How to cook like me - the sequel.

Some of you may remember my first cooking expedition for this blog.  I made my version of  chicken curry and a few were pretty freaked out over a piece of stewed okra that I poked apart.  Well, hang on 'cause you ain't see nothing yet!.

Backstory - once a week or so, I hunt down some food item we've never tried before and we incorporate it into dinner. For the most part, we like whatever it is and it gets filed away in my brain to use again someday.  This week, I stumbled across a lot of cow tongues and cheeks.  I've never had either and I knew Jake hadn't so I texted him to pick. He went for broke and chose the tongue.  I picked one that looked good, considering I'd never seen them in person before, and headed home with it.  What follows is our first experience with cow tongue.  Enjoy!

 

So, there it is...all laid out with part of what I planned on cooking it with.  I wonder if our cow was a black and white cow or if all cow tongues are spotty.  Anyone know?  My plan was to cook it slowly as I would a beef stew or pot roast so I found some potatoes that needed used (note the eyes) and some carrots that actually still looked pretty good.  I had to get the onion from my mom.  It turns out that I was somewhat ill-prepared for this adventure but I didn't let that stop me.

 

Look, it has taste buds!  These big ones are to the back of the tongue and on people, those pick up bitter flavors.  I wonder if it's the same on a cow? I also wondered if this was an old cow since old people's taste buds get bigger with age.  No matter.  It's cool to look at and more cool to touch. 

                           

I know what you're wondering.  I wondered what it looked like underneath, too. It looks like this.  Yes, I know it looks vaguely penis-y.  And yes, I know that's ironic since it's a tongue.   I know the rest of the irony, too...lol...let's keep going. 

                           

I just grabbed some spices that appealed to me in the moment since I'm a spontaneous kind of girl when it comes to cooking.  I wound up using a lot of powdered beef boullion, Maggi seasoning, red pepper flakes, a couple of bay leafs, herbs de provence (such an underrated seasoning), black pepper and paprika.  Since I'm a sucky photographer, that's sea salt in the Blue Willow bowl in the front.  In addition to all this, I added 5 cloves of chopped garlic. I thought I spiced heavily. Trust me, go overboard. The end result was a tad bland and next time I will double what I thought was right.

 

I also made a last minute change and used these instead of the whole onion. Don't do this.  They have very little onion flavor and I wish I'd stuck with quartering that whole onion.

When it all went into the pot, it looked like this and I covered it.   No problem, right?

Two hours into the four hours of simmering, I found this.  It...expanded.  And got very firm.  Yes, much like *that.  Hush and stop giggling.

At the end of 4 hours, I got it out and took a good look at it.  You can, too. I know you're giggling again and I'm looking at what appear to be three pustules.  If it was...well...you know.  But it isn't.  It's a cow tongue and water got under the skin, that's all!

 

The skin came off quite easily, as you can see here.  That was a pleasant surprise.

 

And here we have it...my dinner, including the sliced tongue.   The verdict is that it was very good!  The texture was a tiny bit bothersome for the first bite or two (chew on your own tongue - it's that, but a bit firmer) but the taste was very much like the best roast beef you've ever had.  Good taste, good price at $2.69 a pound and I'd say tongue will be making the occasional appearance at our house in the future.  Plus, there's an extra fun bonus - you can decorate with it. Who knew?

This skin I peeled off?   Tell me you couldn't dry that and frame it, then sell it in some high-end shop as "Old West" decor.

You're welcome.  :-D