WFP: On a Wednesday! Hooray!
On Sunday for family dinner we had one of my all-time favorite foods. Oh my, this meal is so good. Everyone in my family, even the pickiest of members, loves this meal. Good, old fashioned, beef tongue with noodles. Yep, it’s downright delicious. This is one of those traditional foods that my family on my maternal side has eaten for a long long time. I grew up with this dish, and it was always a big treat- a birthday meal or something for a special occasion. It was only later in my life that I realized it was an uncommon dish, and that most people think it’s strange. As my house mate, Doug, would put it: "I just don’t really want to taste anything that can taste me right back…" I think this is the general consensus, but to that I say… you all are seriously missing out. So come take a look at an old traditional dish that we all relish in our family.
Are you excited? I know I am…
This is what a cow tongue looks like. It’s not exactly pretty, but when I think about it, meat isn’t really ever pretty. We’re just used to certain things. I know people who are grossed out by a whole chicken, but will happily cook and eat something that comes in a styrofoam plastic wrapped package. I sort of think that our perception is just… our perception. It’s not necessarily rooted in a lot of truth. There is a lot of food from different cultures that folks might find strange, but is delicious and nourishing just the same. We are obviously more comfortable with what we know, but I think it’s good to challenge our perceptions and just stay open. We might just find something good.
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i grew up in a culture where beef tongue was a common staple at family dinners and children’s birthday parties alike. i used to love it, but i must admit, at some point in my teens, the idea of eating tongue made me more than a bit squeamish and i haven’t had it since. my mom still makes it regularly and eloise loves it.
also, i must respectfully disagree about its appearance! there’s something creepy as hell about it before it’s cut up. it’s like…a weird-textured shoe made of meat. :]
I totally agree, it’s funny looking. I just think, theoretically it’s no more strange than any other cut of meat. We’re just used to the other stuff.
“a weird-textured shoe made of meat.” haha. I love this. So true.
Ya know, if I didn’t have to prepare it, I’d probably eat it. Although I have a hard time believing that it’s tender. I mean, it’s a muscle, I’d expect it to be really tough.
It’s so tender you can cut it with your fork. I’m pretty sure simmering it for 3 hours helps. 😉
Maybe since cows don’t talk much?
hahaha sorry you pointed out it was a muscle and I was like “yeah, the tongue-wagging would make it tough! Mine, anyway :D”
Yeah, I’m with you on the stuff you won’t eat. I do try to eat chicken liver here and there in that pate that I made a while back that was so good. But otherwise it just tastes like bad. Like, if “bad” had to choose a taste, liver would be it… Ugh. It’s the only thing ever that I just can’t. deal. with. Gag. But that pate just defied all that I knew about liver, and I can eat that. And I do, because I know it’s really good for me. But brain? I can take a pass I think. 🙂
Just curious, do you remember what restaurant it was?
I looked it up: El Norteno on Wyoming Blvd. 🙂
Oh dang. that picture of Asa!! 😀 😀 SO CUTE!
I’ve never had tongue…but i do have vivid memories of Ramona Quimby being forced to eat tongue..I have to say the thought makes me squeamish. Though I would probably still try it!
😀
Yes! That’s the spirit. You would try it, and you would like it. 🙂
Okay Grace, I must admit–I consider myself to be a fairly equal-opportunity eater. I’ll try just about anything. But, the “before” photos of the tongue are just really…not making me want to eat tongue. I’d try it, I really would. But, I am having shudders induced by the little cilia on the tongue. I think I’d be like your dad; gotta get used to it. Over lots of time.
But, the custard, on the other hand…
It would probably take less time than you think! 😉
You my dear, are awesome as always…but,
whoo boy. Those “before” photos made me queasy.I agree with Heather- the cilia made me cringe!The cooked tongue looked so phallic!
I’d love to say I am super open to eating anything, but as it turns out, I’m not at all wired this way. As a small child I would weep at the table knowing I was eating something once living. Crazy behavior in a house full of hardcore carnivores!And I assure you, we didn’t know a single vegetarian and I had no idea such folks existed. I come from a long line of folks who eat and love: tongue, duck blood soup, pig’s feet, just about every organ meat, etc. I was a vegetarian for years,but slowly started eating meat again because I felt with my lifestyle, I couldn’t devote enough time to food prep and getting adequate nourishment.
Still, there are many moments when I’m overwhelmed by touching or eating meat. Even nicely-separated-from-the-bird chicken breasts make me shudder at times. I think part of the problem is my over-active visual brain. I just couldn’t chew something that I knew at one point of the process had furry cilia all over it and then later, resembled a boiled penis.
I’ll be dead in the first year of the zombie apocalypse. 😉
I wouldn’t have pegged you as the squeamish type. If you ever feel like you need some exposure therapy or something (perhaps in preparation for the zombie apocalypse), I’d happily have you over for tongue. Not even joking. 🙂
This is an awesome post, and I wanted to thank you so much for it because…….I have a tongue in my freezer. It’s been there for awhile. I see it again now and then and try to work up the courage to try to cook it. I have had no idea how to cook it, but I will try your recipe! I remember having it once when I was a kid and liking the taste of it. They are very very funny looking, and it’s one of those things that, if I were doing what you show in pictures above, I’d probably be saying to myself, “There’s no way I’m doing this right…” But now I’ll have a guide to know I’m on the right track! (from dragonwood, btw, but I can’t figure out how to get it to take my post without me being anomymous…)
How great! You’ll have to let me know how you liked it. 🙂