Barbacoa de Lengua

      These delicious tacos are made from Lengua, which is beef tongue.  I made Barbacoa from Beef Cheeks a year ago and they were delicious.  This year it's tongue.  This is the original Mexican Street Taco.  The taco was first introduced to the US in 1905.  Mexican immigrants were coming in to work on the railroads and other jobs and started to bring their delicious food with them.  It is the story of much of American Cuisine.  Tacos were essentially a street food at this time since they were highly portable and cheap.  

      Not an incredibly expensive cut of meat, but it can be hard to find.  Easy for me as I stock up on such cuts before I leave Texas each spring.  This recipe is most easily accomplished with a slow cooker.  The first half of the cooking involves cooking the tongue, then shredding, seasoning, and cooking a bit more.  

1 beef tongue, about 3 lbs.

1/2 onion, chopped or sliced

2 bay leaves

4 cloves garlic, chopped

water/beef broth to cover tongue

1/4 cup orange juice

1 tsp Adobo powder

1 tsp ancho chile powder

1 1/4 cup hatch green chiles, chopped

warm corn tortillas

cilantro to taste

2 tsp chives

Cotija cheese

Hatch green sauce to taste

1 sliced avocado 

      Rinse the beef tongue with water and place in your crockpot, add onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, OJ, chile powder, green chiles, and beef broth.  Cover and set the crockpot on low for 8 hours.  Cook until tender.  If after 8 hours the meat is not tender enough to shred cook a little bit longer.  I found 8 hours is plenty.  

      Remove the Beef tongue from the crock pot and place in a large dish, remove skin using a knife to make a cut at first and discard.  Trim off any fatty tissue at the bottom end.  Spoon off the excess liquid, leaving about a cup.  

      Shred the meat using 2 forks and return to crockpot. The meat was SO EASY to shred.   

Add a bit more ancho powder, Adobo powder, green sauce, salt, and pepper.  Cook an additional hour over high. 

      Warm tortillas and fill with meat, cilantro, chives, Cotija, and green sauce to taste.  Top with Cotija, chives, avocado and serve with refried beans.   I added the leftover Aus jus on the side for dipping.  Barb LOVED THESE.  They had such rich, beef flavor with a slight hint of spice.  In fact, we took the leftovers and made a Barbacoa Salad the next evening.  I have to say this is better than beef cheeks.  I think we've got a winner here.   

Barbacoa Tacos

Barbacoa Salad

We laid my mother to rest on July 19th in Tumwater, WA.  I was there to help her celebrate her 95th birthday beforehand.  You would be hard pressed to find someone who had a bad word to say about our mother. 

"This is my invariable advice to people:  Learn how to cook, try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun"

Julia Child

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