I love offal. As a confirmed hypo-taster who needs a kick in the tastebuds to enjoy his food, I love strong tasting victuals (or “vittles as Granny used to call them). Funny…when the Beverly Hillbilies would describe the dinner menu to a shocked Mr. Drysdale and his fainting wife…my mouth would water at the prospect of possum, hog jowls, Collard greens, etc.

We buy a quarter organic cow twice a year from friends of ours who own a beef and chicken farm. It usually comes with all the “accessories” – heart, kidneys, liver, tongue, etc. Beef tongue is particularly tasty, especially pickled and thinly sliced onto rye bread with lots of yellow mustard. I’m about to try the following pressure-cooker recipe, courtesy of cooks.com. BTW, Asta loves the scrap skin and gristle (better than commercial dogfood, that’s for sure!).

Addendum, Sept. 15, 2008: I found the finished product from this recipe to be too acidic. In the future I would cut back on the amount of vinegar by at least half. More likely though, I would go back to just boiling the tongue in plain water or chicken broth for its traditional delicate flavor.

PICKLED BEEF HEART OR TONGUE

1 beef heart or tongue
Garlic
Onion
Whole pickling spice
Cider vinegar
Water
Rinse heart or tongue with cold water. With a small knife make 6 to 8 small slits in various places on heart or tongue, fill each with a clove of garlic.Place in a 6 quart pressure cooker. Pour cider vinegar into pressure cooker to make it 1/2 full. Add a few more garlic cloves and at least 1 onion, cut up or sliced. Add water to make the pressure cooker 3/4 full; add a handful of pickling spice.

Put lid and valve on cooker and cook on high heat until the valve rocks vigorously, then lower to a low to medium heat and cook for 40 minutes. Cool. Remove from liquid, slice and return to liquid. Store in a bowl in refrigerator. PLEASE NOTE: For tongue you must peel off the skin before slicing. When thoroughly chilled skim off any excess fat.