Tongue (Lengua) tacos are everything you've said they are. Growing up, we ate tongue simmered in a brown gravy at least 3 times a month. So this video couldn't be more timely for me. I just bought a whole tongue from my local farmers market! Thanks, Rick.
My beloved mother would ask us what we wanted for our Birthday dinners. I always requested Beef tongue for tacos. My mom would also roast potatoes. Most tender meet ever! I would prepare tongue for my parents when my mom was not allowed to cook anymore. I could tell by the look in their eyes and their silence during their meals I prepared it perfectly! Btw, my beloved mom from Oaxaca enjoyed your show!
I remember my grandma calling me to invite me over to have these tongue tacos and I drove all the way to Indianapolis just to have them and God how do I cherish those moments.
I'm splitting a 1/4 steer with a friend whose brother raises cattle. He butchered 2 head. Nobody wanted the tongues. Guess who's taking both!! Thanks for the timely recipe !!
My father was from Sonora Mexico & he made the most delicious food. Taco’s de lengua, de intestino,totillas sobaqueras y carne asada. He loved cooking Sonoran style dish’s. I remember those day’s well.
I cooked beef tongue about 40 years ago and I remember the texture reminded me of chicken gizzard. The tongue was flavorful as I recall but I can’t remember what I did with the resulting broth! Can anyone tell me if it is as spectacular as I’m hoping? My grandson called recently and our conversations almost always end up focusing on food, it’s our love language. He had been out with friends for a taco run and said his favorite is tongue tacos. I’m going to recommend this video to him and I can see him hosting his friends. He is most happy creating kitchen memories and this will be a huge inspiration I watched Rick on PBS for years and Keagan can reap the benefits of Rick’s vast knowledge and experience.
Thanks Rick for this delightful recipe. I'd eat tongue with anything, capers, cornichons... This is a really good one to fry up in cubes to increase more crispy surfaces. My Mexican husband thinks it's the way to go.✌👍
Frankly eating beef tongue or a tongue of any kind has had a "Ewww" effect on me but this prep may get me to try cooking it especially after seeing the crispy browning in the pan before serving. Thanks for inspiring, Chef!
I can see why beef tongue would have that kind of effect on people. The best way to try it for the first time is to not know what it is until after you've eaten it, like Rick mentioned. Have someone order it for you, and then not tell you what it is until after you've eaten it, to get over the psychological effect of it. I don't know if tongue is considered "offal," since it's a muscle and not an organ, but tongue doesn't have the same "ick" factor when you're eating it, since it just tastes and has the texture of regular beef. If you're at a taqueria that has the standard variety of meats, one that would have tongue/lengua on the menu, you should also try "cabeza" which means "head." I think the majority of the meat for cabeza tacos comes from the cheeks, and it's probably my favorite thing to order.
I love lengua. I make mine overnight in the slow cooker at 10 hours to make sure it cooks well add bay leaves, onion and salt. I don’t crisp it up. First time I’ve seen this Chef Bayless😳
Best way to cook tongue is in the instant pot! This is the second time I’ve cooked it this way in a month! It made perfect pieces. I had rendered lard in my slow cooker from carnitas. Put the tongue in cast iron and browned it. Our guests left hardly any.
I just found your video. I'll have guests tomorrow and you gave me the idea of serving tongue tacos. Thanks! I love these tacos, but didn't know how to prepare them.
I still have not had a chance to try beef tongue yet, although local farmers sell it near me in Kentucky. It's always bought up before I get to it. I have heard that beef tongue is surprisingly a "kid friendly" meal. I suppose it must be delicious if even kids like it!
The best tacos I ever had were tacos de lengua from a food truck in my hometown of Houston. There was also a great plate of them from a little Mexican restaurant just outside of town that included nopalitos (prickly pear cactus pad).
One of my favorite me memories of childhood was waiting/cooking with my grandmother for the lingua to be finished. The most tender and favorable meat it melted in my mouth. Gracias por todo, senor. 🌮🌮🌮
Back when my sons were young you could buy tongue pretty cheap. Since then the price went way up and now I can't even find it. Such a delicious tender meat.
I've cooked 6-10 tongues over the years and never thought to fry them like that after boiling.. Gonna have to try that in the near future. Thank you Rick.
I love lengua and cachetes. Heck, I just love barbacoa. While everyone else has tamales on Christmas we always have barbacoa. Mom used to always brown ours like you just did. Whoever has not tried any of these are truly missing out! 😋 By the way, our local Sam's here in Lubbock sells lengua and cachetes at a very good price.
