Lend me your ears!
Wait. That’s a different post–lend me your tongues! And make them beef, please. The tongue is just another muscle, with nothing stringy or fibrous about it, contrary to your imagination. When cooked slowly it becomes meltingly tender, similar in texture to pulled pork. Tongue is an inexpensive cut of meat and this recipe delivers a lot of flavor for not very much time in the kitchen. Try it out and feel proud you just upped your offal ante.
Slow Cooked Spicy Beef Tongue
Worried about tongues? Lucky for us, there's nothing to fret about. The tongue is just another muscle, like a steak or any other cut of beef you've had before! Tongue breaks down and pulls apart into a gorgeous dish if treated with care via a slow, gentle cook in the the crockpot. Give it a try!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 10 minutes
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 beef tongue
- 1 small onion chopped in half
- 4 garlic cloves smashed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- filtered water
- 1/2 pound tomatoes 2 or 3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1/2 onion minced
- 1/2 jalapeno minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- sea salt
- juice of 1/2 lime
OR!
- 1 and 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa right!
Instructions
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Place whole tongue in slow cooker and cover with filtered water. then add in the onion, garlic, bay leaves and sea salt. Cook on high for 6 hours, or on low overnight.
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Remove tongue from liquid and while it's still hot peel off and discard the skin (it will come off easily while the tongue is hot or just cooled briefly).
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Place tongue in a bowl and using a few forks begin to separate the meat until all meat is pulled apart.
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In a large skillet, heat some olive oil and saute the onions until translucent. Add the tomatoes, jalapeno and garlic. Allow to cook down briefly, about 10 minutes.
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Add in the meat and lime juice and cook until sticky and delicious.
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Taste and add more salt if necessary.
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If using the jar of salsa, omit the fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and lime and simply cook the meat with the salsa, garlic and salt to taste.
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I like to serve sprinkled with raw or pickled onions, cilantro and more lime juice, all rolled into a lettuce leaf. Nom, guys.
Wenchypoo
Try bison tongue–OUT OF THIS WORLD! Instead of crocking, you can also bake them covered at 350 for 3 hours.
Lucia
Bison tongue? YUM!! I can’t wait to try the bake method, too!
Salixisme
OH MY GOODNESS, I have to try this.
Just need to source a toungue…
Lucia
Do you have any old-fashioned butcher shops in your area?
tyler
I actually bought mine at Wal-Mart of all places…..
Lucia
That’s good to know! The more tongue, the better!
Kevin Williams
FARMERS MARKETS, BUTCHER SHOPS, OR GROCERS (IF POSSIBLE, LOOK FOR ETHNIC GROCERS LIKE A “MEXICAN” GROCERY STORE) – AVAILABILITY OFTEN VARIES DEPENDING ON LOCATION – IF RURAL START WITH BUTCHERS/CATTLE FARMERS, SUBURBAN – CHECK OUT FARMERS MARKETS, URBAN START WITH SPECIALTY SHOPS AND GROCERS. iF YOU DONT FIND IT IN STOCK, ASK AS THE PURVEYORS USUALLY CAN SOURCE PRODUCTS
Douglas Carreira
Aloha
Recently I purchased a 6 pound Beefs Tongue every body in the house thought I gone lost my mind. BUT when I SLOW Cooked it the aroma had over whelm they to say can I try it. Next thing I know everybody is sitting down for Supper / Dinner wiping out the whole tongue in one sitting so thats my experience. Mahalo Nui Loa
Koukalaka Kekahaiokepanui.
Lucia Hawley
Douglas that is so wonderful to hear! That tongue cooks down to be so tender and scrumptious, thanks for stopping by and for letting your family try it out (and I’m pumped they loved it!!)
Elizabeth sweers
I am so excited to try this. Would this recipe work for pork tongue as well? Loving your recipes – thank you!
Lucia Hawley
Hi Elizabeth! You know, I haven’t tried this with pig’s tongue but I don’t see why not! It may cook more quickly since I bet it is smaller, so just play around with the length of cooking time. And report back! Would love to hear how it goes–should be delicious <3 <3
Hannah
So delicious. We will definitely make this again!
Lucia Hawley
So glad!! Enjoy!
Logan
What do i do with the cooking liquid after removing and shredding the beef? Seems like it could be flavorful and nutrient packed. Is this like a bone broth??
Lucia Hawley
You could use it as a broth! Or, you can boil it down separately from the shredded tongue, and then when it is thicker you can mix it back with the shredded tongue.