Beef Tongue and Shanks in the mini

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webowabo

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Dec 25, 2010
1,382
41
Arlington, TX
Well.. tequila started flow'n early today.. and while I had some snack sticks going I figured I finally try some beef tongue. ..we will see how they turn out.. shanks too.. I was thinking reverse sear the shanks.. but I read if they go long enough they will pull.. that might be good for some shank and potatoes dish yea? We will see... here is what I got so far... any further advice might be helpful.. IT temps mainly for both cuts of beef....

Trimmed tongue.. will boil for thirty mins and see if I can get skin off..
After 30 min boil skins were still on pretty good.. I ended up skining with a knife. . Need more advice for next time on that process if there is an easier way..
Mustard/horseradish base with a SPOG and chili cayenne seasoning
Shanks seasoned with same seasoning.. no mustard base... and both cuts in mini ..holding a steady 220* smoker temp...
 
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Tequila good.... man.. what a busy day Ive had. Jeez... anyways.. ..The Tongue... the bigger (back of tongue was perfect.. Pulled at 145* IT but the tip half was way over done.. and I ended up feeding it to the pups.. it was like rubber. The Shank ended up ok as well, I never got a reading IT but it was in about 1.5hrs at 220*. Im guessing it was a good med-well. Ill pull way sooner next time, but I think I will throw it in the slow cooker with some potatoes and carrots and let the smokie goodness simmer tomorrow while at work. I also did some snack sticks and some breakfast Jalapeno pork sausage that I went ahead and hot smoked after the snacks where finished in the propane smoker, so some of those pics are in with this thread....


the smallest piece on the left was the doggies food.. the bigger piece was good..


all sliced up on the new (garage sale find) meat slicer


again... perfect I think... will make a good sammie with some horseradish mayo and some cheese.. YUM!


the breakfast sasauge.. I went ahead and cooked them rather than cooking when I want, Ill portion and bag for a quick breakfast bite..


Bear style.. caseless "turds" I think he refurred them as :)


The whole days lot... *sigh* that's tough to manage three smokers at once and try to plan it all at the same time :)


the shanks.. sorry no pic of it cut.. was busy eating the other half...

Overall... was good. Ill need to work on the approach more with the tongue for sure, but will do it again

Thanks for looking

 Mike
 
Wow Mikey you are cooking up some serious grub today!  I would have been happy to help you manage some of the pits but it would have been one heck of a road trip!
 
Thanks Dave and Kieth.. it was fun. For a single loner like I am... I now have close to 20lbs of meat to eat all week long.. lucky me ; l and here I am eating Ramon noodles with alittle of the shank meat and bones/marrow cooked in with it... best Ramon noods ever ;)
 
Nice work
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& welcome to nose to tail.

Tongue skinning is a tricky thing. Clarissa & I  have been working on it. I think they need a fairly long simmer before the skin splits .Then its a matter of pulling it off without burning your fingers. I just did another 3 in the smoker skin on. The other way is to simmer then skin  then brine then smoke.

Great meal any way you do it.
 
 
Well Mick... Thank You.. and I keep a close eye on both you and clarissa's threads... specially you cause you like the different likes of seafood. I saw your O'pus thread yesterday (or maybe today) and I miss the coast. I grew up helping my gramps on his shrimp boat.. so we ate whatever was drug in...and my grandfolks made them taste like 5star ....
the tongue was great.. and will be even better on a sammie.. but the skin was tough to get off!. Maybe next time ill PM you and get a little in depth step guide the way you do yours. If that would be ok....
Another thing... I didnt brine mine... and im not sure I read anywhere to brine... if I did I really dont remember. Do you brine cause it is so lean of a cut?
Thanks
Mike
 
The tongue I do is my attempt to duplicate what I cant buy anymore. So its the cured smoked version that I used to buy from the Portuguese butcher near me. I brine them in the same beer based brine I adapted from Bearcarver's bacon lesson . They sit for about 8 days . I inject them as well.I just put it all in the same container. If I was hot smoking it would be different. I only take it to 65c.

The skin is a bit of a problem
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.

My last attempt I simmered it for 2 hours peeled it but saved all the water I poached in to put back into the dish.

I grew up 400 miles from the sea in the 60/70s in a little town. So when I came to Sydney at 18 it was all a bit new & not just the fish
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I just follow the line that you shouldnt waste good food. Some of the great seafood dishes evolved from what the fisherman kept for themselves ,stuff that was a hard sell. Boulabaise a great example from the french, cataplana/caldeira from the Portuegese.

Squid & octopus are a great thing eaten all over the world. Used to be dirt cheap here until people woke up. I do like to cook those stuffed squid dishes in a sauce,either European or Asian .

Lets face it ,if its landed on the deck of the boat ,its good eating if you know what you are doing ,your going to eat it & sell the fancy stuff to people who only eat fish fillet. Same all around the world.

Have a great day .MICK
 
 
So true mick... so true. Ill keeo an eye out for your next threads.. post.. etc. Its always interesting...
And.. Have a great Night.. (its beddie time for this guy)
Mike
 
Well Mick... Thank You.. and I keep a close eye on both you and clarissa's threads... specially you cause you like the different likes of seafood. I saw your O'pus thread yesterday (or maybe today) and I miss the coast. I grew up helping my gramps on his shrimp boat.. so we ate whatever was drug in...and my grandfolks made them taste like 5star ....
the tongue was great.. and will be even better on a sammie.. but the skin was tough to get off!. Maybe next time ill PM you and get a little in depth step guide the way you do yours. If that would be ok....
Another thing... I didnt brine mine... and im not sure I read anywhere to brine... if I did I really dont remember. Do you brine cause it is so lean of a cut?
Thanks
Mike
Hi Mike,

Looks like a fun weekend of smoking!  Your tongue cook was especially interesting.  I always take my tongues to a completely well-done, 200+ deg IT, but I do that in simmering water so it doesn't dry out the tongue. Fun to see it cooked medium like a beef roast.  As Mick said, the tongues require a long poach for the skin to come off, and you have to peel it while it is still warm or it doesn't come off as easily.  I always brine my tongues, and will add Cure #1 to the brine if I am going to cold smoke them after I boil and skin them. My process is brine for 1 week (with Cure #1 if cold smoking), poach for 3-4 hours, cool slightly then remove the skin, refrigerate until cold, then cold smoke for a couple of hours if I had added Cure #1.  Mick goes for brine, hot smoke, poach, then peel.  I'm going to try Mick's method next time so I can compare, but both methods work great. 

Have a great day!
Clarissa
 
Thanks for the tips clarissa.. ill try another way to compare for sure. The bigger piece did turn out juicy.. and it was roast like in taste. Im gonna do some french dip sandwiches tonight. Ill slowly reheat the slices in the au jus (store bought.... no time for scratch).. and see how they taste when I get home!
Til next time ; l
Mike
 
Tongue is on my list...taking notes!
I took some of the slices on my service calls today along with the snack sticks.. and the guy that rides with me (also named MIke) ate some of the slices and was amazed. Only after he found out what it was did he change his mind. Its too funny.. but if you can find them cheap (which I seem to around my parts of living in a metro "little mexico".. ) worth the trouble. ..
 
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