Argentinian Style Marinated Lamb Tongue

At the behest of my friend who grew up eating lamb and goat tongue (it is so delicious, she said), I ordered some lamb tongue on my quarterly meat order from Hilltop Family Farms. I've been eyeing tongue for awhile - sort of wanting to try it, but cow tongue is so enormous that it was more of a side-eye look. I hadn't totally thought about smaller animals until she mentioned it. Goat and lamb tongue seem like great entry options, they are small and seem less intimidating. Also, my Odd Bits cookbook describes lamb tongue as mild, which I found reassuring. Jennifer McLagan (of Odd bits) is a fan of tongue brining, which I'll try in the future.

It seems people most often slow braise their tongues, and then peel the outer tongue layer while warm. This family recipe was passed on to MN chef, Alan Bergo, who I stumbled upon while perusing internet tongue recipes. He has a website called Forager Chef, and a book coming out in two weeks called The Forager Chef's book of Flora that looks lovely. I mean, how serendipitous to find him - it's everything I want in a food blog: foraging (thus seasonal and local), creative, and looking at various cultural food traditions for inspiration. I can't wait to dive into his website some more - my jaw dropped when I saw his recipe for pollen honey fudge. What?!! Genius. (Especially b/c he uses a little butter to cut the sweetness, which is thumb's up from me.) He even has a post about roadkill. 💕

So, tongue!! I mostly like it - I am interested to try it some more. (I liked it enough that I am drinking the braising broth, which is good cold and a bit like collards/nettle pot liquor meets a light bone broth.) Tongue is slightly pate-like to me, but more firm. Firm the way smoked oysters out of a tin are. I especially liked this marinated tongue on some seed crackers (perhaps sparking the smoked oyster thought), which was super tasty. My salad was good, and modeled after Alan Bergo's video. He used avocado and cooled potatoes (think salad nicoise) and radish. I used cooled jerusalem artichokes and asparagus (steamed and also cooled), and fresh pea pods. Both of us used lettuce and a hard boiled egg. The marinade was very tasty, though I used a bit too many red pepper flakes so the tongue was spicy. I think it is a really nice appetizer (I ate mine for dinner), and I really like the fresh herbs in there. The marinade (with cilantro and mint) made me think of chimichurri, no surprise, which was really nice in this summer heat. I would make this again, except maybe I'd actually just use a chimichurri sauce and serve it on crackers. 

One note: tongue is both the part visually discernable as tongue, but also with some other meaty part. Both tasted good, but differed texture-wise. Also, thankfully Jennifer McLagan menionted that tongues come in all variety of hues, from pink to gray, and some are mottled. One of mine was, and it was weird looking, causing me to wonder. But it's normal. Also, it is normal that 3 out of 4 tongues will peel really easily, and one will be stubborn and require a paring knife. FYI. That was true for me, too.

This is the tongue without other stuff

Braising the Tongue

• 1-1.25 lbs Lamb or Goat Tongue (about 4-8 tongues, depending on size)
• 5 cups chicken stock or water
• 1 each: small carrot ½ small yellow onion and 1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped
• 1 dried bay leaf
• salt

Final Marinade

• ½ cup blend of fresh herbs: parsley, cilantro, mint, tarragon (I used cilantro and mint)
• ½ cup virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
• Crushed red pepper about ¼ teaspoon, or more to taste (optional)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove lightly crushed with the back of a knife
• lemon zest (opt)

Instructions

• Combine the tongues and ingredients for braising in a high-sided pan, such as a 3 qt sauce pot. Make sure the tongues are covered with water, if they aren’t add a little more water until they’re covered by approximately ½ inch.
• Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook slowly, covered, about 1.5 hours, or until the tongues are tender when pierced.
• When the tongues are tender, take them off the heat and cool in their liquid until you can handle them. Peel with your hand or a paring knife, it will be easier if they’re still warm.
• Trim any excess connective tissue and bits of skin that may be left on if any were resisting being peeled.
• Refrigerate the tongues for a few hours to firm up and make them easy to slice.
• Slice the tongues into ¼ inch slices, then combine with the marinade ingredients. Double check the seasoning and add more salt, vinegar, or crushed red pepper to taste, keeping in mind the seasonings will get stronger as the tongues sit and the flavors meld.
• Transfer the tongues to a container, pressing them down so the vinaigrette and juices cover the top and refrigerate until needed. They're best after marinating for a few hours/overnight. The tongues will keep refrigerated for 4 days. 
  Serve the tongue on crackers, or add some veggies to the marinade and toss it up for salad. I think a little sweetness is a good gesture here (potatoes or jerusalem artichokes, carrots, avocado, peas, asparagus, maybe beets) along with some lettuce and herbs.