tacos de lengua

Say it out loud. Don't you like how the words roll off your tongue? Phonoaesthetic.

Tuesday night, on the prompting of one Lauren Smith, I embarked on a culinary adventure, Beef Tongue. Actually it was more like Tuesday afternoon, preparing a tongue takes some elbow grease. First you get to wash it, then you get to photograph it, then you get to boil and simmer it (for three hours), then you get to peel it, then you apply the knife, then you fry it up, then you photograph it some more and finally you get to eat it.

That much work could make anything taste good. Actually, tongue is quite tasty on its own. Prior to Tuesday top blade steak was the most underrated cut of beef in my book, not any longer, tongue has claimed that title. Slow cooking this fatty cut causes the meat to come out like Sunday roast. The recipe that we chose for Tuesday night is a staple of higher class taco trucks around the world. In fact, if your taco truck is not serving lengua you need to question not only the quality of all of the food served there, but the status of your soul. Warm tortillas, fresh pico de gallo, sour cream, cheese and tongue. Heaven.

Needless to say Lauren and I tore through them ... Michelle, that is a different story. Do not feel bad for her though, she received chicken thighs that had been slow cooking in Rotel so long that they feel apart with a spoon.

To wash things down, I baked a sweet potato pound cake. Yeah that's right, a Sweet ... Potato ... Pound ... Cake. The sweet potatoes cut right through the extra-sweetness typical of a pound cake and made for a warm, nutmegy gratification on a cold winter night. All was right in the world.