing the first and second courses, however, professional chefs do not recommend doing this, since the broth turns out to be too fatty and not particularly pleasant to the taste.
Try to maintain the recipe so that all the valuable vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for your health are preserved in the beef tongue. To do this, cook the beef tongue over minimal heat so that the water in which it is cooked always remains transparent.
It is advisable to add salt in the middle of the cooking process. If you do this at the beginning of cooking, then the product will become tough, and if at the end, it will not have time to salt and will remain tasteless.
Keep track of the time, it is unacceptable to undercook or overcook the product. And in fact, and in another case, it will be unfit for human consumption. The larger the beef tongue, the longer it will take to cook. With a weight of up to 1 kg, two hours will be enough, for larger specimens it may take about 3-4 hours.
It is very simple to check the readiness of the offal. Try to pierce the tip of the tongue with the teeth of a fork, if they easily enter, and at the same time a completely transparent juice appears, then you can remove it from the stove. Another option that chefs use is to pierce the thickest part of the tongue with a narrow-bladed knife. It should enter the meat without effort, the secreted juice should also be transparent.
Immediately remove the finished beef tongue from the boiling water and transfer to a bowl of very cold water. After a few minutes, you can easily remove the tough skin from it. Then cut off the salivary glands, remnants of the skin and fat with a knife.
Use the prepared beef tongue for salads, appetizers, sandwiches, add to soups, borscht, stews or serve sliced with any sauce and fresh vegetables. For longer storage, it is better to freeze the offal. Shelf life is up to 3 months.
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Cooking beef tongue correctly!
There are several ways to cook a delicious and tender beef tongue. Choose the one you like best!
1. How and how much to cook beef tongue in a saucepan
Put the prepared tongue in a saucepan, pour boiling water over it so that it completely covers the product. Put on medium heat and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 7 - 8 minutes, then drain the first broth, once again rinse the beef tongue under running water and return to the pan.Pour in clean boiling water, add peeled raw carrots and onions. No need to cut. Add bay leaves, peppers, cloves, and other spices. Boil the offal until cooked at a minimum boil under the lid, do not forget to remove the foam with a slotted spoon, it is useless in the broth.
2. How to cook in a multicooker or pressure cooker
Happy housewives of this miracle of kitchen technology can cook beef tongue much easier. Pour the offal with cold water in a multicooker bowl, add whole onions and carrots, parsley root. Pour in the seasonings. Set the "Stew" mode for 1 hour, then open the lid, add salt and cook for another hour and a half.
In a pressure cooker, you can completely cook beef tongue in one hour. The cooking process is greatly accelerated under pressure and high temperatures.
3. How much to cook beef tongue in a double boiler
Doctors recommend steamed beef tongue to be given to children, as well as to people suffering from anemia, pregnant women, the elderly and patients who are going through a difficult stage of recovery after surgery. Let's make a reservation right away that this method is a little troublesome, but it's worth it. The offal cooked in a double boiler becomes more tender and tasty, it retains much more useful microelements necessary for a weakened body.
First, put the pre-washed product in a saucepan with boiling water and let it boil over low heat for 30 - 40 minutes. Put your tongue in ice water, then on a wooden board, peel it off. Let it cool slightly and cut into several pieces.
Arrange the by-product slices on the trays of a double boiler, sprinkle with seasonings, onion and carrot rings on top. You can also add coarsely chopped shallots to it. Turn on the device and cook until cooked, which is checked once an hour with a plug. If the pieces are easily pierced, the teeth enter them like butter, then it's time to turn off the steamer. Let the tongue cool completely, cut into thin slices and serve.
4. Cooking beef tongue in the oven
With this method of cooking, the beef tongue turns into a real delicacy: tasty, juicy, aromatic and spicy and with an appetizing crispy crust. To begin with, boil the offal until half cooked. Just put it in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and cook, constantly skimming, for about 45 minutes. Immediately transfer your tongue to a container of very cold water. Then remove all unnecessary films, skins and grease.
In a separate bowl, combine 50 ml of soy sauce, fresh garlic pressed through a press, a heaped teaspoon of sea salt, bay leaf broken into pieces, half a teaspoon of seasoning for meat or dried herbs. Thoroughly "bathe" the beef tongue in the resulting mixture, cover the bowl with cling film and put in the refrigerator to marinate. Better at night, but 3-4 hours will be enough.
Before baking, transfer the product to a sheet of thick culinary foil, wrap it well and put it in the oven (preheated to 180 degrees Celsius) for an hour and a half, depending on the weight. 15 minutes before cooking, unfold the foil so that the top is properly browned. It remains only to let the tongue cool completely, cut into slices and serve, garnished with herbs and fresh vegetables.
