Lengua Estofado (Braised Tongue)

I've had a beef tongue languishing in the freezer for a few years now. I've never cooked tongue before and I've never found the prospect particularly appealing. I could never quite bring myself to throw it out though. I hate wasting food.

I've also been looking for a way to use up an extra daikon I've got sitting in the fridge. For that, I found a Filipino crêpe recipe. And with that in mind, I decided to flip through my Filipino cookbook to see if I could find any good recipes to compliment that since the crêpes on their own don't look very filling. I did some promising-looking recipes to go with it which I plan on cooking later this week. I also came across this recipe for braised tongue (which can also be made with beef shin if you don't have a tongue handy). I had all the ingredients on hand already and the dish sounded pretty promising overall. It's beef tongue braised with an acidic marinade, lots of garlic, and a few veggies. And it came out great!

The only issue I had with the recipe is the cooking time. The amount acid in the broth means that potatoes take an unusually long time to cook. The 15 minutes of cooking called for in the recipe definitely wasn't enough. I think I ended up giving them a good 35 minutes and another 10 wouldn't've hurt.

Lengua Estofado

Slightly adapted from Authentic Recipes from the Philippines by Reynaldo G. Alejandro

Ingredients

• 600g beef tongue (or shin)
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, cracked
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp. cane vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 1/2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 9-10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3/4 c. diced tomato (fresh or canned)
• 300-350g potatoes, sliced
• 225-250g carrots, peeled and sliced
• 5 cremini mushrooms¹, halved (optional)
• 1/3 c. stuffed olives
• 2-3 small plantains or unripe bananas, halved and fried (optional)

Directions

1. Place tongue in pot and add water to cover.
2. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Drain and allow to stand until cool enough to handle.
4. Remove skin and discard.
5. Combine water, pepper, bay leaf, vinegar, soy sauces, sugar, and salt and mix well.
6. Add peeled tongue to marinade and set aside for 40-60 minutes.
7. Heat oil over medium heat.
8. Add tongue and sear on all sides, then remove and set aside.
9. Add garlic to hot oil and cook until golden.
10. Add onion and cook until softened.
11. Add tomato and cook until softened.
12. Add tongue, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and braise for 1 hour, adding additional water as necessary.
13. Remove tongue from pot, slice, and return to pot.
14. Add potatoes, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. (Again, adding extra water as necessary.)
15. Add carrots and mushrooms (if using) cook for another 10 minutes.
16. Add olives and cook for another 5 minutes.
17. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot, with fried plantains/bananas (if using).

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¹ I didn't have any cremini mushrooms on hand, so I just tossed a few dried mushrooms into the pot. I rehydrated them in a bit of boiling water first, sliced them, and then added them to the pot along with the tongue so they could simmer for as long as possible. ^Back