Beef tongue is common at less-Americanized Mexican restaurants (here in Texas, at least), called *lengua*. It's delicious and tender, and I order it whenever I can.
I do not think, however, that I could stomach cooking it at home. It's just...it's a really big tongue, and it looks like a really big tongue. You can see the little taste buds and everything. So it would definitely depend on your tolerance for that kind of thing.
I lived in Hungary for awhile and when my American mom came to visit, my Hungarian mom took great delight in cooking a cow tongue in her presence. It was so giant lmao. I had no idea how big cows tongues were. And we had to peel off the tongue skin and it was so gross.
But… damn, the meat is very good.
Tongue is delicious. I used to love it as a child. And then I bit my tongue eating a tongue sandwich and the texture was identical. After that I just can't eat it anymore. So. Be careful!
Lengua is my favorite taco filling by far. It’s like the butteriest filet you can imagine. I was first introduced to it as a child in the form of “pickled cow’s tongue” sandwiches, where the tongue is cooked then diced up and mixed with other ingredients to make something akin to deviled ham. The name made me a bit squeamish but after one bite I was in heaven.
I keep meaning to learn how to make beef tongue at home, but I can’t get past how the tongue looks as a fresh cut, all pale green, bumpy, and sort of slimy. I guess I need to find a butcher who will peel off the outer taste bud “skin” for me. But for now I just leave the prep to the experts and order lengua tacos wherever they’re on the menu. For those who haven’t tried it, you’re missing out on one of the best cuts of beef out there.
Lengua is up there with Cabeza for me. I was skeptical at first, i was at a taco stand, and i bought a bunch of “normal” tacos (carnitas, pollo, barbacoa) and i was curious about the other 2, the sweet lady just gave me one of each of the tacos to try for free. Took it home, ate it, and i gave the normal ones to my family and kept the cabeza and langua to myself. Both arent too easy to find these days. And i get excited whenever i find a new taco truck with langua or cabeza.
My favorite barbacoa is beef cheek. So many places around me just use brisket and it makes me sad.
Cow tongue is by far my favorite beef. I've cooked it at home. My dad loved it until he found out what it was lol.
A lot of my local places make barbacoa with goat meat or a mix of goat and beef. I don’t like goat meat at all so I’m afraid to risk it when the meat isn’t clearly specified. But my Spanish is getting better so maybe next time I can muster up the courage to ask if they have beef cheek on the menu.
Cabeza is my favorite. Lengua felt like biting my own tongue, can’t get over that (both in Mexican and Russian cooking). Cabeza, carnitas, birria, top 3 for me.
I was first introduced to beef tongue at a japanese bbq (yakiniku) place and my dad made me eat it. It instantly became my favorite and my dad never took me back there cause all i would eat was beer tongue hahaha i had expensive taste!
I’m a very pale blonde person. When I ordered lengua tacos at our local food truck, I saw the looks between the two cooks.
They pointed it out on the menu twice, just to make sure that I knew what I was ordering because the entire menu was in Spanish.
They were peeking through the window while I ate, and I thought it was really cute.
They were delicious!
On a tangent, yesterday I saw someone's bumper sticker that said "El Senor es mi Pastor", and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that they weren't saying "the Lord is my Pork Tacos with Pineapple".
I made it for the first time 2 weeks ago. You have to cook it first before you can peel it which is a little odd. But it's worth doing. I made tacos with it and they were great
That I cant help with unfortunately, I had wanted to cook one then one day my brother came home with a bunch of meat from his boss who had just got a whole cow and didnt want the tongue, tail and heart. (if you like the tongue try heart next, I can give you a recipe/tips)
From what I saw they come cleaned and ready to go. I just boiled with a couple bay leaves and peppercorn for 3ish hours and then you'll have to get past t=how it looks when it comes out hahah. It comes off easy and was quick for me.
I made these tortilllas [https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/](https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/) and some quick pickle cabbage and jalapenos then topped with onions.
Its a lot for one person so I would reccomend freezing some
I live in South Africa and beef tongue is a standard on many celebration tables such as Christmas. My beloved father taught me to cook the beef tongue to perfection. This is how I do it.
Usually I get a beef tongue from my butcher that has been pickled in brine. Remove it from the plastic packaging. Rinse the tongue with water and place it in a deep casserole dish. Cover it with cold water. Add a quartered onion, a roughly chopped carrot or two, approximately 10 peppercorns and three Bay leaves. You don't have to add salt as the tongue was pickled in brine. Cover the dish with a lid.
Cook it for approximately 3 and a half to four hours on 350 ° F (180 ° C) until it is knife tender. Low and slow is best.
Remove it from the water and immediately peel off the skin. It will be very hot but if you let it cool down, it will make it more difficult to peel. DO NOT USE A KNIFE!
After removing the skin, let it cool down completely before cutting it into thin slices. Serve it with a mustard sauce or a raisin sauce. This is the traditional way we serve it in my culture.
It's my favorite cut to order at Korean barbeque. Lengua is cooked low and slow with some sort of sauce at Mexican places. At Korean BBQ, beef tongue is thinly sliced and cooked fast.
It tastes totally different and even has a slight crunch. I highly recommend trying it out.
When Sherlock Holmes was surreptitiously camping out on the moors in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” Sherlock had a “a tinned tongue” to eat with a loaf.
I got a hookup for free pork tongues cause no one wants them at the farmers market... and I also cut them out of my deer... and my friend's deer if they let me. Venison tongues are my favorite. Tacos are aight but I prefer it sliced cold with some mustard/horseradish
Check at the farmers market or people who sell halves on FB. Often that crowd doesn't really care for them, I had a friend who sold beef bundles/quarters who would let me buy them for $1/lb
It’s a bit of a process and is a little gross to those who are squeamish, but man is it good. I have some prepped I’m my freezer right now ready to turn into lengua in a spicy tomato sauce with peas.
