TheBanyanTree: Brauschweiger

[Laura Hicks]

On Sat, Mar 16, 2013 at 9:48 PM, Dale M. Parish <parishdm at att.net> wrote:

> Miss your cooking, Moma.  What I wouldn't give for one of your calf
> tongues today.


You had me, right up until "calf tongue". I love liver and onions (I'm
drooling now!), and braunschweiger is a rare but wonderful treat. Rare
because Larry and I both have gall bladder problems, or we'd eat it more
often! I like mine with Dijon mustard and onion slices on rye
or pumpernickel bread. Yum!

Calf's tongue is a whole 'nuther somthing, however. Granted, my Mom would
almost never fix any kind of organ meats, she couldn't stand them. Liver
was a very special treat. Every year, when we killed a calf, my grandmother
would get all the organ meats. I don't know what she did with them, because
I never remember eating them at her house, either. But one year, for some
strange, unknown reason, Mom got the tongue. It sat in the freezer for a
few months, and finally, she got it out to throw it away. I asked her if I
could have it to cook for the dogs. She happily handed it over. I tried to
find out how to cook it (I still don't know), but never could find any
recipes or cooking instructions. There was no internet at the time, and
cookbooks for organ meats were thin on the ground at the local library.

So, I decided (being of English extraction) to boil the thing. I split the
skin and dropped the whole thing in a stock pot full of water, and added a
clove of garlic and a bit of salt.

Oh. My. God. The STENCH. I never smelled anything so horrible. I kept
thinking I'd let it cook a bit longer, just 'til the pink was gone, then
I'd quickly skin the tongue, chop it up real fine, and dump the meat and
the broth in containers to freeze for adding to the dogs' food. I couldn't
do it. I ended up pouring the broth down the sink, and running cold water
after it for about 15 minutes to clear the pipes, and triple wrapping the
meat in plastic bags to put in the trash. It was foul. I had to open up the
house and put fans in the windows to clear the air. I've since done
necropsies on dead animals that didn't smell that bad.

So, no calves tongue for me - unless someone ELSE, who knows how to cook
it, is serving it somewhere other than in my house.

But I do love a big plate of good liver and onions!

Laura
wolfljsh at gmail.com