Tacos de Lengua

I was a lucky kid; my mom knew how to get me to try foods that I never, ever in a million years would have tried if she told me what they were. The most memorable example is tongue. The first time she served it, I asked what it was. "Beef," she said. By the time I knew what cut of beef I was eating, I was hooked.

Tongue is very, very tasty; if you haven't tried it, you really have missed out on something wonderful. Like most organ meats, it's not especially good for you. It's high in calories, high in fat, and high in cholesterol. But like all such things, it can and should be enjoyed in moderation.

The tongue my mom served was a cured beef tongue, the style preferred by Jews. Mexicans eat fresh tongue, and because there are so many more Mexicans than Jews in North Carolina, fresh tongue is generally what's available to me. That's fine, because fresh tongue is what you need to make tacos de lengua (doesn't that sound so much better than 'tongue taco')?

I bought a locally produced buffalo tongue (frozen) at the Carrboro Farmer's Market. I defrosted it, brined it for several hours, then simmered it in salted water spiked with some peppercorns and a few bay leaves for three hours. After it had cooled enough to handle, I stripped off the skin. This is easy to do, as the skin is thick and separates easily from the meat. You just have to slice through to the meat, grab a sheet of skin, and pull. It'll come off in a half-dozen or so pieces. I discarded the skin; it's garbage. Then I cut the portion of tongue I planned to use into 1/2" cubes and reserved the rest for later use.

Finally, I heated a skillet with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. When the oil started to shimmer, I added some ground cumin, some cayenne, some garlic salt, some salt, and some pepper and let that all toast for 10 or 15 seconds, stirring constantly. When the aroma of the spices started to waft up from the stove, I added the cubed tongue and cooked until the edges started to crisp a bit, stirring frequently so that the spices would coat the tongue evenly.

Heat some corn tortillas. Did you forget to make pico de gallo? Make it now; diced onion, diced tomato, chopped cilantro, maybe some jalapeno, maybe a little minced garlic, lime juice. Toss, taste, adjust. Fill a tortilla with tongue, dress with pico de gallo, eat. Yum.