Recipes: Beef Tongue with Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

the appetizer:

Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat by Deborah Krasner includes recipes like Merguez Sausages; Beef Tongue with Sweet-and-Sour Sauce; and Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Vermouth Sauce.

Beef Tongue
with Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

Serves 4 to 6

If you've never seen or tasted tongue, the all-too-familiar texture and shape can be off-putting at first, but persevere, because it is absolutely delicious when served with a savory or (as it is here) sweet-and-sour sauce. Try this with mashed potatoes, or any of your favorite side starches.

1 grass-fed beef tongue
(2 to 4 pounds)
2 onions
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery, thickly sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped almonds
1/3 cup white wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, or white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/3 cup Madeira wine or sweet Marsala
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the tongue well. Coarsely chop one of the onions.

Using a large, heavy pot such as a Dutch oven, cover the tongue with water and add the chopped onion and carrots, the celery, and garlic. Bring just to a boil, skim if the water gets cloudy, and then lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for 3 hours, covered.

When the tongue is tender and can easily be pierced with the point of a knife, let it cool in the broth until it can be handled. Remove it from the pot (reserving the broth), and use a knife to peel away the membrane that covers the tongue. Discard that skin and thinly slice the meat crosswise, arranging it on a serving platter and putting the platter in a 200-degree oven to keep warm.

Finely chop the remaining onion. Heat a medium frying pan and gently melt the butter. Sauté the onion until it wilts, then add the raisins and almonds and fry until the almonds are toasted, golden, and fragrant.

Stir in the vinegar, tomato paste, and Madeira, along with 2/3 cup of the reserved cooking broth. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes to slightly reduce the sauce and thicken it. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the sauce over the meat and serve at once.