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.

Savory Chicken Gizzard Pate

If you would have told me 3 years ago I would enjoy cooking or eating a chicken gizzards, I would have bet you good money to call your bluff.  You would have been victorious, however, because I am now a big fan.  Beyond the nose (or in this case, beak) to tail movement, I’ve found that offal meats are actually quite delicious.  This is also a fairly easy recipe that your whole family will enjoy (trust me).  We made this with our homemade applesauce, and that is a great treat as well.

This recipe uses both chicken hearts and gizzards, and is served as a pate you can scoop up with your favorite vegetables.  We have also stuffed mushroom caps with this pate, and it’s scrumptious.  I’ll add the directions and photos for the stuffed mushroom caps as a bonus how-to next time we get a chance to make this.