How to cook Lengua (tongue). Filipino and Mexican style.

One of my favorite hobbies is cooking. Most people assume I learned from my mother, but I actually learned from my father who is an excellent cook. I learned how to make Adobo and various forms of Sinigang (a tamarind stew) from the man. When I moved to college and got my own place, I became a cooking beast. I would experiment with whatever crap I had in my fridge and attempt to make something that seemed fancy and full of flavor.

In hindsight, I really wished I documented those experiments to share with you at this time. Sadly, they are lost in time.

FEAR NOT! I actually documented the labor it took to cook Lengua. That's Beef Tongue to those mono-lingual readers out there. Why Lengua? Why not?!?! When I went to Philippines I tasted a dish that they called Lengua, with meat that just fell apart in your mouth, soaking in a delicious mushroom sauce. When I asked what the meat was, due to the texture being "different" from the meats I've eaten before, I was blown when they informed me it was Beef Tongue... They being my aunt and her cook.

[Don't ask]

Anyways!!! People kept warning me how tough it was to prepare, much less make. Being the stubborn person that I am, I chose not to listen to them and look up online various suggestions on how to make Lengua. Here is what I learned:

Step 1: Prepare the meat. Go to your local butcher shop or Asian Market and ask for Lengua or Beef Tongue. The usually come fresh and whole.I suggest taking the portion you can eat, then freeze the remainder.

Wash the meat with cold water.

STEP 2: Boil Water in a pot (or pressure cooker). Throw in the meat and leave it for about an hour and a half.
[NOTE: It really depends on the amount of meat you throw in the pot. Pressure cookers can cut that time in half]


Sadly, I don't own a pressure cooker. So I had to settle with this.

STEP 3: Peel off the skin/outer membrane. You see all that white stuff on the right? Peel all that off. What remains is what you see on the left.


STEP 4: CUT or DICE the pieces. This is where I went to two directions, Filipino Version and Mexican Version.

For the Filipino version, I created long thin slices of the softened lengua.
For the Mexican version, I diced them into cubes.


STEP 5: Do what you want! From here, you can cook the lengua in an form.

MEXICAN -
When I wanted to make it Mexican style for a quesadilla. I decided to take some olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper and stir fry it with the boiled lengua.

After that is cooked, I take a quesadilla/buritto wrapper and heat it on the pan. Where I melt some cheese on one side and throw in the meat on the other. Then I fold it up to create my quesadilla.


Philippines -
For this version, I just got a can of "Cream of Mushroom" then mixed it with the lengua. AFTER... I sauteed it with some oil, garlic, onion, pepper, salt, and a soy sauce. The end product being this.


[NOTE: If you add more soy sauce, it will get a darker color.