Tio Rick dont add aguate!! the tongue Umami with salsa verde is perfect is a match made in heaven!! dont forget to use double tortilla tacos!! thnx Tio Rick
That fatty part that Chef took out, I usually cut it up and becomes @4:35 rendered fat which gives more flavor to the meat when pan frying. I don't cut it up but to each it's own. I also make a pico de gallo to add to my tacos. There are many different things you can add to the tacos. Your choice, good recipe overall.
@Rick Bayless , Back in the 1980's in the Chicago area I worked with a man that occasionally brought a beef tongue sandwich in his lunch box, it was his favorite, however, he put grape jam on the beef tongue, I had to work with this guy for six years and watch him eat beef tongue sandwiches with grape jam on it. I never tried the combination but maybe if you add a lot of vinegar to the grape jam turning it into a sweet and sour sauce, maybe it would be edible, I'd rather have the tomatillo salsa.
I made a point of ordering lengua and tripa tacos at a favorite taqueria this year, and the lengua was wonderful! Not so sure about the tripa...I think it's better in a slow-stewed dish like menudo. The taco was rubbery. 🤨
Well, okay, I didn't click away. I'd like to make this but the thought of prepping a tongue just turns me inside out. This looks really good though. Thanks Rick!
As a kid, my mother tried to get me to eat tongue. Unfortunately, I had seen the whole thing hanging on a hook at the butcher shop where she bought it. I worked at a mine for my first job, and at the cookhouse, there was a wide variety of dishes for Christmas. I ate something without knowing what it was. It turned out to be tongue in a mustard sauce. I have had it a few different ways since then, but it isn't common around here. I had tried to go to one place to try the tongue tacos, but it was always way too busy. I guess that maybe I need to just make my own.
Is it wrong to want a squeeze of fresh lime juice and/or some vinegar and/or pickled cilantro stems, or to mix some crema/sour cream into the fiery-ish salsa? How about watercress/sorrel and sliced tomatoes on the side, and dishes of olives and lime wedges? Now let’s start with pita bread: A slash of hummus on the pita base, before adding the tongue, with some garlicky limey minty yogurt Definitely mint, to brighten it up, or maybe tarragon, but not too much! A few dabs of shatta? Top it with feta!!! Tabbouleh on the side, and dishes of olives and lemon wedges. I’ve had tongue from delis all my life (I’m 70) and love it ❤❤❤❤❤ Once the wealthy discover it, it’ll get expensive, so let’s make the most of it while we can still afford it! Before it’s too late! 😊😊😊
If you don't like lengua or tongue you haven't had it when I was a kid it was on the menu at least once a week but the price has gone through the roof so now only on special occasions
Same with me. I have an electric range(which I hate)and have a really hard time controlling the heat. I have to turn the exhaust fan on full blast plus I also have a pretty powerful counter top fan. It helps.
I can't do it! I grew up in Chula Vista, just north of the Tijuana border. Most of my friends were Mexican and I learned to cook great food very early on from their mothers. I've even been anointed an honorary brown girl by my friends because I make machaca, tamales and salsa roja as good as any abuela., But, I can't do the lingua. It looks like a tongue! I know it sounds ridiculous.
@jillionairess ha ha! I'll try not to hack off any of my fingers. But I gotta admit that I just got done watching 3 more tacos de lengua vids, so I'm feeling less whimpy. And! And, just now, it occurred to me that the beef tacos I've been eating in Mexico(Puerto Peñasco, little beach town about 4 hours from Phoenix)is tongue and damn tasty!! Time to go back to Food City!
Speaking of pork lard, or "manteca" as it's called in Mexico, food scientists/nutritionists/etc keep going back and forth on what the "healthiest" fat for frying is. Traditionally in Mexico, you'd use manteca for almost everything. About maybe twenty years ago, it came out that manteca is horrible for your health, so my grandmother and my mother stopped using it, and switched to vegetable oils and shortening, much to their chagrin. Fairly recently, it came out that actually, vegetable oils are bad for you and pork lard is great, which upset my mother, because now she feels like her cooking didn't have to suffer for the last twenty years.
You were on one of Julia child's Master Chef episodes that was just now uploaded to RU-vid. Your recipe for that day was a black bean tortilla. My how time flies when you're having fun. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f4wwYhtZfOo.html
No thanks! I love Mexican food but I’ve gotta draw the line somewhere. I don’t eat guts, tongue, hearts, etc. I don’t care how much people say it’s worth the time and effort. It’s not just Mexican food. I’m just like….. no organ meats. It smells!
