Howdy all!
I decided to start a new thread about the smoked/braised beef tongue. First, I tend to get hoggish with my threads, that and I always post too many pics and sometimes I feel the need to be overly dramatic. See http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99436/squirrel-and-chuckie-engagement-announced and I didn't feel that would be fair to tc fish bum who started this whole mess so if anything goes south I'm blaming him for it.
Let's get this party started. Let me just start by saying that I realize it's only 4 o'clockish, but I'm drinking a glass of wine. I like wine. It's makes me tingly. I will admit that I have been a bit of a sour puss lately. Truth be told I've been more like a whiney little b-word squirrel. But in my own defense, aw hell, I have no defense so I'm gonna go pour another glass of pinot noir and post 4,567,302,549 pictures and over analyze every single one of them all the while telling you details you probably don't need to know or care about in the first place.
So, I started with the veggies. I half-arsed cleaned them and randomly cut them in to odd sizes. Not really I cleaned them fairly well. And the random sizes are throwing all caution to the wind, being my own gal and daring any one of my former culinary instructors to so much as taunt me for it.
You see, these are the sacrificial veggies. By the time this tongue is done these things will be mush. I don't like mush. Unless you're making moonshine, oh wait, that's mash. These will get tossed, new ones will get cooked separately. Yada yada. Boring details I know.
Hey guess what I used as the fat? This....
You see, when I make beef stock I let the fat cap remain on top. It preserves the stock longer and protects from freezer burn in the event the lid wasn't closed properly. It pretty much comes right off so if I'm not going to use it then it gets put in to a freezer bag and saved to grind with burgers. I scraped it off and used it to saute the veggies. Pretty cool way to use up everything.
Once all the veggies were softened I added in a small can of tomato paste. You really only need a couple of tablespoons, but what the heck was I gonna do with the rest of the can so I used it all! Woohoo! I cooked it all through until the sugars in the paste started to caramelize and turn brown, sticking to the bottom like so.
Then I added in two cups of red wine. I used Pinot Noir because that's what I have and I like to drink it. Not sip it, oh hell to the no. I guzzle it. Sometimes straight out of the bottle too. Don't judge me. Hater gonna hate.
I then added the tongue followed by enough beef stock to come 3/4 up the sides. Then I cut a piece of parchment to fit the top and on to the smoker it went. I used pecan wood and it is chugging along quite nicely.
As for aromatics I added in thyme and parsley stems along with a couple of bay leaves and some fresh black peppercorns, oh and 4 cloves of garlic.
I doubt that I will update this thread tonight. I'm probably gonna get tanked on this wine and lemme tell you something. I hide the camera. Trust me it ain't pretty, funny as heck, but not pretty.
I will let this go until around 10 p.m. pull it, let it cool and in to the fridge. I will take out the herb bundle and the bay leaves as they tend to over power the flavor. Tomorrow I will remove any fat cap and reheat everything, strain, remove the skin from the tongue, slice and hold until I finish the sauce. See you tomorrow!
I decided to start a new thread about the smoked/braised beef tongue. First, I tend to get hoggish with my threads, that and I always post too many pics and sometimes I feel the need to be overly dramatic. See http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99436/squirrel-and-chuckie-engagement-announced and I didn't feel that would be fair to tc fish bum who started this whole mess so if anything goes south I'm blaming him for it.
Let's get this party started. Let me just start by saying that I realize it's only 4 o'clockish, but I'm drinking a glass of wine. I like wine. It's makes me tingly. I will admit that I have been a bit of a sour puss lately. Truth be told I've been more like a whiney little b-word squirrel. But in my own defense, aw hell, I have no defense so I'm gonna go pour another glass of pinot noir and post 4,567,302,549 pictures and over analyze every single one of them all the while telling you details you probably don't need to know or care about in the first place.
So, I started with the veggies. I half-arsed cleaned them and randomly cut them in to odd sizes. Not really I cleaned them fairly well. And the random sizes are throwing all caution to the wind, being my own gal and daring any one of my former culinary instructors to so much as taunt me for it.
You see, these are the sacrificial veggies. By the time this tongue is done these things will be mush. I don't like mush. Unless you're making moonshine, oh wait, that's mash. These will get tossed, new ones will get cooked separately. Yada yada. Boring details I know.
Hey guess what I used as the fat? This....
You see, when I make beef stock I let the fat cap remain on top. It preserves the stock longer and protects from freezer burn in the event the lid wasn't closed properly. It pretty much comes right off so if I'm not going to use it then it gets put in to a freezer bag and saved to grind with burgers. I scraped it off and used it to saute the veggies. Pretty cool way to use up everything.
Once all the veggies were softened I added in a small can of tomato paste. You really only need a couple of tablespoons, but what the heck was I gonna do with the rest of the can so I used it all! Woohoo! I cooked it all through until the sugars in the paste started to caramelize and turn brown, sticking to the bottom like so.
Then I added in two cups of red wine. I used Pinot Noir because that's what I have and I like to drink it. Not sip it, oh hell to the no. I guzzle it. Sometimes straight out of the bottle too. Don't judge me. Hater gonna hate.
I then added the tongue followed by enough beef stock to come 3/4 up the sides. Then I cut a piece of parchment to fit the top and on to the smoker it went. I used pecan wood and it is chugging along quite nicely.
As for aromatics I added in thyme and parsley stems along with a couple of bay leaves and some fresh black peppercorns, oh and 4 cloves of garlic.
I doubt that I will update this thread tonight. I'm probably gonna get tanked on this wine and lemme tell you something. I hide the camera. Trust me it ain't pretty, funny as heck, but not pretty.
I will let this go until around 10 p.m. pull it, let it cool and in to the fridge. I will take out the herb bundle and the bay leaves as they tend to over power the flavor. Tomorrow I will remove any fat cap and reheat everything, strain, remove the skin from the tongue, slice and hold until I finish the sauce. See you tomorrow!
