Beef Tongue Salad with Vegetables and Croutons

How to boil tongue for the salad

1. Tongue salad is a festive dish, and you should start it the day before, not at the last minute. The hardest part is preparing the meat.

2. Wash and trim the tongue. Wash the beef tongue thoroughly, removing any slime and membranes. It often makes sense to cut off the parts that contain glands or that, as one friend of mine says, you simply don’t like. For an appetizer, the tongue itself is largely enough, since it holds the most tasty meat. The rest can go into a jellied dish.

   Ideally, soak the tongue overnight if you can. This removes the remaining blood and slime.

   

3. Bring the tongue to a boil and skim off the foam. Pour 3-4 l of cold water into a pot and add the meat. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Be sure to skim off the foam, as there can be quite a lot of it. Reduce the heat to the minimum that still keeps the water simmering.

4. Add the spices and roots and cook for 1.5 hours. It is best to tie the spices in a piece of clean cloth or a spice bag. You will need 5-6 black peppercorns, 1-2 allspice berries, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 dried chili and 0.5 tsp of a dried aromatic herb mix. I also recommend adding 1-2 bay leaves.

   

   Also add 1-2 tbsp of dried root vegetables to the broth, or a raw peeled carrot, a parsnip and a whole peeled onion. Cook the beef tongue at a gentle simmer for 1.5 hours, until a fork goes in easily; if it goes in with difficulty, keep cooking. Don’t let the broth boil hard.

5. Peel the tongue. Right after cooking, while it is still hot, rinse the tongue with cold water and carefully peel off the outer skin with its bumps. Strain the broth and save it for other dishes, such as risotto.

   

6. Chill the meat. It keeps in the fridge for several days. By the way, don’t store it in the broth, or it will turn too wet.

   

Preparing the vegetables and croutons for the tongue salad

1. Choose the salad leaves to your taste. If you like, use lettuce, romaine or endive. By the way, the ideal solution is to buy a ready-washed and dried mix of salad leaves, which is sold in bags. As a rule, you can find a mix of 3-6 kinds of greens, including oak leaf, arugula, romaine, lettuce, endive, radicchio and so on.

2. Prepare the salad leaves. It’s important to wash the leaves thoroughly and dry them very well. Any moisture on the greens is unacceptable, or the salad will simply turn watery. In any case, tear the leaves into small pieces.

   

4. Cut the vegetables and herbs. Dice the fresh cucumber twice as large as you would for vinegret. Pick all the leaves from the herb sprigs and chop them roughly, or better yet tear them with your fingers to release less juice. Peel the sweet white onion and cut it into strips.

   

   Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Peel the carrot and grate it or cut it into strips. Mix all the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl.

   

5. Fry the croutons. An inexpensive French baguette works perfectly, so buy a fresh, soft one. Carefully cut off the crust and cut the crumb into large cubes. Fry the bread in a dry, hot skillet over medium heat, stirring, until browned and ringingly crisp. Let it cool.

   The tongue salad looks beautiful and original with a few fried croutons added. By the way, white bread croutons go wonderfully with salads that have no fatty dressing.

Making a light dressing for the appetizer

1. For the base of the dressing we took the principle used in Caesar salad dressing.

2. Make the dressing. Boil the egg in boiling water for 90 seconds, then cool it. Grate a peeled garlic clove into a small bowl and add the contents of the egg. Add salt and pepper, a pinch of dried oregano and 1 tsp of wine vinegar. Blend everything thoroughly with an immersion blender. Then add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil and whisk until it starts to thicken.

Mixing the salad with beef tongue

1. For this dish we use only part of the meat. As a rule, this is the narrow, dense part of the tongue, and the rest is simply sliced for a separate appetizer.

2. Slice the tongue and mix it with the vegetables. Just before serving, cut the chilled boiled tongue into thick strips across the grain. The length of the strips is up to you.

   

   Mix the tongue with the torn lettuce, herbs and vegetables in a bowl. There is no need to add spices or salt. Sprinkle the mixture with grated Parmesan, then toss. Parmesan can be replaced with the cheaper and more common Grana Padano.

Serving

1. Divide the mixture among salad bowls and pour the dressing over. There is no need to toss it on the plates before serving; do that during the meal. Add a few ready, cooled croutons to each bowl. If you like, add a little freshly ground black pepper, which will round out the aroma.

   

   You can serve the beef tongue salad right away, before it warms up. In addition, the greens may release moisture and make the salad less fluffy. If you like, you can add diced sweet and hot peppers or avocado slices to the ingredients.