Aspic from the tongue: how to cook? Video tutorial
Cold beef tongue appetizers are a classic of a festive feast. Especially beautiful is the tongue, cut into slices and covered with glossy aromatic jelly. You can prepare a dish by giving the jellied different shades of taste, aroma and even color.
Rinse your tongue thoroughly under cold running water and brush over it. Place your tongue in a deep, roomy saucepan and cover it completely with cold water. For a tongue weighing 2-3 kilograms, you will need at least 5-6 liters of water. Add aromatic herbs and roots. You will need: – 2 onions; – 2 large peeled carrots; – a bouquet of parsley, thyme and bay leaf sprigs; – 4-7 black peppercorns; – 6 dried cloves; – 1 teaspoon of salt.
Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer the tongue, skimming off the foam periodically, for 2-4 hours. The cooking time depends on the size of the tongue. Check the readiness of the food by piercing it with a fork. Pour the finished beef tongue with cold water, remove the skin from it and put the tongue to cool in the broth.
You can vary the spices you add to the tongue to your liking. Put a little ginger root, a sprig of thyme, replace the onions with a stem of leeks, 10 minutes before cooking, pour a glass of dry white wine into the broth
Strain the broth and boil the liquid over medium heat. When the liquid has boiled down three times, refrigerate and put it in the refrigerator for several hours. Using a paper napkin, scrape off all the fat from the jellied broth and bring it to a boil again, pour in 30 ml of brandy, turn off the heat.
Cut off the fat and veins at the root from the tongue. Cut the tongue into thin, neat slices, place on a serving platter along with beautifully chopped boiled carrots, add fresh parsley leaves and cover with broth. Chill and put the aspic in the refrigerator until it solidifies.
Jellied tongue recipe with gelatin
If you are afraid that the broth will not solidify, prepare aspic according to a different recipe, with gelatin. You will need: – 45 grams of powdered gelatin; – 500 ml of water; – 1 tablespoon of sugar; – 1 tablespoon of vinegar; – 500 ml of broth in which the tongue was cooked; – 1 boiled tongue, cut into thin slices.
Dissolve gelatin in water and leave to swell. Put a tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan and make a burnt brown caramel from it. Heat the broth, put burnt sugar in it, pour in the swollen gelatin, add a tablespoon of vinegar, stirring occasionally, wait until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and pour the chopped beef tongue into the bowl.
You can decorate aspic from the tongue by putting canned green peas, boiled eggs cut into slices, olives or olives, and even nasturtium flowers to the slices. In the same aspic, you can add thin slices of meat, alternating them with pieces of tongue. You can make aspic by coloring the jelly with beetroot juice. Serve with mustard and horseradish, garnish with pickled vegetables.