Recipe: Lengua and Salsa Macha Tacos

One of my favorite new-food experiences was having my first lengua taco at El Coyote on 18^th street in Chicago. Made from braised beef tongue and served with grilled jalapeños and salsa, I was instantly hooked. A tender, unique cut of meat is something I constantly crave. Since then, I’ve been making them whenever I can get hands on a tongue to braise. Eventually, it led to a favorite recipe: lengua and salsa Macha tacos.

Once I became a deer hunter, I realized each animal would supply me with one of my favorite cuts. So, I’ve been trying to perfect the lengua taco with each deer I harvest. (To me, it’s deeply important to eat as much of the animal as I can, and to waste nothing out of respect for its life.)

When you butcher out a tongue, it’s important to cut it from behind and below the jaw, where the largest part of the tongue starts. In fact, most of the meat is in the base of it. So, don’t be afraid to cut every bit of it.

Get the skin off sooner than later so the meat underneath can get seasoned and break down faster. To do that, braise the tongue for a half hour to an hour. Then, pop it in ice-cold water and peel off the skin. It’ll come off easily in the cold water, but you might need to scrape with a knife.

I like to slow braise in stock, beer, or wine, but you can also just braise it with water and onion with salt. You could even throw some bacon in for smoky flavored broth. (This is one place where you can feel free to experiment.)

Recipe: Venison Shank Garbanzo Stew

Once braised, scrape or peel away the textured skin from the outside and sear to get a little browning. Slice it up and make tacos or a sandwich with it.

For this recipe, I suggest serving it on top of some boiled potato chunks, drizzled with salsa Macha that you can make while the tongue braises. I advise more quantity than you need for the three or four tacos the one tongue will make, because it will be something you’ll probably want to eat on everything, for a while.

It’s basically the Mexican version of chili crisp, and legend says it was invented in the Veracruz airport where Asians and Mexicans were sharing food ideas and culture. Basically, you fry garlic, chilies, peanuts, and seeds, then blend it all together with the frying oil. Some people prefer a smooth texture, but it’s also mostly common to serve it chunky. Make sure you get all of the seeds out of your dried chilies, or it will be bitter and fry things in waves, so you don’t overwhelm the oil with ingredients. It only takes a minute to fry the chilies.

I’ve learned that I like, in chili crisp, to fry the garlic and onion, and then let it cool to get crispy. You’ll have these little pops of umami coming from them later. It’s easiest to fry everything up in waves, then blend up once cooled. A little vinegar will help the salt dissolve into the salsa while providing acid. A touch of brown sugar rounds out some really light sweetness.

I use smoky morita chilies made from red smoked jalapeños. I also toss in a few others to get more flavor complexity. You can use whatever type you want, but if you use only arbol chilies, it’ll be likely too hot to enjoy.

I’m suggesting putting the lengua on top of some potatoes to absorb an extra dose of the salsa drippings in your taco, and it also lets you get a few more tacos out of the small cut. This is a killer idea for deer camp, especially if you have a day when multiple people get a deer in one weekend. It works really well with a fresh cut, when normally you’d want to let other pieces rest a day or more.

Recipe: Wild Game Pastrami

INGREDIANTS

• Tongue braise
• 1 deer tongue per person
• 1 onion (halved)
• 8 cups water
• 1 TBSP kosher salt
• 2 cups olive oil
• 3 oz dried Morita chilies
• 2 TBSP sesame seeds
• 1 large head garlic or ½ cup peeled
• 1 TSP kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• ½ cup peanuts
• 1 tablespoon piloncillo or brown sugar

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DETAILED STEPS

1. Cover one deer (or other wild game ungulate) tongue in water or stock, onion, and salt. 
2. Cover and braise until tender in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-4 hours. (A small tongue will cook faster than a large one.)
3. After the tongue has cooked for a half hour, toss it in cold water and peel off the skin.
4. Return to braising liquid to finish.
5. Toss in a small potato per person on the rack to bake until tender in the middle.
6. While the tongue cooks, fry the dry chili crunch ingredients in this order:
7. Fry first garlic on medium low heat, 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and remove.
8. Fry the peppers for a minute and remove.
9. Fry the nuts and seeds until golden and pour oil and seeds into blender to cool.
10. If using roasted and salted peanuts, skip this step.
11. Add the fried ingredients to the oil and seeds, along with brown sugar, vinegar, and salt.
12. Blend on a low speed until you have a nice even texture in the salsa, but there are still small defined pieces.
13. Let chill in a bowl for serving.
14. Once meat is braised, remove from liquid and slice thin. Do the same with your baked potato.

Warm up three to six tortillas on a cast iron until they puff up. Put some potatoes on top. Lightly salt the potato. Add the lengua slices. Finish with salsa macha and chopped cilantro. Then, eat up.

Recipe: Venison Pot Roast

MORE FIELD NOTES