Beef tongue recipes

Delicate and juicy taste of beef tongue can be attributed to the category of by-products of the first class. Often the dishes in which this product is involved are called delicacies and are used with pleasure in many European countries. Nevertheless, every housewife sooner or later has doubts about the preparation of this meat by-product. And above all, this is due to the fact that the process is rather laborious. However, in practice, everything is much simpler. You can see for yourself by reading this article.

The choice of fresh and tasty beef tongue is a rather laborious process, since it requires a person to know certain nuances of this meat by-product. However, having read them, you can easily determine a quality product or not. The first thing you should pay attention to when acquiring a beef tongue is its shade. High-quality, and most importantly, fresh product has a pinkish tint, sometimes leaving a purple color.

Interesting fact that the more intense the purple color, the greater the content of trace elements such as iron and zinc. A pale pinkish tint indicates that, most likely, the product has been frozen several times, which means that it has been on sale for quite some time. The gray spots on the surface of this byproduct are a red signal that its acquisition must be abandoned because the beef tongue is flawed.

Provided that the appearance of the meat by-product satisfies you, safely proceed to the second stage of its selection. To determine the quality and freshness of beef tongue helps emanating from his flavor. So do not hesitate to sniff it. Fresh product exudes a rather pleasant sweet aroma. While the spoiled by-product gives off a saturated ammonia smell, mold and rot.

Another important criterion that helps the buyer to determine the quality product in front of him or not is the elasticity and density of the beef tongue. After picking up this meat by-product, carefully inspect it. The presence of damage suggests that the meat is clearly subjected to any manipulation by the seller. It is recommended to refuse to purchase such a product. High-quality beef tongue has a fairly good density and elasticity. When pressed, fresh meat rather quickly acquires its original shape.

Spoiled meat is usually subjected to repeated freezing, which makes it very soft and provokes the loss of all the most useful properties and vitamins contained in its composition. To use such a product is not only unprofitable, but also unpleasant.

The final stage of the acquisition of beef offal is the requirement from the seller of the veterinary certificate. It is especially necessary to do this if the purchase is made in an unfamiliar place. The refusal of the seller to your request to show a veterinary certificate should make you suspicious about its quality.

Beef tongue is a unique product not only in the content of valuable and beneficial vitamins in its composition, but also in its preparation options. This meat by-product can be baked, roasted, cooked not only a hot dish, but also a cold snack. It is a product that is part of one of the most delicious inlets, which, by the way, cooks cook around the world.

Regardless of the recipe of the selected dish, part of which is beef tongue - it must be cooked and cleaned.Moreover, these two processes should be carried out according to strictly followed culinary recommendations. Otherwise, the meat by-product will be rubber and unpleasant to taste, and its cleaning will be much more difficult.

So, the correct preparation of the product is half of the successfully prepared dish. For starters, take a plate or any container with a deep bottom, so that the beef tongue is easily obsessed with it. Then fill the by-product with cold water for thirty minutes. This rather simple manipulation makes it possible to easily clean the tongue from various kinds of pollution in the future, including giving it a bit more juiciness.

Many chefs advise soaking this product in cold milk. Thus, the language becomes even more tender, its taste is more expressive with a soft texture. After the time has elapsed, lightly rinse the meat in cold water and intensively rub its upper surface with a metal brush or kitchen knife.

The highlight of all recipes using beef tongue is that it gives the dish a delicate, juicy and soft taste. To achieve such a consistency from this by-product is not considered a challenge. It is only necessary to adhere to a few recommendations.

• To start, place the meat in a saucepan with a deep and thick bottom. Pour the required amount of water so that the tongue is completely covered by it. It is desirable that the water level was 7-8 inches above the by-product. After making sure that the right amount of water is selected, remove the beef tongue from the pan and set it aside for a while. Turn on the heat and bring the water to a boiling state. After that, put the meat back into the pan, leave the contents to boil until the water boils again.
• Then increase the power of the burner to maximum, and boil the tongue in this state for another ten minutes. The foam should be removed immediately, the burner power should be reduced. It is recommended to cover the saucepan with a lid and add the meat to a state of readiness. As a rule, it does not take more than three hours.

• Check for readiness is carried out using ordinary forks or kitchen knives. To do this, pierce the product in several places, the emitted juice is the determining factor in the readiness of the product. Thus, clear juice indicates that beef tongue is ready for use. The cloudy juice says that it is desirable to boil the product for another thirty minutes, and then repeat the test for readiness.
• It is necessary to add salt only 10–15 minutes before the product is finally ready. Premature addition of salt will cause the product to lose its softness and juiciness.

