Langue de Bœuf aux Fèves

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Snug nonreactive dish with a cover
• •6-quart (5.7-liter) tall stockpot
• •Fine-mesh skimmer or large spoon
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Two small saucepans
• •Pastry brush
• •Broiler-safe roasting dish
• •Oval serving platter, small timbale, and sauce boat

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the tongue

   Dry the tongue and rub the curing salt evenly over every surface, working it into the thicker root end. Set it in a snug nonreactive dish, cover, and refrigerate for three days, turning it each day through the brine it releases. Keep it properly cold throughout. When you are ready to cook, rinse the tongue thoroughly under cold water and pat it dry.

   This light salting seasons and firms the tongue without curing it pink. If you buy a tongue already salted by the butcher, do not salt it again; ask whether it needs soaking before cooking.
2. 2

   Poach at a tremble

   Put the tongue in a tall stockpot with the measured cold water, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bouquet garni, and peppercorns. Bring it up slowly over medium heat, skimming the grey foam as it rises. As soon as small bubbles gather at the edge, lower the heat, partially cover, and hold the liquid between 185 and 195°F (85 and 90°C) for 3 to 3½ hours. Add a little hot water if the tongue rises above the surface. It is ready when a thin skewer enters the thickest part with the resistance of room-temperature butter. If the pot breaks into a rolling boil, pull it off the heat, lower the burner, and add a ladle of cold water before continuing. Ça se rattrape. A brief boil has not ruined dinner, but quiet heat must take over.

3. 3

   Peel while warm

   Lift the tongue onto a board and let it cool only until your hands can manage it, about 10 minutes. Strain the poaching liquor, discard the aromatics, and return enough liquor to the pot to hold the peeled tongue later. Slit the coarse outer skin along the underside and pull it away in broad sheets, then trim away the rough root, excess fat, and any small pieces of cartilage. If the skin clings stubbornly, return the tongue to the hot liquor for 15 minutes and try again; resistance means it needs more cooking, not more force. Keep the peeled tongue warm in the strained liquor over the lowest heat.

4. 4

   Build the Madeira sauce

   Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook the roux over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until it smells lightly toasted and takes the color of a plain biscuit. Whisk in 1½ cups of the beef stock a little at a time, making each addition smooth before adding the next. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes, skimming if needed, then add the Madeira and cook for 4 to 5 minutes more, until the sauce reaches nappé, a coating consistency that leaves a clear trail across the back of a spoon. Take it off the heat and whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. If it is lumpy, strain it. If too thick, loosen it with stock; if too thin, simmer a little longer. Taste for salt, then keep the sauce warm without boiling it.

5. 5

   Skin and butter beans

   Bring the measured bean water to a boil. Blanch the shelled broad beans for 45 to 60 seconds, lift them out with a sieve, and let them cool just enough to handle. Pinch each bean from its pale outer skin. Return the water to a boil with the salt and savory, add the skinned beans, and cook gently for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still intact. Reserve 2 tablespoons of their cooking water, drain the beans thoroughly, and discard the savory. Return the beans to the dry warm pot with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and shake them gently over low heat until the butter clings as a glossy coating. If the butter sits in a puddle, add a teaspoon of the reserved water and toss again; if the beans begin to split, stop the heat and fold them carefully instead.

6. 6

   Glaze beneath broiler

   Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches (15 cm) below it. Boil the remaining 1 cup beef stock in a small wide pan until only about 3 tablespoons remain and the reduction coats a spoon. Lift the tongue from its liquor, dry it well, and set it in a broiler-safe dish. Brush it generously with the reduction, broil for 1 to 2 minutes, then brush and rotate it. Repeat until the surface is burnished and glossy. Watch closely because the glaze darkens quickly; if an edge colors too fast, move the dish lower and loosen the remaining glaze with a spoonful of stock.

7. 7

   Serve components apart

   Rest the glazed tongue for 5 minutes, then cut it crosswise into slices about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick and overlap them on a warm oval platter. Brush over any remaining glaze. Spoon the broad beans into a warmed timbale or serving bowl and pour the Madeira sauce into a sauce boat. Send both separately, exactly as the preparation intends, so each guest can take the green, buttered beans and dark sauce in their own proportion. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Order a fresh, uncured tongue from the butcher because it is rarely waiting in the display case. If only a salted tongue is available, ask how strongly it was cured and follow the butcher's soaking instructions; begin with the poaching step and add no further curing salt.
• •This exact garnish belongs to broad-bean season, when the beans are tender enough to justify skinning one by one. Out of season, frozen baby broad beans make an honest cousin, but they are softer and sweeter; thaw them, remove any tough skins, and shorten the final cooking.
• •Use true dry or medium-dry Madeira, such as Sercial or Verdelho, not salted cooking wine. The sauce concentrates everything in the bottle, and harsh wine becomes a harsh sauce.
• •A restrained red Bordeaux suits the tongue and Madeira sauce without bullying the delicate beans. Keep the plate generous and the service plain; cooking well is not cooking fancy.

Advance Preparation

• •Salt the tongue three days before cooking, turning it once each day. The curing is unattended, but it is part of the dish and cannot be compressed into the cooking evening.
• •The tongue may be poached, peeled, and cooled up to two days ahead. Refrigerate it promptly in a shallow container with enough strained poaching liquor to keep it moist, then reheat it gently in that liquor before glazing.
• •The Madeira sauce may be made one day ahead without its final tablespoon of butter. Reheat it gently and whisk in the butter just before serving. Shell and skin the broad beans earlier the same day, but cook and bind them with butter at the last moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 485g)