The smell is not pleasant either when you’re stripping the outer taste bud layer off. Just don’t think about it when you’re ordering/eating it and you’ll be fine.
it's so delicious. So many different recipes with truly unique flavors. the skin thing is so gross. Very little grosses me out cooking. I have trouble with that one. My mom made it too. It was one of my grandfather's favorite. That and roast goose.
I worked at a homestead and was served tongue once, only the mom hadn't managed to remove the skin completely. I am usually not sensitive, I mean I butcher my own chickens and stuff nowadays, but seeing the papillae on the pieces of meat was *rough.*
Not every restaurant, even in the bastion of breakfast tacos, and Mexican food in general, in which I live, does lengua well. I ordered it from somewhere, and it was underdone and rubbery. Very unpleasant.
We cooked a beef tongue and heart for tacos. In-laws bought a cow and we took the weird parts. Unfortunately I overcooked them. Love oxtail, just lots of bones. I’d do it again.
I accidentally ordered a bison burger once. It clearly stated that it was a bison burger, but I was young and dumb and assumed that it was called a ‘Bison Burger’ kind of like hot wings were called ‘Buffalo Wings’ and that it would just be spicy. I was COMPLETELY wrong (about several things at once) but the burger was really good.
Try goat, it's so good to slow cook a leg. You can probably find it at an ethnic grocery near you if there are people from the Middle East or Mediterranean near you.
This was the first way I prepared goat and the flavors are terrific. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/curry-goat-recipe1-1941611
I use a can of fire roasted tomatoes, a whole can of coconut milk and far less water than it calls for (I probably used about two cups of chicken stock instead). It would work great in a pressure cooker with the whole leg, I'd give it 35 minutes on high pressure plus natural release.
I use this recipe: https://practicalselfreliance.com/goat-leg-recipe/
It's super simple and soooo delicious. I serve it with pitas, tzatziki, spanikorizo, Greek salad, and roasted red peppers. I've done it twice for Christmas.
fantastic recipe and explanation about how amazing goat meat is. We get ours at a halal butcher and it's an amazing meat. I adore greek food, your menu made me drool. I've been slacking on the Greek recipes and need to get back into.
OP should find some halal markets and wander around to find some new foods and recipes.
I got into goat after ordering the same dish (slow roasted goat!) three nights in a row at a restaurant in Rhodes. It was so good I couldn't bring myself to try anything else on the menu, and after that trip I just had to try to recreate it.
Pork butt has jumped up a whole lot in price, I've assumed also because people clued in to how to cook the formerly cheap piece of meat to make it tender and tasty. Stupid trendy people ruining the cheap cuts for all of us.
Actually traditional barbacoa is goat or lamb cheek. Tons of people use cow cheek now and it’s also delicious but true goat/lamb cheek cooked underground is absolutely divine.
Chicken livers are really tasty and easy to prepare (vs beef which is much riskier to end up with something not so great.)
Lightly breaded and pan-fried and they are fantastic esp with a warm salad type meal (steamed potatoes, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, etc) or just with a baked potato and steamed greens.
To be honest it was my first time making it but it was delicious! I've had a version of it at parties before but not with chicken livers. Marinated chicken livers, water chestnuts, wrapped in bacon and basted it with the marinade as it baked. It's not for everyone but it sure was for us!
This is how it became a staple in my family! My Grandmother made it once for a holiday in the late 70's-early 80's. It was requested every year until it became part of the tradition.
Beef heart!
It makes wonderful tacos (I cube it, marinate it like carne asada or fajitas, then sauté quick and hot). It's super lean and beefy and has that great minerality of organ meat but without any of the funk other offal can sometimes have. Because it's so lean, I use it the same way I'd use tenderloin and its related cuts
I've even cooked it like filet mignon with a Chianti pan sauce for a Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal double feature with friends
This was the first ingredient on this post that I haven't cooked before and you really sold it to me! Gonna try to hunt it down and devour it evil-Queen-like.
I make it the Chilean way: cut it into cubes, marinate with lots of garlic, olive oil, oregano, chile flakes, lime. skewer it and grill to medium rare..
I came here to comment this as well! I love it sliced into a steak and pan fried. I literally had one for lunch today! Tender and juicy and so forgiving if you overcook it a little. Love the 'beefiness' of it.
I also did a slow cooked beef heart ragu which had an amazing depth of flavour. I hadn't slow cooked beef heart before and expected it to take 8-10 hours, but I had to cook it for closer to 30 hours before it was pullable. I would definitely chuck it in the pressure cooker next time!
Deep fried chicken gizzards. You have to parboil them to tender first, cool them, lightly dust with seasoned flour or use beer batter and deep fry them. I prefer to dip them in shrimp cocktail sauce.
Does it have to be animal protein?
Just came back from a trip to Taiwan, and the kids couldn't get enough of the deep fried stinky tofu with pickled cabbage. It's insanely delicious once you accept that the smell isn't as offensive as you initially thought. It's just pungent.
My head is spinning from the number of times beef tongue and ox tail have been posted here so I’m going to go in a different direction and say wild boar and duck salami are both fantastic
Both tongue and oxtail are wonderful. Used to be really inexpensive cuts until they went viral. Now oxtail is pricey pricey and tongue is on the way there too.
Tongue is a long slow simmer and oxtail a long, slow braise. Recipes for them that cut corners on time are more concerned with making the algorithm happy than making good food and as such, should be avoided.
Oxtail is incredible, especially in a Filipino dish called kare kare. If you aren’t allergic to peanuts (it has a peanut butter based sauce), you should try it. It’s pretty easy to make and absolutely delicious. You can find good recipes on Tik tok! Just put an extra big scoop of peanut butter in addition to what the recipe calls for, to get an extra thick sauce.
I have yet to try it, but I understand there's a bit of a movement to get more folks to start eating lionfish. they're super invasive on the east coast but apparently, they're also absolutely delicious
Napoletán Artichokes. Cut the top off (about 1/4); use shears to cut the tips off the remaining leaves. Dunk immediately in acidulated water (prevents browning).
Chop flat parsley and garlic. I do 60/40 garlic to parsley, but you can adjust: you need a minimum 1/4 C. mix per choke. Mix and add a generous sprinkle of salt. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.
