Dharma Lickin’ Good

I had a clever plan to pay homage to LOST.  Éclairs.  Like I said, clever.  Well, lets just say you aren’t going to get the official run down until I do them right.  Based on attempt #1, I don’t know, that might be never.  Off the record, here’s the deal.  Taste=good.  Recognizable as a popular French pastry=No way, no how.  Stay tuned to see if I ever come close.

Luckily, my botched éclairs came after dinner—a meal I’m actually willing to talk about.  Tacos de lengua.  While we passed up Sheppard’s pie, Sun dried anything, and smoked-whatever for beef tongue (of all things), stick with me.  It matches LOST in brilliance.  Stop gagging.  It’s true.

Okay, beef tongue.  Where do you find beef tongue?  I would suggest a Hispanic market.  No Hispanic market in your hood?  Well, shit, I don’t know.  Try a farm.  Or google it.  We bought about one pound of tongue, which spanned roughly six inches from the tip of the tongue back and cost between $2-$3.  I’m just saying, if you’re a to-be-graduate-student trying to save money, tongue aint a bad deal.  And that’s not even to mention its deep beefy flavor and tenderness.  Seriously, go buy a tongue.

Tacos de Lengua

1 pound of beef tongue

1 onion

2-4 jalapeno peppers

1 avocado

Garlic

1 lime

Soft corn tortillas

Cilantro

Water

Start by filling a large pot about ¾ full with water.  Next cut an onion in fourths, and toss three of four sections into the water.  Save the fourth section for garnish.  Add peeled garlic (as much as you like—we used about 5 cloves).  Slice a few jalapeno peppers in half and add to the water (keep the seeds and membranes intact for more heat).  Finally, drop in your tongue and boil it all for 3 to 4 hours.  Your kitchen (and bedroom if it happens to be in the kitchen like us) will smell delicious.

Remove the tongue from the liquid and let it cool.  Nobody wants to eat the bristly taste buds, so remove the outer layer of the tongue.  After 3 hours in simmering water it is easy to slide right off.  The mystery leather layer/backside of the taste buds is soft.  I thought it was neat-o.  Once you’ve effectively peeled the tongue, cut it up into chunks or slices—whichever you prefer.

Chop and sauté the left over onion section, and slice the avocado.  Put the tongue, onion, and avocado in a tortilla and top with cilantro, and salsa (below is the tomatillo salsa we made).  Squeeze lime on the taco and nomnomnomnom.

Tomatillo Salsa

6-8 tomatillos

2-4 jalapeno peppers

½ onion

Garlic

Cilantro

First remove the tomatillo husks.  Roast the tomatillos, jalapenos, and garlic and onion until wrinkled and slightly charred.  Take your roasted stuff and mash it up (be sure to remove steams and coarse skin).  Add cilantro and lime.  Done.