Preparing and Eating Beef Tongue

We recently came into the “bits and pieces” of a longhorn bull. Included in that was two large boxes of bones, kidney, several packages of liver, the heart, and the tongue. We turned the bones into 28 quarts of super concentrated broth and have eaten several packages of the liver with gusto. Half of the heart was chopped finely and mixed with ground beef for meatloaf, the kidneys are still awaiting preparation, and the tongue became tacos along with roasted beets and a homegrown salad. Sadly, I forgot about the other half of the heart so that is going to the chickens.

I find the tongue the most edible portion of the offal for those not accustomed to the flavors of liver and such. It is rich and unctuous and shreds up much like shredded beef. It makes great Tacos de Lengua. This is our second or third time eating it and the whole family has been happy to every time.

To prepare the tongue, I first rinse it and then cover it in water. You can add herbs, aromatics or spices but I usually just simmer it as is for 2-3 hours or until it is pull-apart tender.

Next, the tough outer skin needs to be peeled off and the meat shredded. This is simple enough to do with a couple of forks.

Finally, I like to fry the meat up with garlic, onions, cumin, chili, and a squeeze of lime. This meat can then be used in tacos, in enchiladas, alongside beans, and so on. It tastes like a very rich shredded beef and is surprisingly delicious.

I probably should close this post by addressing the *eek* factor involved in cooking such animal foods as this. I remember the first time I roasted a whole chicken and was just a bit squeamish. The first liver I ever cooked weirded me out a bit. The first time I handled and cooked a heart or tongue was certainly out of my comfort zone as it looks, well… just like a heart and tongue. The same principles apply to my first forays into chicken butchering.

What I mean to say is that working with dead bits of animal is far more sobering than it is glamorous. I’m not sure I’ll ever be “used to” the reality that is taking an animal’s life for food. The blood; the sudden departure from life to death is all very sobering and, frankly, a good reminder of just how mortal we too are as humans.

Working with these bits of animal, however, is something I think you grow accustomed to. It’s like anything, I suppose, in that the things we are unfamiliar with are the things that scare us the most. After a bit of time spent with the unfamiliar it becomes a regular part of our existence.

And then we eat tacos.