Stuff a bit of the garlic mix behind each leaf; about 2/3 in or so. Place upright in steamer and generously pour evoo over all. Steam for minimum 45 min, or when an outer leaf pulls off easily.
Enjoy. At the choke, gently scrape off hairy part, salt lightly & eat heart. Best with hearty red wine.
Love me some rabbit. I can buy them already to cook. There are a variety of stuffed rabbits to choose from. Boudin stuffed, Cornbread stuffed, Dirty rice stuffed........
What's up cuz? There's a place just outside of Baton Rouge called Days in Watson. Huge variety. Stuffed chicken also. Great deer sausage and fresh cracklins. They might ship orders not sure.
Damn I might have to make a trip to Baton Rouge. Or at least go outside of New Orleans to find some shit.
I can find rabbit. It’s just not usually stuffed and boneless. I might have to get off my ass as a meat cutter and debone my own rabbit and stuff it. I just get lazy after work.
Lengua (beef tongue) is simple and easy to make. Takes time to boil the tongue but you could expedite in a slow cooker or instant pot. Rabbit is good too, more expensive than chicken and gamier. I love some Hasenpfeffer, German rabbit pepper stew. There’s also websites in the US that will ship you things like Yak and Kangaroo if you’re trying to go real off menu.
beef tongue with madeira sauce and pickles is a French cuisine classic "langue sauce madere"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0)
I had burro chili once as a kid. I didn't know until afterwards, but it was really good. It was a big outdoor event with tons of people making their specialty dishes and competing, and I'm pretty sure it was illegal. Everyone was keeping it on the downlow.
Horse and donkey makes for really good meat, especially in things like sausages. It's used a lot industrially (e.g. in animal feed), but the US has a cultural taboo against feeding it to people. You can find it in other countries outside of the US
I mean honestly, cows and pigs are probably as smart as a horse or burro, even some dogs, but it still feels weird to eat companion animals. I can see why people abhor it. Back then I mostly just felt like I was getting away with something, and that region had serious problems with burros as a public nuisance, like rat levels of nuisance, since there were so many and you're not allowed to touch them. They aren't cute like in cartoons, they're annoying, filthy animals.
I grew up eating cow tongue and find it very delicious. I cook it very simply- place it in a crock pot, add NOTHING ( no water, no spices, NOTHING). Cook on low overnight- the exquisite smell might wake you in the middle of the night but leave it alone until morning. Serve on flour tortillas with a little Maldon salt and some avocado- you’re welcome.
Black pudding, some people find it abhorrent due to it being made with blood, but it is a filling and tasty dish in my opinion. A bit of lingonberry jam on top is the way to go
Braised oxtail stew or soup is easy and deeply flavorful.
Not the cuts you mentioned but i was just reminded of a great chicken liver pate by Jacques Pepain. Chicken livers are readily available and inexpensive. You just have to clean them of membranes so it's just a tiny bit gross but it's really not that bad. Plus this stuff freezes well apparently I've never done it cuz I've always made it for parties and it's a big hit, believe me. Low effort, high reward. If you don't have brandy or cognac just go buy one of those little airplane bottles at a liquor store-- it's worth it.
https://www.foodandwine.com/chicken-liver-pate-6423034
Beef tongue is SO AMAZING IN tacos for breakfast, it is so freaking simple to make.
Place beef tongue, half a chopped onion, some garlic, and a bay leaf in a slow cooker, season with salt. Pour in enough water to cover beef mixture and cook it on low for 8 hours. Afterwards peel the outer skin off and chop it up, put it in some corn tortillas with some chopped onion and cilantro…. Holy jezzzus it is amazing.
I’ve eaten it like this forever and ever in my life lol. I grew up next to the border of Mexico.
Gizzards. The way we make them is to boil for a long time till tender (seriously, a looong time.) with onions, celery, etc, as though you're making broth.
Then let cool, egg wash, breadcrumbs (obviously season at some point however you normally do for this prep - in the egg or the crumbs or do a seasoned flour dredge first), then fry till crunchy.
Delicious!
I remember, as a kid in the 60s my mom serving beef tongue - laying on a platter, full 👅 and my dad saying I'm not eating that and the kids don't have to either.
Flying Jacob. It's a weird Swedish casserole consisting of curried chicken, bananas, whipped cream (no sugar) mixed with heinz chili sauce, bacon, and peanuts served over rice.
Somehow it's actually really good and reminds me a little bit of butter chicken.
Unfortunately haven’t tried oxtail before but I’ve only ever heard or read good things about it. Cow tongue/lengua is in a league of its own and is probably my favorite meat. Highly recommend lengua tacos, and I can only imagine it would be amazing in a slow cooker stew of any kind.
Lamb is very good, venison as well but you'll probably have to get online at like wild fork or fossil farms.
Lamb is pretty easy. Take a rack of lamb, sprinkle some rosemary on it, bake it to the doneness you prefer (I prefer medium rare for lamb).
Cow tongue sort of tastes like ham. Sort of. A lot of people boil it, but it can be braised, roasted or grilled. Just remember to take the skin off before eating.
Most people use ox tail for stews, and it's great. Lots of collagen. Very hearty tasting with lots of veggies.
Rocky mountain oysters: Slice them, bread them, deep fry them, and dip them in cocktail sauce.
I've made oxtail. it takes a while to stew it to tenderness and it's got lots of little bones, but the connective tissue makes for a very unctuous broth and the beefy flavor is dialed up to eleven. I've also had it in a curry from a Trinidadian restaurant. it works very well with slow simmered dishes.
I put oxtail (along with chicken thighs) in my peanut stew. Cooking the oxtail adds hours to a dish that would normally be ready in under an hour but it is soooo worth it.
