Homemade Sausage Making

I prepared two smaller beef tongues based on the recipe posted by Maxell here: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/wedzonki/inne-w ... y-gotowany

The tongues are first brined then poached, cased and cold smoked.

Prepare brine:
2 litres water
200g salt
50g sugar
3 tbs Cure # 1
2tbs whole coriander
2tbs whole black pepper
dozen juniper berries
2 large bay leaves
1tsp. all spice

Bring all the ingredients, except the Cure #1, to a boil and turn off heat. Let cool to room temp, strain and place clear brine in fridge to cool. When brine cools to 40F, add the cure and dissolve thoroughly, pump the tongues to 10% of weight.

Brine in fridge for 14 days (up to 21 if large tongues). Remove from brine and soak in cold water for 2 hours, changing water frequently. Wash with warm water 30 - 40C.

Poach for 2 to 3 hours at a temp of 190 - 200F. Remove skin while still warm. Straighten, press and shape tongues in fridge for a few hours.

Trim to a uniform shape as much as possible and stuff into beef middles. If the tounges are large, beef bungs may be used. Scald the cased tongues in boiling water for one minute. This shrinks the casing around the tongue.

Hang to dry for 2 to 3 hours.

Cold smoke tongues for 10-12 hours.



Wash and scrub tongues throughly. Soak in a mild salt solution overnight, then in fresh water for a couple of water.


Tongues have been brined, chilled, shaped and trimmed


Cased, dried and ready for smoker!


Smoked, rested and ready. Get the horseradish!
Verdict? Smoky and mild flavour, soft fatty texture, almost like biting into a piece of butter. Tasty and interesting, although I expected it to be better. Tomorrow I will slice it thinly, heat and prepare like a Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich.

Redzed, definitely different but looks tasty.

Wow! What a great idea! One of my favourite snacks, cooked and served warm in a raisin sauce, cold sliced on sandwidges, or in german style blood sausage! Now a new method I'll have to try...
Jan L

Looks really good. Thanks for sharing that.

I smoked another tongue but this time used the same seasonings as one would use for pastrami. So did I make a tonguestrami? The tongue was brined for two weeks, poached for 3 hours, rolled in a mixture of toasted and coarsely ground pepper, coriander and caraway, cased in a pasted hog casing and cold smoked for several hours. Absolutely delicious and considerably better than the earlier effort. Steamed and served with rye bread and mustard, it can stand up to most smoked meat sandwiches I had at famous delis.

Redzed that looks fantastic! Another one for my to-do list as tongue is a big favorite of mine and I've got a few in the freezer at the moment.

Jeff

The tongue sandwich looks great...but the rye looks dry without BUTTER

Cabonaia wrote:Redzed that looks fantastic! Another one for my to-do list as tongue is a big favorite of mine and I've got a few in the freezer at the moment.

Jeff, I think this is one of the best ways to eat tongue. Go for it!

Bob K wrote:The tongue sandwich looks great...but the rye looks dry without BUTTER

Bob you are are like my dad who likes who likes a little bread with his butter.

Hi Redzed,

I have 3 tongues turning up tomorrow so was researching tongue. Usually I either corn them, or dry brine then cook / peel / smoke.

What size is your tbs? 15ml or 20ml? Just that they differ from country to country.

Might give this one a go, but not pumping, just piercing in the root of the tongue.

My brine recipes are rather basic, for Kaessler and such-like.

Only Tongue recipe I have for brine is without #1, therefore not smoking, and is as follows
( keep to 78° - 80° Salinometer Reading)


4 lt water ( filtered)
1100 g salt
1 cup raw sugar

2tsp juniper berry
1tsp yellow mustard seed
1/2 tsp brown mustard seed
8 whole cloves
2 bay-leaf
12 black peppercorn
1 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 stick cinnamon
2 tsp all-spice

Tongue takes 4 or 5 days to brine, but as you can see, it is quite saline, but this comes out when cooking.

That looks like a nice blend of spices for the brine, and it is a big load of salt. I hope you post the results. I would use less salt and brine a lot longer than 4 or 5 days. It takes a lot longer for tongue to absorb the salt and spices than a regular cut of meat. First you have the skin which is thick and almost impenetrable. Then you have the fat which also takes much longer to absorb anything, and remember that sugar takes as long as 10 times longer than salt to work itself into the meat.

I have also prepared tongue by first smoking it and then poaching. Came out quite good and was more moist and simply delicious when taken out of the broth and eaten hot. Last week I prepared a tongue goulash. I was inspired by my recent visit to Hungary. I first poached the tongue for 3 hours in a well spiced broth, then skinned it, cubed it and served it in a paprika sauce with a good dose of garlic. Will make it again and will post recipe here.

One other thing I should point out when preparing tongue. Polish technical publications advise that tongues be not only cleaned and rinsed well, but should be soaked in cold water for several hours or overnight to clear the mucous from them. When poaching tongue I also first boil it for several minutes then rinse and only then place into the poaching both.

Oh, and my tablespoon is an American measurement so it's 15ml.