Pork Tongue: Part 1

I am most familiar with beef tongue, and only just recently tried pork tongue for the first time: pickled and sliced in gelatin (see picture in a previous post), a preparation that seemed best suited for eating in a sandwich with a little mayo. Simple and delicious, not the least bit objectionable.

Because I knew I was a big tongue fan, I didn't have any hesitation about buying several extra pig tongues back when we ordered the whole hog from the Stecs in November. I bought all the tongues she had, about 25 in all. So this week I defrosted six of them and decided to try a few different recipes. In this post, I'll describe how I brined three of them and then cooked them for a Hungarian potato dumpling soup. In part two of this post, I'll describe how I made the other three tongues into a curry stew and an appetizer.

Brining is the process of letting meat sit in a seasoned salt-water mixture in the refrigerator for the purpose of helping it retain juice and flavor through the cooking process. It can also can help take the edge off of stronger-flavored cut of meat. I had never brined anything before. What I will say is that it takes some planning. In fact, I have spent probably four days preparing these dishes, so it's not something I could have decided to do on the fly for company on the same day. That said, if you prepare the tongues ahead of time and get them cooked, peeled, and refrigerated, you could whip up a dish with them in very little time.

My brining recipe came from the book called Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan. It's a basic brine that could be used with other animal parts besides just tongue.

Basic Brine

Ingredients
8 oz salt
1 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. toasted coriander seeds, crushed/ground
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns, crushed/ground
1/2 tsp allspice berries, crushed/ground
1/2 tsp juniper berries, crushed/ground (I had this on hand because I use it in dry curing)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 large sprigs fresh thyme (I substituted rosemary because I didn't have thyme)
4 fresh bay leaves
1 gallon water

Put half of the water and all the seasonings in a stock pot and bring to a boil, stirring while it's coming up to temperature to dissolve the sugar and salt. Let boil for two minutes and then remove from the heat. Put in a glass container and add the other half of the water. Put in the refrigerator to cool. Meat should be put in COLD brine, not hot.

Three pork tongues after brining and prior to poaching.

To brine:
McLagan says the brining time is determined by the size of the cut of the meat. For tongues, she recommends 1/2 to 1 day. Put them in a bowl, cover with the cold brine, put a heavy bowl over them to keep the meat submerged, and put in the refrigerator. When they are done, remove them from the brine and rinse them very well in running water. Set aside for cooking.

To poach:
After brining, I cooked the tongues in a large sauce pan in a simple broth consisting of water (enough to cover the tongues), a diced onion, a couple bay leaves, a couple teaspoons of salt, couple pinches of pepper, a chopped carrot, one stalk of celery (chopped), half of a green pepper (chopped), and a clove of garlic. Simmer them for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove the tongues from the broth and reserve the liquid plus vegetables for the soup. Peel the skin off the tongues as soon as they are cool enough to handle them and trim any obvious pieces of fat. Don't wait to peel them after they are cold because the skin becomes a real bear to remove. You'll be surprised how soft the tongue feels in your hands. This is an indicator of the treat you're about to enjoy. It's a really fine, delicate texture unlike any other cut on the animal.

Cutting up the tongue seems to be pretty consistent across recipes. That is to say, all the ones I have seen say to cut across the grain in thin, oval slices. You could also chop the meat up, but I think you lose some of the eating experience if you do it that way.

Hungarian Sour Soup with Pork Tongue and Potato Dumplings

Soup Ingredients
3-4 cooked, peeled, and sliced pork tongues
1 medium onion
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp of olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
fresh chopped parsley, garnish
vinegar, garnish
sour cream, garnish

Dumpling Ingredients
2 medium potatoes, peeled
3 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp semolina flour (the kind used to make pasta)
1 small egg
pinch salt

For the soup, saute the onions and garlic in the oil until clear. Add the flour and paprika to make a roux. Add the sliced tongue and the liquid (plus the onions, celery, etc) that the tongues were cooked in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 20 minutes. For the dumplings, boil the potatoes until soft. Drain, smash, and add the other dumpling ingredients. Depending on the consistency of the dumpling dough, you can either roll it into balls or, like me, use a small cookie dough scoop to form and put directly in the broth. Add the dumplings to the soup and simmer for another 20 minutes. Serve and garnish with parsley, sour cream, and sprinkle with a good vinegar if desired.

The finished soup, pre-garnish.

The sour cream and vinegar garnishes are really important. The sour cream gives it an added creaminess and the vinegar gives it a little kick. And you could use pretty much any good vinegar, even a spicy one. The tongue is unbelievably velvety. Kyle said it was "very good," adding that it was very hearty. Pretty much what you would expect from eastern Europeans!