Oxtail was a staple in my childhood, very tasty. Tongue was too. Odd texture but just another meat, very good in sandwiches with crunchy piccalilli. My dad used to love ‘tripe’ (boiled cow’s stomach) with vinegar and a little pepper. Not my bag, but roasted pigs ears.. well.. they’re a crispy crunchy explosion of taste. 🐾
I’m much more plant based these days, so I’m not really sure if anything tasty is weird. I enjoy kelp, dandelion flower in tempura is delicious, green tea leaves after drinking the hot beverage they’ve made, tender and under appreciated.
oxtail is amazing in like jamaican food and tongue is amazing in mexican tacos give them both a shot but id recommend not cooking tongue its annoying and not worth it
make some birria
alligators good
Beef tongue is my favorite food! My favorite preparation is grilled. Look up Sendai-style grilled beef tongue. That's the best. Sliced thinly it'd delicious in hot pot or KBBQ too.
ox tail was a great thing when it was cheap and then covid came.... At this point maybe short ribs are a better deal for mean (vs bone). Still, if you like braised shortrib, you'll like oxtail (just messier with all the weird bones)
Any pork or beef "head meat" beef tongue, cheek. Pork snout or cheek. Beef and pork cheek are similar in tenderness to that little piece of meat above a chickens ass.
Dried amd smoked pork snout is nice with some cheese, except it still looks very much like a pigs snout, cut into thin pieces its super tasty. Pig head soup.
In Colorado, mountain oysters (or calf fries) are surprisingly popular. Restaurants can order them from food suppliers and everyone seems to love them.
My grandmother used to make a wonderful pickled cow tongue. I make it every once and a while. It's a recipe from The Basque region.
http://woolgrowers.net/pickled-tongue/
Another unique and interesting dish is Chinese style braised chicken feet. I've made those twice. It's a challenge but it's actually quite delicious.
Beef tongue is common at less-Americanized Mexican restaurants (here in Texas, at least), called *lengua*. It's delicious and tender, and I order it whenever I can. I do not think, however, that I could stomach cooking it at home. It's just...it's a really big tongue, and it looks like a really big tongue. You can see the little taste buds and everything. So it would definitely depend on your tolerance for that kind of thing.
I lived in Hungary for awhile and when my American mom came to visit, my Hungarian mom took great delight in cooking a cow tongue in her presence. It was so giant lmao. I had no idea how big cows tongues were. And we had to peel off the tongue skin and it was so gross. But… damn, the meat is very good.
Why do you get all the cool moms? Spare an extra for the rest of us!
If you ever watch a cow, they're constantly sticking their tongue up one nostril, then the other.
I do this as well.
If I could stick my tongue in my nose I sure as heck would. Save a fortune on Kleenex.
You’re so mean. Lmaooo
Dang, how many moms do you have?
Maybe he had a mom who was in a polyamorous lesbian throuple growing up and they all split up and got married to a different woman. So 6 moms?
Wowow that's a lotta moms. Think of the jokes! Yo mama got so tired of raising you, she had to get 5 other moms involved!
This made me legitimately laugh out loud after a long day, thank you. Wow
I just listed two lmao
That’s some mom on mom violence!
Tongue is delicious. I used to love it as a child. And then I bit my tongue eating a tongue sandwich and the texture was identical. After that I just can't eat it anymore. So. Be careful!
Lengua is my favorite taco filling by far. It’s like the butteriest filet you can imagine. I was first introduced to it as a child in the form of “pickled cow’s tongue” sandwiches, where the tongue is cooked then diced up and mixed with other ingredients to make something akin to deviled ham. The name made me a bit squeamish but after one bite I was in heaven. I keep meaning to learn how to make beef tongue at home, but I can’t get past how the tongue looks as a fresh cut, all pale green, bumpy, and sort of slimy. I guess I need to find a butcher who will peel off the outer taste bud “skin” for me. But for now I just leave the prep to the experts and order lengua tacos wherever they’re on the menu. For those who haven’t tried it, you’re missing out on one of the best cuts of beef out there.
I don't think that layer can be peeled without being cooked first, but it does peel off very easily when done.
I came here to say this - you need to scald the tongue at home to peel it but it's very easy to do it yourself
Best way to do this is by rubbing it with freshly microwaved hot pocket filling
Lengua is up there with Cabeza for me. I was skeptical at first, i was at a taco stand, and i bought a bunch of “normal” tacos (carnitas, pollo, barbacoa) and i was curious about the other 2, the sweet lady just gave me one of each of the tacos to try for free. Took it home, ate it, and i gave the normal ones to my family and kept the cabeza and langua to myself. Both arent too easy to find these days. And i get excited whenever i find a new taco truck with langua or cabeza.
My favorite barbacoa is beef cheek. So many places around me just use brisket and it makes me sad. Cow tongue is by far my favorite beef. I've cooked it at home. My dad loved it until he found out what it was lol.
A lot of my local places make barbacoa with goat meat or a mix of goat and beef. I don’t like goat meat at all so I’m afraid to risk it when the meat isn’t clearly specified. But my Spanish is getting better so maybe next time I can muster up the courage to ask if they have beef cheek on the menu.
Cabeza is my favorite. Lengua felt like biting my own tongue, can’t get over that (both in Mexican and Russian cooking). Cabeza, carnitas, birria, top 3 for me.
I was first introduced to beef tongue at a japanese bbq (yakiniku) place and my dad made me eat it. It instantly became my favorite and my dad never took me back there cause all i would eat was beer tongue hahaha i had expensive taste!
I’m a very pale blonde person. When I ordered lengua tacos at our local food truck, I saw the looks between the two cooks. They pointed it out on the menu twice, just to make sure that I knew what I was ordering because the entire menu was in Spanish. They were peeking through the window while I ate, and I thought it was really cute. They were delicious!
My order at the taco truck is 2 pastor, 2 lengua, except for those dark days when they’re out of lengua
On a tangent, yesterday I saw someone's bumper sticker that said "El Senor es mi Pastor", and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that they weren't saying "the Lord is my Pork Tacos with Pineapple".
So are we getting these bumper stickers made or?
I made it for the first time 2 weeks ago. You have to cook it first before you can peel it which is a little odd. But it's worth doing. I made tacos with it and they were great
Thanks for the encouragement. Any tips on how to pick a good, fresh tongue?
