Tacos de Lengua

So I went to Jr's Tacos with my Dad yesterday. While I was there in the barrio, I had an uncommon and foodborne flash of lucidity brought on by the eating of my tacos.

I do enjoy the barrio... I enjoy the culture... I enjoy the people...

but...

Why am I not making this on my own?

So after we were done eating, off we went to the Mexican Market. Heads of cabbage were 25¢, so I got one to make some coleslaw. Figured I'd need it to top my taco's too. I love the Mexican Market. The fresh tortilla's, the flan, the bags of mesquite, my Dad asking the ladies about the cheese... (He wanted to know if it was "goat" cheese, and they couldn't understand his english... and he's hard of hearing enough that he couldn't hear them when they responded back... so yeah, everybody smiles and acts polite, even tho nobody knows what's going on. But regardless, he's happy, they're happy, so I'm happy.)

Anyway, I bought myself a beef tongue. And since I didn't really know what I was doing, I kept it small. About 2.5 lbs of tongue.

Once home I googled all the Lengua recipes I could so I had something to work with. Here's what I came up with. :)

I washed the tongue and placed it in a large enough pot that water could cover. I added half a sliced onion, five pressed cloves of garlic, salt to taste, and a bay leaf.

I figured we might as well help flavor the meat a little. Any boiled meat that I've ever had was usually pretty tasteless.

The Tongue.

At this point I simmered the meat one hour for every pound. So, two and a half hours.

So what are you supposed to do for two and a half hours? This is just like smoking meat when you've got hours to spend while something slow cooks. I ended up going to the grocery and bought the other ingredients I figured I'd need that I couldn't dig out of the garden. Then I hit up Starbucks, and since I still had a lot of time... I made a couple loaves of zucchini bread.

Zucchini Makin's

Fresh Bread
(smells a little weird with the bread smells mixing with the tongue smells...)

After the tongue was done, I set it aside until I could handle it. Here's a few shots to gross people out.

Almost looks like dough rolled in Sesame Seeds.

Have you ever had the pleasure of being licked by a cow? I have. That's a story for a different time, I can't explain now... but anyway, their tongues feel like cat tongues. They're raspy. The shot above shows why.

Just try to get THAT image out of your mind.

K. So the tongue is cooled. I picked it up and peeled the skin leather off of it and trimmed off the gristle.

In the beginning, Chris peeled a tongue.

It may seem weird, but really... underneath... we're all just meat.

Once the tongue was peeled and trimmed I cut it up into chunks for eating. I've had several pieces at this point... it's good!

Next we have to turn our meat into Tacos! I'm not sure if I'd do this vege stuff again, but I'll tell you what I did, just so you know.

First, I went ahead and roasted a couple of Poblano Peppers.

Roasting

Peeled and Chopped.

While the peppers were roasting I went and dug some tomatoes and tomatillas out of the garden.

I chopped them up too.

Feeling whimsical I went ahead and started sautéing the other half of the onion I'd used earlier...
to that I added some garlic, several green onions, and a couple serranos for heat. Then I threw in the tomato and tomatillo...

Then I dropped in the meat.

While that sizzled away, I got my toppings ready. Fresh Cilantro, Fresh Lime, Fresh Onion, and the Fresh, Sliced, Cabbage.

This is starting to look up!

Looking pretty good. Spooned the mixture over white corn tortillas, topped it with fresh stuff, squeezed a lime over...
Oh WAIT!!!!

Can't have a taco without salsa!

Curry Dijon King Salmon on a Bed of Sautéed Onion Ginger Cabbage, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Brown Gravy, with Steamed Green Asparagus on the Side

IMPORTANT NOTE:

THE FOLLOWING POST IS BEING POSTED ON DAD'S BEHALF
THIS IS HIS POST!

Preheat your oven to 400° and then focus on this, your ingredients.
Slice your onions and cabbage, grate your ginger, etc.
Begin by heating your oil and sautée onions until tender and golden.

With your other hand, remove skin from Salmon and place in a prepared roasting dish with the fish's rounded side up.
Mix curry powder, and dijon together with two tsp water. Brush this mixture evenly over Salmon.

Hit it with Dill!
Roast appx. 15 min until opaque through.

While Salmon is roasting, your onions will be done. Add ginger and cumin to skillet. Cook, and stir, 1 minute. Then add cabbage and salt. Cover and cook 10 to 12 minutes until cabbage is just tender and begins to brown.

Spoon Cabbage and onion mixture onto plate and top with Salmon.
Dad's Special Plate

Chris Cracked Pepper and He Don't Care.

Done!

Coleslaw

Those of you that know me, which is like... everybody, you should know that I have had a fascination with Las Margaritas coleslaw for years now. I've tried several times to get the recipe out of Gabriel and Jose Louis, not to mention several others. I've even considered getting a job there as the token white guy washing dishes to see if I could somehow get turned on to the recipe.

But hey.
I don't need the recipe. This one works just fine for me...

You'll need some Ingredients.

Like an onion named Ingrid, and seasonings.

 

The base is, of course, cabbage. You want to shred your cabbage. So take this...

And turn it into this...

Next you'll want to add some vegetables. I usually put in one whole sweet onion, shredded like the cabbage, and a handful of baby carrots. I've seen people use bell peppers here too, but due to some wicked cases of heartburn in the past, I don't need no stinking peppers!

Now make the dressing.

For the dressing combine:

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 cup cider vinegar

in a saucepan over medium heat. Then bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage and toss well. Then cover and refrigerate.

This slaw is tangy and really complements smoked meats.

Hint... Hint...

(someone make me a pulled pork sandwich!)