• The cooked meat by-product is taken from the pan using a skimmer and immediately placed in a deep plate in which ice water was previously poured. Such a sharp contrast between temperature regimes makes it easier to clean the tongue. As a rule, the skin begins to peel off and curl itself, you just have to pry it with a regular fork. Grab the skin, sharply pull it down. Repeat the manipulation until all the skin is removed from the surface of the beef tongue. If the skin in some place flatly refuses to peel off, then cut it off using a sharp kitchen knife.
• It is likely that after boiling you will see a huge amount of fat on the surface of the tongue. This is especially clearly seen after removing the skin.There is no reason for distress, just remove excess fat with a thin kitchen knife, and scrape it off with intensive movements.
• After rinsing in cold water, put the product back into the broth and leave it there until it cools completely. Thanks to this technique, the meat will thoroughly absorb all the flavors and tastes of the added ingredients.

In practice, the cooking of the product will be quite simple. However, not all formulations require its implementation. For some dishes, especially this can be found in Asian cuisine, a raw beef tongue is required. But even in this case, the cleaning of the offal is still necessary. To do this, in a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil, boiling it over high heat. Place a basin with ice water next to it; to enhance the effect, you can add a few ice cubes.

Next, take the meat by-product and place it in boiling water. Boil it for several minutes and immediately immerse in ice water. Pulling out the tongue with a slotted spoon, you will see that the skin has begun to crawl intensively. This will be evidence that you did everything right. Remove the skin according to the above recommendations and thoroughly rinse the product in cool water. If the skin is reluctant to peel off, repeat the procedure with boiling and icy water several times. Such simple manipulations will allow you to easily clean the meat product, while leaving it raw according to the selected recipe.

Baked beef tongue will help to diversify any holiday menu by adding a touch of spice. The main advantage of this method of cooking beef tongue is its complete preservation of all useful vitamins and trace elements in the composition. This is due to the fact that meat is baked and not boiled for several hours. For cooking in the oven will definitely need foil.

Ingredients need to stock up on: seven pieces of garlic, two kilograms of beef tongue, one teaspoon of hops-suneli, one teaspoon of thyme and thirty milliliters of vegetable oil. The cooking algorithm is extremely simple, you only need to follow a few recommendations.

1. Pass all the garlic cloves through a hand press and mix it thoroughly with spices. Salt the resulting mass, and pour in a small amount of vegetable oil. Slowly grind the mass with a conventional fork until a uniform consistency is formed.
2. Beef tongue is thoroughly washed. Excess moisture is removed with a paper towel. After that, the meat is well rubbed with the seasoning dressing prepared earlier. In this state, the by-product remains to pickle for two and a half or three hours. You must first wrap it in a special foil for baking.
3. After the time, move the meat into the oven, which has been preheated to +200 degrees. Leave the product to bake for the next hour and a half.
4. After the meat is baked, remove it from the oven and, without removing the foil, place it in ice water. This will allow you to easily remove the skin. Baked tongue is served hot with the addition of your favorite sauce.

This meat by-product is often the basis for a large number of salads. Therefore, the preparation of boiled beef tongue must master any hostess. The total cooking time is four hours. Calorie ready meals - one hundred forty six calories. From the ingredients you need to acquire: two bulb onions, one celery root, one carrot, seven hundred grams of beef tongue, pepper (peas), bay leaf and salt.

The house cooking algorithm is quite simple and does not require any deep culinary knowledge and skills from the hostess. It looks like this:

1. place beef tongue in a bowl with cold water for 2–3 hours;
2. after the time allowed for soaking, move the by-product into a saucepan with water previously brought to a boil; when boiling again, replace the water with fresh and boil the meat for the next two hours, with the burner power to be set to minimum;
3. thirty minutes before the completion of the preparation of beef offal, peeled carrots, onions, celery root and seasoning to taste are added to the broth; Do not forget that it is desirable to add salt only at the very end of cooking;
4. remove the meat using a skimmer from the pan, immediately place it in cold water; remove slipping peels;
5. Ready beef is cut into slices and served in combination with a snack made from horseradish and mustard.

Since beef tongue, regardless of the recipe, must be boiled - after cooking, there is always broth. As a rule, it is poured. However, few people know, but from it you can make a healthy and appetizing soup. To get started, prepare the necessary ingredients. You will need to acquire: one celery root, one carrot, a pair of onions, sixty grams of beef offal, twenty grams of butter, salt, seasonings, bay leaf and favorite greens (parsley).

The algorithm for making a delicious soup based on beef broth is as follows:

1. thoroughly rinse the by-product and, following the above cooking guidelines, prepare the tongue;
2. when cooking is complete, remove by-product and transfer to a deep plate with cold water; remove skin and leave tongue cool;
3. then lightly fry it in a pre-heated pan, use a small amount of butter for this; there is no need to cut the meat, readiness is determined by the appearance of a golden crust on the surface, the cooking of the tongue is necessary to give the soup a more pronounced taste and aroma;
4. then the whole roasted meat is put back into the broth and cooked until ready for the next sixty minutes; at this stage celery root, carrot, onion and seasoning are added to the broth;
5. upon completion of the cooking time for the tongue, it is advisable to strain the broth, and cut the meat into small pieces;
6. ready-made soup is recommended to be served exclusively hot and in a deep plate with finely chopped greens; season the first course with sour cream.

To learn how to cook beef tongue, see the following video.