Ox / beef tongue deliberations


 
J

Jennifer K

TVWBB Super Fan
A staple of my farming childhood in New Zealand was ox tongue / beef tongue, which my Mom used to soak, brine, simmer, peel, and serve many different ways. She always acted like this was a meal fit for kings and we were incredibly lucky to get an entire slice of our own.

I now have my Mom's precious family recipe book, dating back to 1840, as she passed away in February this year. Since I'm missing her a whole lot, I've been consoling myself by making some of her specialty dishes. My attempt at baked beans didn't pan out too well, so maybe I'm asking for trouble cooking a tongue. But I think Mom would have loved the idea of smoking it, so that's my plan.

I've been deliberating all the obvious questions - brine first? Which wood? How long? Final temp? I've searched here and read some helpful posts by Kevin Kruger, Erik M, and Phil. Just wondering if anyone else has tried to do tongue in the WSM, and your observations?
 
I have been contemplating beef tongue as well. I married into a Jewish family and tongue is common. Though I was reluctant to try it I am tired of the same old same old ribs, brisket, chicken and fish. I will be watching this thread and I hope someone helps you (us) out.
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Hi Jennifer,

While I have NOTHING to contribute to cooking Ox/Beef tongue, I do want to give you my condolences on your mother passing. My father-in-law just passed in February and it was a really rough time for my wife and still is. Everything I smoke on the WSM is for him, it was his smoker and he only got to use it once so I try to make him proud everytime I use it! Hopefully you are coping ok...and good luck on the dish, I am sure your Mom will be looking down and be proud!

Cheers
 
Tom, thank you for your kind words and my condolences to your wife, also. I have to say buying the WSM in May and discovering this site has really helped pull me out of a very dark place. I've thrown myself in, boots and all, picturing Mom sampling my different efforts and making suggestions - she was always trying unusual ideas and insisted on plating every meal elegantly, no matter how basic.

I bet your father-in-law is happy to see how much pleasure his WSM is giving, too.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scott Dace:
I have been contemplating beef tongue as well. I married into a Jewish family and tongue is common. Though I was reluctant to try it I am tired of the same old same old ribs, brisket, chicken and fish. I will be watching this thread and I hope someone helps you (us) out.
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Scott, I hope so too! For what it's worth, I'll record what I do and post the experiment. I think it could be a pretty interesting cook.
 
Jennifer,

My condolensces on the passing of your mother as well. Food is one of those great traditions that can transcend generations.

Sorry I know nothing about tongue, but I do know that barbecue is therapeutic.
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Sorry for you loss.

We have beef tongue fairly often and although I've never smoked one I will eventually.

The way we cook them is my Wife will slow simmer it for hours until tender, checking them like a brisket, until fork tender. We then let it cool and skin it. Sometime we would eat it like that but mostly I'll slice it and put it on the grill and sear it, sometimes with a sauce/glaze sometimes not. I like it with BBQ sauce.

Well if you get around to smoking one please let us know how it comes out.
 
Jennifer, sorry for the loss of your mother. Nothing to contribute as fas as cooking ideas for cooking tongue
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Hey Jennifer I have done one for tacos on the kettle, the wsm would work the same though. You could basically follow your Moms recipe. I just soaked, simmered, left in fridge over night, peeled then sliced and grilled the slices......Hope this makes sense and helps at least a little!

Clark
 
I have made tounge several times, but not smoked one. I think that is a great idea.

Yes, brine the tounge, using a normal 3% brine, let' s say for three to four days. The tounge I can get in the shops are already salted.

Simmering time about three hours, and I usually add some spices, a chopped carrot, some garlic into the water.

I'm sure that a hot smoke, not to high >200 degrees F will work out nicely.

There is one problem. Usually you cook the tounge with the fat and the skin on, and skin it right after the tounge is finished and hot. If you smoke it, you would remove the smoke taste, right?

To get the right smoke taste, you'd need to find a method to skin the tounge before smoking, or as I would have done, cook it and then cold smoke it.

Mind you , I have never tried.
 
Tongue is similar to brisket, a tough high fat meat.
Par-boil the tongue & remove the skin.
Brine for 6+ hours in a simple salt & sugar brine.
Smoke @ 250F or so till @ 195F , let rest & cut across grain.
 
John's suggestion has merit, imho. A google search turned this up... another approach.
Yeah, the previous generation (and the ones before that) seemed to know all about taking cheap, tough cuts of meat and making them tasty. Happily, some of that stuff is again gaining popularity. My dad used to love a good tongue sandwich. I remember chewing on pickled pig's feet as a kid, but that was a very long time ago.
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Let us know how the tongue turns out. Very interested.
 
Unfortunately, I don't have much to offer other than a few recipes I have from books I own. Tongue is on my bucket list, which is really long and it usually takes a year or more of deliberation before I get around to crossing something off of it.

I just started thinking about tongue so I'm working through the same problem you're having: how do you skin it AND smoke it?

I'll certainly be interested to see what you devise.

And, I think I'm safe to say this, I'm sure Kevin would be happy to work with you via email. If you haven't emailed him yet, I strongly suggest it and following him down the rabbit hole.
 
You guys are great. Thank you for your words about the loss of my Mom, and for the helpful cooking methods from Joe, Clark, Geir, and John. I can see how to merge these ideas with my Mom's recipe quite effectively.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gary H. NJ:
John's suggestion has merit, imho. A google search turned this up... another approach.
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Gary, this method by Habanero Smoker offers some great detail. I wish he had made more observations comparing how the two differently prepared tongues came out. The YouTube link to peeling the tongue posted later in that string is a keeper, too.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by j biesinger:
I'm sure Kevin would be happy to work with you via email. If you haven't emailed him yet, I strongly suggest it and following him down the rabbit hole. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

J, thank you for that suggestion. I'll do so.

I'm going to spend this coming weekend working up my plan. I intend to cook the tongue on 25 June and will keep a detailed step by step record to make the post mortem easier if this turns out to be a trainwreck.
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Interesting.

I just had beef tongue a few weeks ago, but boiled it as I've done in the past. I would think it would be necessary to boil it first and remove the covering in order to receive the benefit of smoking.

I won't have another tongue until December when my next half beef is ready so I can't experiment right now.

Good luck and sorry for your loss.
 
Okay, after a long delay, my butcher finally produced the beef tongue I ordered a couple of weeks ago. You'd think I'd asked for a bag of lizard tails from the looks of shock and awe in the shop when he yelled out "who's the lady wants the beef tongue?"

I'll post my process in steps over the next few days!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">You'd think I'd asked for a bag of lizard tails from the looks of shock and awe in the shop when he yelled out "who's the lady wants the beef tongue?" </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

did the butcher, at least, shrink wrap it to a pink styrofoam tray so the rest of the store knew it was something you're suppose to eat?
 
I'm looking forward to seeing this, Jennifer. Interestingly, I was thinking about this thread last weekend. While browsing the meat section at the local Wal Mart, I came across beef tongue.
 
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