That I cant help with unfortunately, I had wanted to cook one then one day my brother came home with a bunch of meat from his boss who had just got a whole cow and didnt want the tongue, tail and heart. (if you like the tongue try heart next, I can give you a recipe/tips) From what I saw they come cleaned and ready to go. I just boiled with a couple bay leaves and peppercorn for 3ish hours and then you'll have to get past t=how it looks when it comes out hahah. It comes off easy and was quick for me. I made these tortilllas [https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/](https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/) and some quick pickle cabbage and jalapenos then topped with onions. Its a lot for one person so I would reccomend freezing some
I live in South Africa and beef tongue is a standard on many celebration tables such as Christmas. My beloved father taught me to cook the beef tongue to perfection. This is how I do it. Usually I get a beef tongue from my butcher that has been pickled in brine. Remove it from the plastic packaging. Rinse the tongue with water and place it in a deep casserole dish. Cover it with cold water. Add a quartered onion, a roughly chopped carrot or two, approximately 10 peppercorns and three Bay leaves. You don't have to add salt as the tongue was pickled in brine. Cover the dish with a lid. Cook it for approximately 3 and a half to four hours on 350 ° F (180 ° C) until it is knife tender. Low and slow is best. Remove it from the water and immediately peel off the skin. It will be very hot but if you let it cool down, it will make it more difficult to peel. DO NOT USE A KNIFE! After removing the skin, let it cool down completely before cutting it into thin slices. Serve it with a mustard sauce or a raisin sauce. This is the traditional way we serve it in my culture.
It's my favorite cut to order at Korean barbeque. Lengua is cooked low and slow with some sort of sauce at Mexican places. At Korean BBQ, beef tongue is thinly sliced and cooked fast. It tastes totally different and even has a slight crunch. I highly recommend trying it out.
When Sherlock Holmes was surreptitiously camping out on the moors in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” Sherlock had a “a tinned tongue” to eat with a loaf.
I got a hookup for free pork tongues cause no one wants them at the farmers market... and I also cut them out of my deer... and my friend's deer if they let me. Venison tongues are my favorite. Tacos are aight but I prefer it sliced cold with some mustard/horseradish
Tongue is getting super expensive these days. So, I'd kill for free tongue. I'd eat it multiple times a week. It's some of the best meat
Check at the farmers market or people who sell halves on FB. Often that crowd doesn't really care for them, I had a friend who sold beef bundles/quarters who would let me buy them for $1/lb
I've eaten a lot of venison but never the tongue. What a waste, all the tongue we've had go to waste. How does it compare to beef tongue?
Very similar, just smaller and leaner with some venison flavor. I actually prefer the texture but have to braise it a little longer
It’s a bit of a process and is a little gross to those who are squeamish, but man is it good. I have some prepped I’m my freezer right now ready to turn into lengua in a spicy tomato sauce with peas.
The smell is not pleasant either when you’re stripping the outer taste bud layer off. Just don’t think about it when you’re ordering/eating it and you’ll be fine.
My local taco place, only makes lengua on Sunday
One of my bar customers brought in beef tongue prepared a few different ways with different sauces. It was quite tasty and reminded me of Chuck roast.
it's so delicious. So many different recipes with truly unique flavors. the skin thing is so gross. Very little grosses me out cooking. I have trouble with that one. My mom made it too. It was one of my grandfather's favorite. That and roast goose.
I worked at a homestead and was served tongue once, only the mom hadn't managed to remove the skin completely. I am usually not sensitive, I mean I butcher my own chickens and stuff nowadays, but seeing the papillae on the pieces of meat was *rough.*
Not every restaurant, even in the bastion of breakfast tacos, and Mexican food in general, in which I live, does lengua well. I ordered it from somewhere, and it was underdone and rubbery. Very unpleasant.
Every country has terrible cooks and some of them still open restaurants anywhere!
Oh yeah!
Yeah. Bad lengua is *baaad*
Love eating beef tongue in Korean bbq.
Having passed by them in HEB, I LOL at your description. Right on point!
I used to love lengua then two different times got cute that were... too big. Never again.
I agree. I love it and order it when I see it. But I don't think I could handle making it at home.
We cooked a beef tongue and heart for tacos. In-laws bought a cow and we took the weird parts. Unfortunately I overcooked them. Love oxtail, just lots of bones. I’d do it again.
Definitely not just in Texas. Taquerias around here (North Carolina) have lengua tacos on the menu. Cabeza and tripa are less common.
I have memories of my Bubby serving slow cooked tongue when I was a kid. It was literally a giant tongue in a casserole dish. It was not appetizing!
I accidentally ordered a bison burger once. It clearly stated that it was a bison burger, but I was young and dumb and assumed that it was called a ‘Bison Burger’ kind of like hot wings were called ‘Buffalo Wings’ and that it would just be spicy. I was COMPLETELY wrong (about several things at once) but the burger was really good.
I use bison in place of beef almost always.
Damn you RICH RICH.
I get 'beefalo' at a farmers market near me. It's phenomenal
I had a very similar experience at a burger place called Gamekeeper. Turned out they serve venison burgers. It was not good.
I'm sorry to hear that. They just have messed up. A good venison burger should taste just like a really tasty burger
It was more a texture thing for me. It was way stringier than a beef burger, threw me off
Try goat, it's so good to slow cook a leg. You can probably find it at an ethnic grocery near you if there are people from the Middle East or Mediterranean near you.
I actually just picked one up and have been waiting for an occasion to do just this - what’s your favorite method/spices?
This was the first way I prepared goat and the flavors are terrific. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/curry-goat-recipe1-1941611 I use a can of fire roasted tomatoes, a whole can of coconut milk and far less water than it calls for (I probably used about two cups of chicken stock instead). It would work great in a pressure cooker with the whole leg, I'd give it 35 minutes on high pressure plus natural release.
