Beef Tacos de Lengua
I have a confession. I had never had any of our beef organ meat. When customers would look at it or buy it from me, I’d occasionally gets questions about it. And I had to be honest. No, I’d never had it.
Most of us have heard of the benefits of eating organ meat. It’s supposed to be really good for us, full of vitamins and minerals. But for many of us, it comes down to look and texture. Both those things are pretty hard to get over when it comes to organ meat.
Now I’ve heard of people getting it ground and put into capsules or powder, etc. But I personally didn’t have a great way to do this that didn’t involve my house smelling like liver forever.
As I’ve had more and more customers sing the praise of organ meat, I’ve been itching to try it. But how to start?!
Thankfully my sister-in-law make beef tacos de lengua on a fairly frequent basis. What is beef tacos de lengua? Beef tongue tacos. Her family has been making and enjoying it for decades. She tells stories of her dad and uncles fighting over the beef tongue because it is such a delicacy in their family.
Our family has recently started branching our more in our cuisines and recipes and we had one of our grass-fed beef tongues that was missing a label, which means we couldn’t sell it. So it came home with us and sat in our freezer for many months. Until Joe decided it was time to try it.
It was very easy to make. And after chopping it and frying it up, I was finally brave enough to sample it. Guess what? It was wonderful. It tastes like … beef! Ha! Crazy idea, right?! It honestly reminds me quite a bit of roast beef. The texture is more dense, but given how we decided to try it this first time, it was easier. Next time, I’d like to keep it more whole and slice it. Best yet, my kids devoured it! (I may not have told them EXACTLY what it was. I just said it was beef, and that’s all they need to know.)
If I can do it, so can you! Here’s the recipe I followed:
Completely thaw the beef tongue and rinse it in cool water.
Add tongue to a stock pot or crock pot and add one medium onion, four cloves of garlic, 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon peppercorns (I didn’t have them whole so I ground it.), 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon cumin.
Cover the tongue completely with cool water and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, turn heat down to low and simmer for 3-4 hours or until tongue is fork tender.
Remove tongue and let cool.
Peel and serve as desired. (We chopped and fried ours.)
