Creamy Lengua Recipe (Pork Tongue) - Foxy Folksy (2024)

FAQs

What is cow tongue in the Philippines? ›

Popularly known as “lengua” in the Philippines, this beef tongue is a staple in various world cuisines, and is perfect for braised dishes.

Floppy like the sole of an old shoe, a pork tongue possesses the look and feel of any mammalian tongue. An arched, dorsal base, dotted with papillae, curves slightly into an elongated tip. On the underside, the flesh of the muscle peers out from pockets of gristly fat.

Note: some pig tongues don't peel easily - if so, leave the skin on. Some people even leave on the much tougher skin on beef tongues. Some recipes call for using the broth, which needs to be strained and defatted (using your gravy separator). Slice or dice the Tongue as required by your recipe.

Overcooking any meat dries it out. A pork loin roast is more tender and juicy when cooked to medium than when it is well done. If you're talking about a pork shoulder or pork butt, it is best braised low and slow to let the collagen soften. As soon as the meat pulls apart with a fork, it is done.

Tongue has a beautifully even distribution of fat and meat and once slow-cooked, carries a tender texture and intense flavour, perfect for a balanced starter.

Globally, pig tongue is eaten in nearly every culture where pigs are raised for meat, but in America, you'll most often find pork tongue in Latin American, Asian, and Eastern European ethnic markets.

Place tongue into a soup pot. Season with salt and pour in enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until the outer skin begins to peel off, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Peel off skin and discard.

Also, tongue is a part of Albanian, Argentine, Brazilian, Bulgarian (tongue with butter), British, French, Indonesian (semur lidah or beef tongue stew), Italian (typical dish in Piemonte and Liguria), Colombian, Chinese (braised), Japanese, Korean (hyeomit gui), Filipino, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Mexican, ...

Beef Tacos de Lengua (Beef Tongue Tacos)

Is pork tongue an actual tongue? ›

All tongues are tough and requires long, slow cooking to make it tender. Beef tongues weigh from 2 to 5 pounds, veal tongues from 1/2 to 2 pounds, pork tongues about 1 pound and lamb tongues around 1/4 pound. Fresh tongue should be refrigerated for no more than a day before cooking.

Eating protein-packed cow tongue is excellent for your physical and mental health with plenty of nutritional benefits. Beef Tongue, while not quite packing the same punch as Liver or Kidney, it is rich in immune-boosting vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, choline, and high in Vitamin B12.

Pigs, Calves and Lambs' tongues are also available and can be treated in the same way as ox tongue. Obviously the smaller tongues won't take as long to cook but also won't yield as much meat.

A giraffe's tongue is also the strongest of any animal, and it can be an impressive 18 inches long! For comparison, the average human tongue is between 3 to 3.5 inches long.

The most desirable cuts of meat come from higher up on the animal. By contrast, the shank and shoulder muscles produce the toughest cuts. With ​proper cooking, even those tougher cuts can be luscious and tender.

Just like beef, the toughest pork cuts will be the shanks, the rounds, and the shoulders, but they'll be naturally more tender because of the size of the animal and therefore the size of the muscle fibers/bundles. Hams (the hind leg) are similar to a beef round, but medium in tenderness, relative to other tough cuts.

Beef tongue is a very tender, tasty meat. Don't let the cut of meat scare you; you will be pleasantly surprised. Find the meat at any Mexican market — ask the butcher. Serve this in tacos with chopped onion, tomato, cilantro, and wedges of lime.