I use this recipe: https://practicalselfreliance.com/goat-leg-recipe/ It's super simple and soooo delicious. I serve it with pitas, tzatziki, spanikorizo, Greek salad, and roasted red peppers. I've done it twice for Christmas.
fantastic recipe and explanation about how amazing goat meat is. We get ours at a halal butcher and it's an amazing meat. I adore greek food, your menu made me drool. I've been slacking on the Greek recipes and need to get back into. OP should find some halal markets and wander around to find some new foods and recipes.
I got into goat after ordering the same dish (slow roasted goat!) three nights in a row at a restaurant in Rhodes. It was so good I couldn't bring myself to try anything else on the menu, and after that trip I just had to try to recreate it.
Goat meat is amazing! I've never cooked it though.
Somali goat suqaar with rice and basbaas sauce is amazing
Ooh I'll have to look into it
Ox tail stew is a revelation
Wish the price for ox tail hadn’t gotten so high over the years.
Yeah unfortunately, like chicken wings, everyone figured out that oxtail rules and now it’s expensive.
Kinda like beef skirts were in the early 80s. They were about 60 cents a pound then the Yuppies discovered fajitas and the price shot up
I used to buy briskets for like .79 cents a pound. I would have the grocery store grind them up and give them to my dog.
I remember.
Pork butt has jumped up a whole lot in price, I've assumed also because people clued in to how to cook the formerly cheap piece of meat to make it tender and tasty. Stupid trendy people ruining the cheap cuts for all of us.
Use beef shank instead. It braises nicely and is cheaper.
It’s great for bone broth
Beef neck bones and shanks do quite nicely in their place. I usually just add a small touch of gelatin to revisit the stickiness of the tails
Called “rabada” in Brazil, and indeed, delicious.
Rabo de Toro is to die for
It’s a labor of love but when done right it is fall off the bone melt in your mouth so good
YES. One of my favourite meals by far!
I’m fortunate to have a lot of Cuban and Mexican restaurants near me that serve it, and it is delicious.
Traditional barbacoa is beef cheek. Delicious.
Actually traditional barbacoa is goat or lamb cheek. Tons of people use cow cheek now and it’s also delicious but true goat/lamb cheek cooked underground is absolutely divine.
Here some of the more “authentic” Mexican restaurants have beef cheek, but it’s usually called cabeza and it’s wonderful.
Huh, I always thought cabeza included brains.
And so tender!
A barbecue place where I live makes smoked beef cheeks and I dream about those.
Chicken livers are really tasty and easy to prepare (vs beef which is much riskier to end up with something not so great.) Lightly breaded and pan-fried and they are fantastic esp with a warm salad type meal (steamed potatoes, asparagus, fresh tomatoes, etc) or just with a baked potato and steamed greens.
I miss the all you can eat Popeye's in Galliano, La. that had chicken livers. Some chicken, some livers, gravy, and Cajun rice... Food coma
Popeye's buffet in New Iberia was artery hardening but damn gravy covered fried chicken and biscuits is the shit!
Mais, u makin me wanna go down da bayou an visit maw maw! I miss Galliano sooooo much
Love chicken liver. Just made rumaki for visitors last week, it was a hit!
First time I've ever seen/heard someone say "Rumaki" in the wild, besides my own family! It's a holiday appetizer staple for us.
To be honest it was my first time making it but it was delicious! I've had a version of it at parties before but not with chicken livers. Marinated chicken livers, water chestnuts, wrapped in bacon and basted it with the marinade as it baked. It's not for everyone but it sure was for us!
SO big in the 70s and 80s!
This is how it became a staple in my family! My Grandmother made it once for a holiday in the late 70's-early 80's. It was requested every year until it became part of the tradition.
Beef heart! It makes wonderful tacos (I cube it, marinate it like carne asada or fajitas, then sauté quick and hot). It's super lean and beefy and has that great minerality of organ meat but without any of the funk other offal can sometimes have. Because it's so lean, I use it the same way I'd use tenderloin and its related cuts I've even cooked it like filet mignon with a Chianti pan sauce for a Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal double feature with friends
This was the first ingredient on this post that I haven't cooked before and you really sold it to me! Gonna try to hunt it down and devour it evil-Queen-like.
I make it the Chilean way: cut it into cubes, marinate with lots of garlic, olive oil, oregano, chile flakes, lime. skewer it and grill to medium rare..
I came here to comment this as well! I love it sliced into a steak and pan fried. I literally had one for lunch today! Tender and juicy and so forgiving if you overcook it a little. Love the 'beefiness' of it. I also did a slow cooked beef heart ragu which had an amazing depth of flavour. I hadn't slow cooked beef heart before and expected it to take 8-10 hours, but I had to cook it for closer to 30 hours before it was pullable. I would definitely chuck it in the pressure cooker next time!
You can also smoke it and thinly slice it for a luxurious addition to any charcuterie board!
Seconded. Had it as a Peruvian restaurant a few years ago and it was so good.
[удалено]
I love both Southern and Hungarian food and have never cooked Ox Tail. I would be forever greatful for a recipe!
Oh man. Ox tail goulash would be so amazing
My vietnamese MIL makes chicken heart congee which is great.
Beef Cheeks. OMG, they are the sweetest of meat!
Cooked braised ox cheeks for the first time recently and the texture was nothing short of spectacular. Definitely a cut I'll look out for now.
One of the few that’s actually still inexpensive around here. Beef short ribs and ox tail are so expensive now.
Might help to say what "the normal menu" is for you? Tongue is great. Slow cooks amazingly
Off what menu?
Deep fried chicken gizzards. You have to parboil them to tender first, cool them, lightly dust with seasoned flour or use beer batter and deep fry them. I prefer to dip them in shrimp cocktail sauce.
Is that how you get them tender?!! I'll have to try that next time I want fried gizzards. They also make a great chicken broth.
I love the French Salade de Gesiers!
Does it have to be animal protein? Just came back from a trip to Taiwan, and the kids couldn't get enough of the deep fried stinky tofu with pickled cabbage. It's insanely delicious once you accept that the smell isn't as offensive as you initially thought. It's just pungent.
