Cured Ox Tongue, Smokey Bacon, and Lentils

Our Ox tongue is already cured using our Master Butcher's secret brine recipe, though it is very simple to do it yourself at home if you're interested. To pickle or brine a tongue it requires a minimum of 10 days, though it can be left up to a month. I simply immerse the cleaned tongues into a salt and sugar brine - a ratio of 60g salt / 40g sugar in a litre of water works a treat - covering the tongue. You might also like to pop in some additional spices, juniper and white peppercorns for instance add flavour particularly well.

Method

1. For cooking ox tongue it's best to rinse thoroughly in cold running water, then leaving for an hour or so, before placing in a deep stock pan, covering with cold water, a large onion, 2 large carrots, a few sticks of celery (all roughly chopped), as well as some thyme, one bay leaf, few white peppercorns, 6 whole garlic cloves, and a few drops of white wine vinegar.
2. Bring to the boil, skim off any white proteins on the surface then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes until tender when pierced with a skewer at the thickest point.
3. Leave the tongue to cool in the broth for an hour or so.
4. To peel the outer skin off the tongue simply place your index finger at the throat part of the tongue, and gently work your fingers underneath all the way to the tip end, peel discard all of this meat.
5. The next step is either to place the joint in a classic tongue press and chill for 24 hours, or instead return the tongue to the broth and chill for up to 3 days.
6. This delicious meat eats well lightly grilled with lentils and smokey bacon, simple with boiled potatoes and carrots, fresh parsley and mustard or in a classic English sandwich.