No "forked tongue" here

The truth is that I made tongue, for the very first time. Honestly, I can't remember how many decades ago was the last time I had even eaten tongue. It was a rare "treat" when I was growing up, so I guess you can list it in the "magic mystique" dishes, the kind which phobic cooks avoid.

No "forked tongue" here, when I tell you that it's really easy to make. Yes that's the truth!





A couple of months ago, my husband bought a frozen tongue at our local grocer. Then he printed off a few recipes from the internet to nudge me on. I read them plus the recipes in my old cookbooks and bravely let the tongue thaw.

At that point, I didn't know if we'd be having Shabbat guests, and since the tongue wasn't all that big, I also thawed ground chicken, so I could cook "meatballs with the tongue."

• The tongue went into the pot, plus water, peppercorns, garlic, onion, bay leaves and mustard seeds. I think that I also added some coarse salt, which is the only salt I use at all. Table salt generally has all sorts of additives, which I can taste.
• After over an hour of cooking, and the instructions suggested two, the water was almost gone, so I added some red wine, which had been relegated to the fridge for cooking.
• When the two hours were up I turned it off and left the house. The food had to cool before the next step.
• This is the hardest thing: Take off the tongue's skin. I'm proud to say that I succeeded, with the help of a sharp knife here and there and didn't lose any skin of my own.
• Slice the tongue to make it easier to serve.
• At that point, after a long day I was exhausted and left it all in the fridge, so I could sleep.
• The next morning I added some crushed tomatoes, heated it up and made the "meatballs,"
• which I dropped into the recooking tongue.
• This resulted in a very tasty dish, lots easier to make than I ever would have expected.

So, as you can see, it's really easy to make tongue. Enjoy!