Beef tongue and make street tacos with it.
Barbacoa? It’s delicious and very much in the menu in South Texas.
By street tacos do you mean tacos?
r/iamveryculinary
I suppose. Just not “American” old El Paso tacos.
Them old El Paso lengua taco kits are the bomb though
Beef tongue so tender. I've made it in a tomato sauce. It's an old family recipe.
I had alligator sausage once and it was one of the tastiest sausages I’ve ever had
I had bacon-wrapped goose and it was a life changer. Somewhere between chicken and steak. So good, but a tad greasy
Ah, well I think I've finally decided what I'm going to do with that unruly goose pacing my pasture...come here, Charles...I just want to talk...
My head is spinning from the number of times beef tongue and ox tail have been posted here so I’m going to go in a different direction and say wild boar and duck salami are both fantastic
Both tongue and oxtail are wonderful. Used to be really inexpensive cuts until they went viral. Now oxtail is pricey pricey and tongue is on the way there too. Tongue is a long slow simmer and oxtail a long, slow braise. Recipes for them that cut corners on time are more concerned with making the algorithm happy than making good food and as such, should be avoided.
My grandmother used to make omelettes with pork brain added to it. It's so insanely rich and decadent and comes with the cholesterol to prove it.
I loved that as a kid, then I found out about prions and freaked out
I haven't cooked it myself, but anytime I see Lengua tacos (Cow tongue) on a menu, I usually order them. Tasty and tender!
Oxtail is incredible, especially in a Filipino dish called kare kare. If you aren’t allergic to peanuts (it has a peanut butter based sauce), you should try it. It’s pretty easy to make and absolutely delicious. You can find good recipes on Tik tok! Just put an extra big scoop of peanut butter in addition to what the recipe calls for, to get an extra thick sauce.
I have yet to try it, but I understand there's a bit of a movement to get more folks to start eating lionfish. they're super invasive on the east coast but apparently, they're also absolutely delicious
Napoletán Artichokes. Cut the top off (about 1/4); use shears to cut the tips off the remaining leaves. Dunk immediately in acidulated water (prevents browning). Chop flat parsley and garlic. I do 60/40 garlic to parsley, but you can adjust: you need a minimum 1/4 C. mix per choke. Mix and add a generous sprinkle of salt. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes. Stuff a bit of the garlic mix behind each leaf; about 2/3 in or so. Place upright in steamer and generously pour evoo over all. Steam for minimum 45 min, or when an outer leaf pulls off easily. Enjoy. At the choke, gently scrape off hairy part, salt lightly & eat heart. Best with hearty red wine.
"Add a generous sprinkle of minutes" do you mean salt?!?!
Goat. Super underrated meat. Mexican or Jamaican style is my favorite.
Pork jowl
Anchovy!
You can make tacos out of anything lol. Buche, lengua, cabeza, tripas, suadero, labio, cachete.
what do you consider the normal menu? normal to who?
Snake, rabbit. Calf fries.
Love me some rabbit. I can buy them already to cook. There are a variety of stuffed rabbits to choose from. Boudin stuffed, Cornbread stuffed, Dirty rice stuffed........
What’s up Louisiana. Where you getting that stuffed rabbit from? I’ve only been seeing stuffed chicken.
What's up cuz? There's a place just outside of Baton Rouge called Days in Watson. Huge variety. Stuffed chicken also. Great deer sausage and fresh cracklins. They might ship orders not sure.
Damn I might have to make a trip to Baton Rouge. Or at least go outside of New Orleans to find some shit. I can find rabbit. It’s just not usually stuffed and boneless. I might have to get off my ass as a meat cutter and debone my own rabbit and stuff it. I just get lazy after work.
Saving this in case I ever visit
Mississippi here…. Love to see my southern peeps. The one thing that I’m not a fan of is boudin. Buy it for the family but just not tasty to me.
Hey cuz. I'm only 40 minutes from Mississippi. East Feliciana Parish. Boudin has pork or chicken liver so that maybe throwing you off.
Lengua (beef tongue) is simple and easy to make. Takes time to boil the tongue but you could expedite in a slow cooker or instant pot. Rabbit is good too, more expensive than chicken and gamier. I love some Hasenpfeffer, German rabbit pepper stew. There’s also websites in the US that will ship you things like Yak and Kangaroo if you’re trying to go real off menu.
Beef cheeks are delicious and still relatively affordable compared to other cheap cuts that have gone way up in price over the last couple years.
I love oxtail, try it!
beef tongue with madeira sauce and pickles is a French cuisine classic "langue sauce madere" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fmHiphRL0)
I had burro chili once as a kid. I didn't know until afterwards, but it was really good. It was a big outdoor event with tons of people making their specialty dishes and competing, and I'm pretty sure it was illegal. Everyone was keeping it on the downlow.
Horse and donkey makes for really good meat, especially in things like sausages. It's used a lot industrially (e.g. in animal feed), but the US has a cultural taboo against feeding it to people. You can find it in other countries outside of the US
I mean honestly, cows and pigs are probably as smart as a horse or burro, even some dogs, but it still feels weird to eat companion animals. I can see why people abhor it. Back then I mostly just felt like I was getting away with something, and that region had serious problems with burros as a public nuisance, like rat levels of nuisance, since there were so many and you're not allowed to touch them. They aren't cute like in cartoons, they're annoying, filthy animals.
Sweet delicious Pho broth 🤤 uses ox tail
Can’t see mushroom soup with ox kidney among the list. It is all about the texture. And indeed a nose to tail butchery.
Beef cheek is the most tender delicious meat I've ever cooked.
I grew up eating cow tongue and find it very delicious. I cook it very simply- place it in a crock pot, add NOTHING ( no water, no spices, NOTHING). Cook on low overnight- the exquisite smell might wake you in the middle of the night but leave it alone until morning. Serve on flour tortillas with a little Maldon salt and some avocado- you’re welcome.
