Gil's Amazing Beef Tongue Recipe

In December, Henriette van Tonder, an EartwormExpress reader, contacted me for a recipe for ox tongue. I referred her to the standard recipe that I’ve used over the years to make corned beef tongue, but I knew I could do better and contacted my friend in Poland, the Master Curer, Gil Ferreira. He was in the process of moving into a new house and only got around to sending me his recipe this morning.

Here it is, Henriette! It is worth the wait. I am sharing this with you, but I want to ask you to take photos when you make it and share them with us so that I can add them to this post. 🙂

Ingredients

4 litres water
450g sea salt
100g brown sugar
25g Cure#1
3 garlic cloves
2 cloves
5 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns
5g mustard seed (toasted)
5g All Spice berries
2g Mace
1 small cinnamon stick
5g whole coriander seed, toasted.

Method

Boil water and add all the ingredients. Make sure salt, sugar and cure are dissolved.

Let the water cool to room temp.

Add the tongue or beef (brisket) to be pickled.

Make sure it is completely submerged in the water for at least 5 days (REFRIGERATED).

Remove the meat from the brine, and rinse thoroughly. Pat dry. I like to cook it in a pressure cooker.

I add just an inch is water in the bottom of the pressure cooker with a glass of white wine. Add another 20 peppercorns, 5 bay leaves, and any other spices you prefer. I like to add 2 slices of lemon.

In my pressure cooker, I let it cook for 40 minutes, check it and then another 20 minutes. Leave it in the pressure cooker until all the pressure is released naturally.

BUT MAKE SURE you follow instructions for your pressure cooker.

If you hate a pressure cooker, you can slow-cook it in a pot.

Place the meat in a large enough pot…cover with water (about 5mm above the meat)

Add the same spices.

Slow cook in the store until you can easily push a spoon into it.

Remove from water and serve either warm or cold.