Tongue Vinaigrette

  • Whole ox tongue

Salad:

  • 1 Mango or paw paw
  • 1 Firm avocado
  • 1 Large tomato (not ripe)
  • 1 Tender onion or a couple of shallots
  • 1 Yellow pepper
  • 1 Red pepper
  • A bunch of cilantro
  • Vinaigrette:
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp Honey
  • Juice of one lime
  • Olive oil & Jerez vinegar (3 parts oil with 1 vinegar)

To plate:

  • Voatsiperifery pepper if you have it, otherwise any aromatic pepper.
  • Wasabi or fresh English Mustard.

Rub whole tongue with a salty dry rub.
Vacuum seal and Sous Vide at 72°C for 48 hours.
Shock in iced water.
When fairly cool remove the skin and trim the tongue.
Either reseal in a vacuum or zipper bag or, ideally, press in a tongue press if you have one. Before using rest in a freezer for 20 minutes. This will enable you to slice it more easily.
Coarsely chop the salad ingredients and mix by hand.
Whisk dressing together and mix with the salad in a large bowl.
Layer consecutive thin slices of tongue with the salad.
Coarsely grate Voatsiperifery pepper on top
Dot mustard on around side of plate.

As a bonus, once you’ve cooked your tongue, you can make ‘Tacos de Lengua’. Toast a few corn tacos. On these stack a bit of pulled tongue, avocado, red onions, tomatoes and torn coriander. Give it a splash of hot Chipotle salsa, maybe Cholula, or make you own by blending a can of Chipotle peppers. Stick on a sombrero and do the hat dance. Cultural appropriation at its finest.