Tacos de Lengua (Tongue Tacos)

Growing up, I remember my mom sharing with me the fact that when she was my age, they ate everything from the animals on the farm. She shared stories of tongue, sweetbreads, and ham hocks—and you couldn’t have paid me enough money to try them. Thankfully, with a bit of persistence from my parents to always try new things, and this crazy paleo adventure we’ve embarked on over the past two-plus years, we’ve come to eat (and love) a lot of foods that fall off the beaten path of traditional American cuisine.

Just a few weeks ago, we brought this buffalo tongue that we bought at Cibola Farms along to Russ’ house for cooking along with a day of cooking as well as photographing a few items for an upcoming project (more on that soon!). If you’ve never had tongue before, or are trying to convince a wary friend or family member, this is exactly the recipe you’ve been looking for. We hope you’ll give it a try.

Ingredients
lengua brine
1 beef/buffalo tongue
4-5 C water
1/2 large white onion, chopped
6 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 fresh jalapeño, slit open
1 bay leaf
3 tsp dried Mexican oregano

lengua pan-frying
2 Tbsp lard, ghee, or coconut oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon

pico de gallo (optional)
1 white onion, finely diced
4 tomatoes, finely diced
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
2 pinch salt

Method

Prepare the ingredients for your cooking the tongue, and place into your pressure cooker. Cook for 1 hour. (If you don’t have a pressure cooker, double the water and cook approximately 2-3 hours.)

If you plan to make pico de gallo, prepare the pico while the tongue cooks, and set aside to rest.

Remove tongue from brine, and allow to cool slightly. Peel off skin of tongue and dice into 1/2″ pieces.

Heat fat in large skillet on medium-high heat until shimmering, and then toss pieces of tongue with cumin, salt, pepper, chipotle powder, and cinnamon for 2-3 minutes. Add a ladle full of the liquid from the pressure cooker and continue to mix the tongue until liquid is evaporated and tongue is lightly browned on all sides.

Serve in lettuce boats or collard greens, and enjoy!

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