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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The Renowned Mr. Brown....now these are burnt ends!

 

      In old Southern slang, "Mr. Brown" is the dark, smoky outside part of barbecued pork, usually the shoulder. This is the traditional cooking style, perfected by generations of pitmasters to give Mr. Brown his deserved recognition.   Over the years this has become the standard for those dark, crisp edges of Q when any meat is smoked.  The desired emphasis for the moist, tender, succulent meat was always inside, but in truth there has always been as much, if not more flavor in the outer, burnt, crunchy layer. 

      These days it has become familiar and popular with brisket, pork belly, and several other cuts.  I have tried all of these which are okay, but my first and foremost love is for my baptism under fire.  My first experience with this was beef brisket.  These have the best flavor, crunchiness, and texture of any of the burnt ends available.  Any major Q'er will tell you that these come from the outer edges of the 'point' end of the brisket, but I have had luck with either the 'point' or the 'flat'.  I choose to offer these as an appetizer or side dish.  The brisket it the main course.  Don't let the appearance fool you, there will be burn, smoke ring, and tender meat in each piece.  

      The key here is to concentrate on the 'doneness' of the entire brisket.  Burnt ends are a delicious side effect.  Many Q'ers and recipes will tell you to cook the entire brisket for burnt ends, but I like to take the outermost trim that crusts and burns a bit while you cook.  This will yield you less meat, but perhaps the most delicious.  You can, however, dedicate your entire brisket to burnt ends if that is your goal.  Regardless, your goal is cook, trim, and finish well.  

      Season and cook your brisket as would normally.  When the meat gets to the 165F mark remove from the pit, place on cutting board and trim the outer edges about 1-2" in throughout. Make sure this meat is done and at the edge of crunchy, burnt.  The rest gets wrapped and returned to the pit to finish.  

      Cut the meat into 1" pieces and place in foil pan.  Re-season with dry rub and 'drizzle' with choice of BBQ sauce.  The goal here is to refresh the seasoning and sauce, but maintain the cooked, crispy offering.  Return foil pan to the wood pit and cook for another hour to finish.  Cooking temp here is only 225 so judge accordingly with your brisket.  No shame finishing these in the oven.  

       As I have said from the beginning I do not treat 'Burnt Ends' as a main dish, but more of an appetizer.  As such the amount I can expect as yield will vary quite a bit.  The biggest factor in the quality of Burnt Ends is your tastes for spice, sweetness, crunch, and flavor. These are delicious served with dill chips, peppers, and/or guacamole. 

“The main course at Bryant’s, as far as I'm concerned, is something that is given away free – the burned edges of the brisket."

Calvin Trillin

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