Braised Beef Tongue with Lentils (EP)

OPTIONAL CURE

• 1/2 cup curing salt
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons herbs de Provence
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon juniper berries

• 1 beef tongue (3 1/2-4 pounds), cured or uncured
• 8 ounces salt pork, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 12 ounces onions (2-3 medium), cut into 1-inch chunks
• 10 ounces carrots (about 3 medium), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 pound lentils du Puy (French green lentils), picked over and rinses
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock or low-salt canned chicken broth
• Salt if necessary

The cure and the tongue.  I used waaay more curing salt here than I did when making mortadella.  Interesting.

The cure is patted on one side.  Bag goes to live in the fridge for at least five days.  I was supposed to flip it daily.  I may have forgot a couple of days.

The result which contains a fair amount of undissolved salt.


Boil tongue with water to cover until tender.  By the way, I almost immediately figured out that I needed to use a bigger pot.  All that moisture the cure draws out gets drawn back in during cooking.


The cooked back end of the tongue.  Ready to be skinned.

Blanch the lardons of salt pork for a minute.

Mise en place.  I must've had a reason to not photographs the lardons.  Although quite easily I did not.

Render most of the fat and brown it well.  They get pretty small during this process.

Add carrots and onions and cook for three minutes.

 

Add tongue, rosemary, lentils, and chicken stock and simmer for one hour.

If I had served this dish on a real plate with space to more attractively arrange anything, it would surely look at least a smidge more lovely.
I actually rather enjoyed the dish but I realize I can't stomach eating more than one serving of anything in a day so wound up throwing out a serving of tongue and a whole bunch of lentils in the end.  This is what I get for attempting dishes that serve 8-10 and not being more thorough and direct about inviting people over for dinner.

I have never cooked with French lentils before (I think I've only ever once made the ubiquitous Indian dal with red lentils once but they are least similar to lentils du Puy than any other variety).  Sure, interesting things went into the cure for the beef tongue (which made it decidedly different than the result in Stewed Beef with Turnips that I made several months ago), but the flavors of the dish itself were super straightforward with no other herbs or fancy ingredients than rosemary and the lentils themselves.  Though I do not cook French food very often, I'm now a believer in lentils du Puy as immediate elevators of very simple flavors.