CookEat Recipe
Veal Tongue in Dolce-Forte Sauce
Tender whole veal tongue, including its tender throat portion, braised and finished with a sweet-sour currant, chocolate, pine-nut and candied-peel sauce.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 1 whole veal tongue with its edible throat portion attached, about 1 kg total, professionally cleaned; Water for simmering and braising; 1/2 onion; 1/2 large carrot; 2 celery stalks about a handspan long; A small pinch of parsley; 30 g prosciutto with fat and lean; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt and black pepper to taste; About 1 teaspoon plain flour; 40 g small dried currants; 30 g plain dark chocolate, finely chopped; 30 g pine nuts; 20 g candied citrus peel, finely diced; 50 g sugar; About 30 ml wine vinegar to start, then a little more to taste.
Step 2
Cover the cleaned whole tongue and its throat portion with water in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for about 60–75 minutes, until the outer skin can be loosened while the meat is still only partly tender. Keep the simmering liquid. This brief simmer replaces scorching the skin with a red-hot tool.
Step 3
While the tongue simmers, finely chop the onion, carrot, celery, parsley and prosciutto. Put them in a heavy casserole with the oil, salt and pepper and soften for about 5 minutes, ready to receive the tongue. Lift the tongue onto a clean board, let it cool only enough to handle, then peel away the tough outer skin, trim inedible gristle while preserving the edible throat meat and immediately transfer it to the hot casserole. Do not store the partly cooked tongue.
Step 4
Turn the tongue in the vegetable mixture until lightly coloured on all sides. Spoon off much of the excess fat, sprinkle on the flour and add a little of the hot tongue-cooking water. Braise gently, partly covered, adding more cooking water gradually until the centre reaches at least 72°C and the tongue is tender, about another 60–90 minutes or longer if needed.
Step 5
Mix the currants, chocolate, pine nuts, candied peel and sugar with the initial vinegar. Lift out the cooked tongue and strain the cooking juices. Return both to the casserole, add the sweet-sour mixture and simmer gently for about 10–15 minutes until the chocolate and sugar dissolve and the sauce comes together. Taste the cooked sauce and add a little vinegar if needed. Slice the tongue and throat meat and serve with the sauce.
Step 6
For the simpler source variation, omit currants, chocolate, pine nuts and candied peel, finishing the same braised tongue with only sugar and vinegar. For next-day service, cool the fully cooked tongue and sauce promptly in shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours at 4°C or colder; reheat once the following day to 74°C throughout.
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