I’m wondering if we’re actually talking about the same thing here.
In the U.K. tongue is mostly a sandwich meat and quite expensive,I’ve eaten it quite often but in my opinion its quite forgettable.
Its not revolting but on the other hand you wouldn’t rush round and recommend it to all of your mates.
I’ve eaten it once. It still had the taste buds, so it looked like a tongue. It was also cold, I tried a bit at a deli where my friend worked, although they normally served it as a hot sandwhich.
Not bad, actually. The appearance and texture sort of reminded me of pastrami, with taste buds instead of those little hard bits. The looks on my friends faces made the experience a lot grosser than it was in reality.
I’d say go for it.
I had it once. My mother served it to me as a “roast beef sandwich.” She asked if I wanted another one and I said, “Okay.” But then she took it out of the refrigerator and, even though the sandwich had tasted perfectly fine and exactly like a roast beef sandwich, I suddenly realized I wasn’t hungry anymore.
She spent a few minutes ridiculing me for being silly (which I probably was). I’ve neve knowingly had it again.
Same here too, it’s in all the Mexican restaurants around here. It’s delicious. Not quite as delicious as beef cheek, but up there. I’ve never tried to fix it myself at home, but I would like to someday.
I was planning on picking up dinner at my local Roberto’s on my way home tonight. You have all piqued my interest; think I may try one of those tonight. I’ve never had tongue before (don’t make me come back there!) and have always wanted to try it. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it was.
Tongue falls in the same list as liver and heart. Delicious if prepared properly, disgusting if not.
I have always had it “in sauce”, which is closer to a stew than anything else. Like this is comes very tender and has nothing of the texture problems that most people complain about.
Never had it, but I’m interested. I feel a trip to the butcher’s is looming. (Well, it was anyway to stock up, but hey.)
Used to eat tongue quite often as cold sandwich meat - not bad at all. Can be a little tough, but the taste is quite good. I wouldn’t worry.
Now I’m hungry for it. My mother made it all the time when I was growing up - boiled it is both tender and tasty, nothing at all like pot roast (which I like also). It is sweeter, in a way. I’ve never had it tough. I like it with a bit of deli mustard, both by itself and in sandwiches. I like it sliced fairly thick myself, like pastrami which is properly served hand carved and relatively thick.
Not that I can find it in the goyisher Bay Area. 
Oh, I suppose pure observation…it’s always prominently displayed at the deli counter at my local supermarket, alongside all the more ‘normal’ cuts of meat, so presumably there’s a market for it
[obligatory joke] The thing about eating tongue is, how do you know when you’re done? [/obligatory joke]
I actually liked tongue the one time I had it. We owned a hobby farm when I was in high school and tried a lot of different things when it was all new to us. Tongue, as prepared by my grandmother, was quite good – very tender and tasty. We also tried heart, and it was also very good.
The reason we didn’t have tongue or heart other than the one time was the smell of cooking them. They absolutely reek while cooking – and this is a problem because they need to be cooked for hours. So, good as they were, we only had those meats once.
My grandmother didn’t care for beef liver, so we never ate that – she liked calves liver, but we never butchered our cows young enough for that. And she didn’t like sweetbreads or kidneys, so we never tried those, either.
This thread got me hungry, so I went down to the 'hood and got a lengua burrito at one of the more authentic Mexican restaurants in town. Delicious! I don’t normally order it, but I’ll definitely get it more often now.
I believe cloves get put into the water, which makes it smell pretty good. My wife has Mennonite ancestry, and she likes it also. (Also yummy pig’s stomach.) I’ve never noticed a bad smell while cooking - how did your grandmother do it?
Thirding this. They are consistently the best meat for tacos, especially from the various trucks around town.
When the tastebuds are on they can be creepy looking, otherwise they’re a real treat to try. I’m not a fan of them in sandwitches though, something about the mix of textures just doesn’t work well for me.
Beef cheek! :eek: (Band name!)
I’ve never considered this food, but now I must have some! I adore halibut cheeks, but it never occured to me to try the cheeks of other creatures!
Holy Butt Cheeks! Is that what the much-ridiculed hog jowls are? :eek: Have I missed out on a delicacy through cultural snobbism? :o
But seriously, I’ve tried to buy tounge everywhere in Bellevue, WA, with no luck, as Mr. singular is a huge fan. Whole Foods said they get it occasionally, but apparently it’s a bad idea to cook your own if you’re not a professional chef. I hope they have beef cheek there - we’re making a rare trip there, financed by a bit of overtime. Is that where one would buy beef cheek? What’s the best way to cook it?
Yeah, beef cheeks and pork cheeks are really good. I’ve never had hog jowls, but based on a really quick Googling I think they’re from the same basic area but a different cut–the pork cheeks I’ve had were reasonably lean muscles, but the references to hog jowls mentioned them being fatty and cut like bacon.
I wouldn’t get my hopes up on finding either tongue or cheek at Whole Foods. You might want to try that butcher shop on Bel-Red that’s down the hill from Uwajimaya, or check with some of the people at the U-District farmer’s market (or the Thundering Hooves folks; I’m not sure they still come to the market, but I think they have a web site).
Re how to cook cheeks: They’re well-exercised muscles, so you braise the living fuck outta them.
…and here ya go.
Are you having it hot or cold? It’s delicious when cold. Serve with various salads. I’ve had lambs’ tongues and calves’ tongues hot in a stew and very nice they were too.
In the Mexican restaurants I’ve eaten at around here I’ve always asked for “barbacoa tacos” and that got me beef cheek tacos. They don’t always have it, and some restaurants I go to only have it on weekends.
Using the word “barbacoa” elsewhere is an iffy prospect though, since the word also means barbecue and you could get some other kind of meat just barbecued, including the whole beef head. If I’m at a new place and they say they have barbacoa, I specifically ask if that means beef cheek meat.
As far as buying it in the store, I’ve never looked for it at the meat market/supermarket and tried to fix it myself, though it’d be easy to find if I wanted to because I live in a very ethnic neighborhood (mostly middle eastern, asian and hispanic), and just a short train ride away from a huge Mexican neighborhood. Are there any hispanic enclaves where you live? If so, go check some markets there.
Do a Google or Yahoo search for “beef cheeks” and you’ll find lots of recipes. A search for “barbacoa” will be much broader and might not be exactly what you want, unless you come home with a whole beef head.
Good luck! Post again if you find some.
The lunchmeat type of tongue is generally corned. I’ve had corned beef tongue many times and it’s delicious. I heartily recommend it.
I’ve tried to cook non-corned beef tongue and it’s hard to do and I’ve never had it turn out well.