Keeping this thread alive...
My Uncle in law who is 85 years old requested I cook him some cow tongue. I have no idea why...he is an interesting man and doesn't get out much these days. I am not one to back down from a challenge so I went to my local Restaurant Depot and they had 3 to pick from that weren't frozen.
This one is 3.80 lbs and was $5.93/lb! I understand that cows
usually only have one tongue but geez that is ridiculous. Got it home last night, washed it thoroughly with cold water and put it back in the fridge. My 5 yo daughter was surprisingly ok about helping to prepare the tongue...probably because her mom wasn't around last night to react to the situation.
We prepared a brine solution with low sodium beef broth, 2% kosher salt by weight and dark brown sugar at half the weight of the salt. Brought that to a boil and then chilled it in an ice bath. Brought 1.5 gallons of water to a boil in a 2 gallon pot and dunked the tongue in for 30 seconds to kill any surface bacteria. Then injected ~4 oz of the brine into the tongue, sprinkled a little salt on the exposed meaty portion, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it back into the fridge.
I know I'm taking a lot of extra precaution here but I don't want to get my Uncle sick! He's very opinionated and I want a good one. Tomorrow, I plan to simmer the tongue on the stove in some beef broth and maybe some onions and things until the skin will peel off. Then it'll get rubbed with hot sauce and coarse black pepper and onto the cooker until 160ºF max.
I am open to any suggestions for the rest of the plan.
Fresh out of the package before cleaning
After injecting
Nate