Beef Heart and Tongue

[Murdy]

A friend of mine came into possession of a beef heart and tongue. Not sure what to do with them. Any suggestions?

[rickgregory]

Tongue - tacos. See here https://www.seriouseats.com/tacos-de-lengua-recipe

[texastweeter]

Yes please!

[Jfrosty27]

Oh yeah. I’ll take some of that

[gboss]

I would suggest you go against the conventional wisdom with the tongue and peel it while it's raw. If you stick it in the freezer a bit, getting the outer layer off isn't too difficult with a sharp knife. Slice thin against the grain and grill over charcoal. Salt, pepper, squeeze of fresh lemon.

Edit: added some photos of peeled raw tongue. It's rich, flavorful beef muscle.

[gboss]

Richard Chrz you definitely don't want to eat the skin, like mnavarre says. It's not pleasant texturally and I don't think it really breaks down at all during cooking.

[Richard Chrz]

I was not thinking to eat the outer layer, I would still cut that off,. I was just wondering if it offered any protection during the cook?

[gboss]

"But water is a solvent. It pulls much of the flavor out of the meat, and it can make the meat mushy. When you boil meat and bones, you make a rich flavorful soup. All that color in the pot is flavor that you can never get back into the meat. Boil meat too much and water can even dry it out by causing the proteins to contract and squeeze the moisture out of the muscle fibers." -Meathead

[texastweeter]

Tongue tacos is my go to for that organ. The heart you can make tartar or treat like a sirloin, hot fast and keep it rare. Remove the valves and linings inside, they are too tough.

[mnavarre]

Heart, I got nothin' other than I know it's ground and used in Cincinnati and Detroit style chili sauce.

Here's how I do Lengua. I'd be making some this weekend if it wasn't running north of $10/lb. right now.

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[Andrew]

Trim all the connective tissue off the heart (especially inside) then sear it and slice it thin (I like making tacos out of heart... or really out of anything). High heat and rare is the way to go otherwise it gets tough. If you grind your own burgers, it is also incredible as a part of the mix with its super beefy flavor.

For the tongue, you have a lot of options. I have boiled, pressure cooked, braised, smoked and used sous vide on tongues. It's a family favorite for us. If you scrub it really well with water first and then with a bit of vinegar (same as the typical treatment for tripe or trotters), then cook, then peel, it is much easier to peel. Do not try to peel it before cooking.... you'll lose a lot of edible meat that way.

Any way you decide to do it, cook it until it your temp probe feels like it is sliding into butter. Then peel by starting on the skinny end. If you want to slice it and then sear (really good but splatters everywhere), you should ice bath or allow it to cool before slicing so it doesn't fall apart. There are some veins and whatnot on the underside of fat end. You can either trim those before cooking or pick them out after when it is tender.

Here are pics of the ones we smoked last week. Smoked for three hours, finished by braising, then peeled. Used the veggies underneath and some of the braising liquid for salsa. Only picture I have of them as tacos was when we warmed it up a few days later and served it alongside of lamb barbacoa.

[texastweeter]

Devine!! Lamb Barbacoa? Cheek or whole head?

[Andrew]

That was a forequarter Oaxacan style... except I didn't dig a hole.

[Andrew]

Almost forgot... you can also make pastrami out of the tongue... sooooo goooood!!

[texastweeter]

You beat me to it! I just remembered. I tried this after another pit member Ahumadora posted about it, and it was devine!

[grantgallagher]

this is so good. highly recommended

[Ahumadora]

All good comments above on how to use these beef accessory parts. If you are not into eating heart and doing a home kill, I would definitely recommend tossing the heart into the sausage mix. 6lbs of good beefyness that won't get waisted.
Meathead needs to add tongue pastrami to his new recipe list..

[Bkhuna]

Tongue is also a staple of Korean barbecue and Japanese yakiniku restaurants.

[gboss]

Best way to eat it, in my opinion.

[grantgallagher]

Beef heart confit is the absolute bomb.

http://www.pasturedkitchen.com/recipes/beef-heart-confit-with-sous-vide-beets/

you can do it without sous vide, just need more tallow

[Andrew]

Haven’t tried this but it sounds great. Thanks for the idea.

[bbqLuv]

I would rather eat eggs than anything that comes out of a cow's mouth!
My mother made pickled tongue. I have had oven roasted tongue with mustard sauce.
Beef heart stuffed with garlic butter, when growing up.

[Murdy]

Thanks for all the responses. I think he's got a regular source for these and probably other organ meat.