Veal tongue vinaigrette is a cold dish typical of Argentine holidays, especially Christmas and New Year. A cold dish in December? This may be surprising for the public in the northern hemisphere, but remember that in South-America these are summer festivities!
Ingredients:
1 veal tongue
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
Some parsley
Alcohol or apple cider vinegar
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
To flavor the broth when cooking the tongue:
Carrot, onion, leek, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, salt, etc.
Remove the excess fat from the tongue (it’s not necessary to do it thoroughly, since the rest can be easily removed after the tongue has cooked and cooled down).
Cook the tongue
Place the tongue in a pot together with the vegetables cut into pieces, herbs and a little salt. Cover everything with enough water and bring to a boil. Remove the foam that begins to appear on the surface, cover and continue boiling over low heat. The cooking time will be approximately one hour and a quarter for each kilo of meat. To check if it’s ready, prick it with a knife: the meat should be tender and the knife should cut it easily.
Peel and cut the tongue
When the tongue has cooled down, remove the outer skin that covers it, remove the rest of the fat and cut it into slices of approx. half a centimeter. Reserve.
Prepare the vinaigrette
Mix 2 parts of oil to one part of vinegar. Finely chop the onion, garlic, pepper and parsley. Season to taste. Mix and integrate the ingredients.
Plate
In a large enough dish, put layers of meat and cover them with the vinaigrette. Reserve in the fridge in order to serve it cold.
Tips and tricks:
- The colder the tongue, the easier it will be to cut. If it is still hot, it will fall apart and we will not get nice and even slices.
- Don’t try to peel the tongue when it’s raw, as it will be an impossible job. This will be very easy after cooking it.
- The only difficulty with this recipe is to have patience. The tongue is a tight muscle that requires long cooking over very low heat until it becomes tender.
- The vinaigrette can be prepared according to personal taste, with wine or apple vinegar, and with extra virgin olive oil or another neutral vegetable oil. I personally prefer the combination of apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, but this is just a matter of choice.
- The amounts in the vinaigrette also vary depending on the recipe, but the most common is to mix 2 parts of oil to 1 part of vinegar, so that the result is not excessively acidic.
- Among the many traditional variants, the most usual is to add chopped boiled egg when serving. It is also possible to add some chopped capers, pickles or a little lemon zest to the vinaigrette.
- The described vinaigrette is none other than the traditional salsa criolla. But if you prefer, it’s possible to use a simpler sauce with only garlic and parsley.
- The broth resulting from cooking the tongue can be kept (even frozen) to be used in other recipes. Just keep in mind that it will be much stronger than meat broths which are made from traditional cuts or bones.