• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Umami Days

Umami Days

Meaty with a dash of veggies

  • Pick a meal
    • One Bowl Meals
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch / Dinner
      • Appetizers
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
    • Snacks
    • Drinks
      • Summer drinks
      • Cold weather drinks
      • Cocktail hour
  • Pick your protein
    • Chicken, duck & turkey
    • Meat
    • Seafood
    • Eggs
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Vegetables
  • Pick your carb
    • Rice & grains
    • Noodles
    • Bread
  • Newsletter
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • Newsletter sign-up!
  • Recipe index
    • By Meal
      • One Bowl Meals
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch / Dinner
        • Appetizers
        • Salads
        • Soups
        • Main Courses
        • Side Dishes
        • Sweets
      • Snacks
      • Drinks
        • Refreshing summer drinks
        • Cold weather drinks
        • Cocktail hour
    • By Main Protein
      • Chicken, duck & turkey
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Eggs
      • Mushrooms
      • Tofu
      • Vegetables
    • By Carb
      • Rice & grains
      • Noodles
      • Bread
  • Sidebar
    • Kitchen
    • Dining
    • Edible Garden
    • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact
Meat Beef tongue Lunch / Dinner Main Courses

Lengua al ajillo (Spanish-style beef tongue with garlic)

Published: 10.04.2018 » Last updated: 04.08.2022

Lightly browned beef tongue slices are smothered with garlic lemon butter sauce. Lengua al ajillo will make a bright and dazzling addition to any special occasion.

Lengua al Ajillo (Spanish-style Beef Tongue with Garlic) on Serving Plate

People who didn’t grow up eating beef tongue rarely understand why it’s so good. Some balk at the spongy texture; others are put off by the strong smell. Learning to appreciate beef tongue’s unique texture may be a matter of acquired taste. Minimizing the strong smell is a matter of proper preparation.

Preparing beef tongue for cooking begins with removing the sliminess off the skin. Rubbing with rock salt repeatedly is essential. Getting rid of much of the strong smell is not hard. Simply parboil the beef tongue in water with vinegar stirred in. With both steps completed, the beef tongue can be cooked as though it were just another slab of beef.

Browning beef tongue slices in butter

In this recipe, the beef tongue slices are browned in butter both for texture and flavor. Newly cooked beef tongue is too soft to be sliced neatly without the meat falling apart. It’s a better idea that after simmering the beef tongue to tenderness, it is cooled and then chilled to firm up the meat. That makes slicing and browning easier.

Browning sliced garlic in butter

The sauce that goes with the butter-browned beef tongue is really a simple one. It’s garlic browned in butter to which wine is poured and reduced. The reduction concentrates the flavors and prevents the sauce from becoming too thin.

Making lemon garlic butter sauce in pan

Butter is added after the wine has reduced. With the heat turned off, lemon juice is stirred in. A simple seasoning of salt and pepper is enough to create flavor balance. The sauce and all that delicious garlic are spooned over the butter-browned beef tongue slices and the dish is ready to serve.

Full recipe below

Lengua al ajillo (Spanish-style beef tongue with garlic)

Connie Veneracion
How long the beef tongue needs to cook depends on the age of the animal. Since the cooking liquid will evaporate during the long and slow cooking, you will need to replenish it every hour or so.
If you want a more convenient way of cooking beef tongue, use a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. I prefer the slow cooker where I cook a kilogram of beef tongue on LOW for about eight hours.
Lengua al Ajillo (Spanish-style Beef Tongue with Garlic)
Print
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 4 hrs 20 mins
Chilling time 8 hrs
Total Time 12 hrs 35 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Spanish Fusion
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilogram beef tongue
  • rock salt
  • 3 tablespoons vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 125 grams butter
  • 6 cloves garlic - peeled and thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup sweet white wine
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ground pepper - to taste
  • sliced scallions - to garnish

Instructions
 

  • Rinse the beef tongue, rub all over with plenty of rock salt then rinse again.
  • Boil about ten cups of water in a pot and add the vinegar (don't worry, you won't taste the vinegar in the cooked dish).
  • Plunge the beef tongue in the boiling water and leave until the water boils again. Count ten minutes then drain and rinse the beef tongue.
  • Place the beef tongue in a clean pot, cover with clean water, add two tablespoons rock salt, peppercorns and bay leaves, and bring to the boil.
  • Cover the pot, set the heat to low and simmer for four to six hours (see notes after the recipe).
  • Scoop out the beef tongue, cool, wrap in cling film and chill overnight (this makes slicing easier and neater).
  • Take the beef tongue out of the fridge, unwrap and peel off the skin (if the tongue is cooked sufficiently, it will easily come off).
  • Cut the beef tongue into slices about a quarter of an inch thick.
  • Melt two tablespoons of butter in a frying pan.
  • Lightly brown the beef tongue slices in the butter. Flip them over to brown the opposite side.
  • Arrange the beef tongue on a serving plate.
  • Add another third of the butter to the pan. Throw in the garlic slices and cook over medium-low heat, scraping the bottom of the pan, until lightly browned.
  • Turn up the heat to high and pour in the wine. Boil, uncovered, until reduced by half.
  • Turn down the heat and add the remaining butter. Swirl the pan around to melt.
  • Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir. Taste. Add more salt, pepper or lemon juice to suit your preference.
  • Spoon the sauce over the beef tongue. Spread the garlic on top.
  • Garnish with sliced scallions and serve your lengua al ajillo.
Print
Keyword Beef Tongue

More recipes, cooking tips & food tales

Korean-style ground beef rice bowl

Korean-style ground beef rice bowl

Thai-inspired braised lamb shanks garnished with chilies and mint leaves

Thai-inspired braised lamb shanks

Italian-style sweet and sour pork stew (spezzatino agrodolce) garnished with basil

Italian-style sweet sour pork stew (spezzatino agrodolce)

Beef curry bread and egg drop soup

Beef curry bread

Korean oxtail soup (sokkoritang)

Korean oxtail soup (sokkoritang)

Sweet sour pork with pineapple chunks and vegetables

Sweet sour pork

Sidebar

Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

  • About
  • Recipes
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact

Umami Days is powered by Apple, Canon, coffee & one bowl meals · Copyright © 2023 Connie Veneracion · All Rights Reserved