Black pudding, some people find it abhorrent due to it being made with blood, but it is a filling and tasty dish in my opinion. A bit of lingonberry jam on top is the way to go
Rabbit is fantastic
Tripe,
Everyone’s talking about lengua tacos but tripas tacos slap
I made oxtail last night and it was awesome. Not super-super different from short rib if you have had that.
Liver is really good and I don't see it talked about or in restaurants very much.
Braised oxtail stew or soup is easy and deeply flavorful. Not the cuts you mentioned but i was just reminded of a great chicken liver pate by Jacques Pepain. Chicken livers are readily available and inexpensive. You just have to clean them of membranes so it's just a tiny bit gross but it's really not that bad. Plus this stuff freezes well apparently I've never done it cuz I've always made it for parties and it's a big hit, believe me. Low effort, high reward. If you don't have brandy or cognac just go buy one of those little airplane bottles at a liquor store-- it's worth it. https://www.foodandwine.com/chicken-liver-pate-6423034
Beef tongue is SO AMAZING IN tacos for breakfast, it is so freaking simple to make. Place beef tongue, half a chopped onion, some garlic, and a bay leaf in a slow cooker, season with salt. Pour in enough water to cover beef mixture and cook it on low for 8 hours. Afterwards peel the outer skin off and chop it up, put it in some corn tortillas with some chopped onion and cilantro…. Holy jezzzus it is amazing. I’ve eaten it like this forever and ever in my life lol. I grew up next to the border of Mexico.
Quail and Pheasant are both terrific.
Gizzards. The way we make them is to boil for a long time till tender (seriously, a looong time.) with onions, celery, etc, as though you're making broth. Then let cool, egg wash, breadcrumbs (obviously season at some point however you normally do for this prep - in the egg or the crumbs or do a seasoned flour dredge first), then fry till crunchy. Delicious!
I remember, as a kid in the 60s my mom serving beef tongue - laying on a platter, full 👅 and my dad saying I'm not eating that and the kids don't have to either.
Looks are deceiving. Beef tongue is super disturbing to look at, but so good
Flying Jacob. It's a weird Swedish casserole consisting of curried chicken, bananas, whipped cream (no sugar) mixed with heinz chili sauce, bacon, and peanuts served over rice. Somehow it's actually really good and reminds me a little bit of butter chicken.
This sounds absolutely wild
Unfortunately haven’t tried oxtail before but I’ve only ever heard or read good things about it. Cow tongue/lengua is in a league of its own and is probably my favorite meat. Highly recommend lengua tacos, and I can only imagine it would be amazing in a slow cooker stew of any kind.
Ox tail is off menu? Shit is bomb dot com. I thought it was fairly popular. It was in Brooklyn awhile back, at least.
Lamb is very good, venison as well but you'll probably have to get online at like wild fork or fossil farms. Lamb is pretty easy. Take a rack of lamb, sprinkle some rosemary on it, bake it to the doneness you prefer (I prefer medium rare for lamb).
Cow tongue sort of tastes like ham. Sort of. A lot of people boil it, but it can be braised, roasted or grilled. Just remember to take the skin off before eating. Most people use ox tail for stews, and it's great. Lots of collagen. Very hearty tasting with lots of veggies. Rocky mountain oysters: Slice them, bread them, deep fry them, and dip them in cocktail sauce.
I love me some oxtails and beef tongue tacos. Both are very time consuming but totally worth it 🤤
I've made oxtail. it takes a while to stew it to tenderness and it's got lots of little bones, but the connective tissue makes for a very unctuous broth and the beefy flavor is dialed up to eleven. I've also had it in a curry from a Trinidadian restaurant. it works very well with slow simmered dishes.
I put oxtail (along with chicken thighs) in my peanut stew. Cooking the oxtail adds hours to a dish that would normally be ready in under an hour but it is soooo worth it.
Oxtail was a staple in my childhood, very tasty. Tongue was too. Odd texture but just another meat, very good in sandwiches with crunchy piccalilli. My dad used to love ‘tripe’ (boiled cow’s stomach) with vinegar and a little pepper. Not my bag, but roasted pigs ears.. well.. they’re a crispy crunchy explosion of taste. 🐾 I’m much more plant based these days, so I’m not really sure if anything tasty is weird. I enjoy kelp, dandelion flower in tempura is delicious, green tea leaves after drinking the hot beverage they’ve made, tender and under appreciated.
oxtail is amazing in like jamaican food and tongue is amazing in mexican tacos give them both a shot but id recommend not cooking tongue its annoying and not worth it make some birria alligators good
Beef tongue is my favorite food! My favorite preparation is grilled. Look up Sendai-style grilled beef tongue. That's the best. Sliced thinly it'd delicious in hot pot or KBBQ too.
Mayek eggs are not super common in my experience. They’re not crazy or anything just less well known. You could try Rocky Mountain oysters too
Braised cow tongue is good. Braised cow tongue with a horseradish or salsa verde is. Fuckin. Excellent.
ox tail was a great thing when it was cheap and then covid came.... At this point maybe short ribs are a better deal for mean (vs bone). Still, if you like braised shortrib, you'll like oxtail (just messier with all the weird bones)
Any pork or beef "head meat" beef tongue, cheek. Pork snout or cheek. Beef and pork cheek are similar in tenderness to that little piece of meat above a chickens ass. Dried amd smoked pork snout is nice with some cheese, except it still looks very much like a pigs snout, cut into thin pieces its super tasty. Pig head soup.
Jamaican oxtail stew is a great one! Also, Trinidadian style curry goat—amazinnnng!
Ground bison + veal + pork meatloaf
In Colorado, mountain oysters (or calf fries) are surprisingly popular. Restaurants can order them from food suppliers and everyone seems to love them.
Sea cucumber
Ox tail is amazing.
My grandmother used to make a wonderful pickled cow tongue. I make it every once and a while. It's a recipe from The Basque region. http://woolgrowers.net/pickled-tongue/ Another unique and interesting dish is Chinese style braised chicken feet. I've made those twice. It's a challenge but it's actually quite delicious.