Redo weekend
Sometimes it’s a good idea to revisit old favorites. I’ve been really blah with overtones of meh lately about pretty much everything including preparing meals. Like Milli Vanilli, I’ll blame it on the rain, but that doesn’t make the prospect of cooking any more exciting. So what’s a girl to do when her hair is permanently frizzy, she hasn’t seen the sun in days and can’t be bothered to update her cooking blog? Declare a Redo Weekend!
The day started with an update to the cornmeal blueberry pancakes I first tried last summer. With so many gorgeous berries at the market right now, it seemed a shame to limit the pancakes to blueberries, so I halved the batch and did a strawberry version as well. Couldn’t decide which I liked more, so I just alternated them on the plate and doused the stack with maple syrup.
Cut to two hours later.
After waking from my sugar coma, I got to work on another old favorite: tongue tacos and refried beans. Mmmmm-hmmmm. I’d picked up a three-pound behemoth at the Snoep Winkle Farm booth a week earlier and it had been weighing heavily on my mind. I tweaked the old recipe pretty heavily, doubling the beer in the braising liquid and adding hefty amounts of toasted cumin and coriander seeds.
After braising, I set the tongue aside to cool. Then came the peeling, which didn’t skeeve me out nearly as much this time around.
It still wasn’t pleasant, mind you, but my toes didn’t curl at all. PROGRESS!
While my hands were still covered in tongue juices (am I not the most enchanting creature ever?), I shredded the meat before cooking it down a second time with onions, additional spices and even more beer.
The tongue tasted heavily of beef as you’d expect, but turned silky and tender in a way no other cut can. We had the tacos with and without salsa because, again, it was too hard to decide which way was better.
No picture of the refried beans because I’m just not that good of a photographer, but they were creamy and delicious. I used borlotti beans (an odd choice, I’ll admit) from Rancho Gordo cooked in the usual way — onions, garlic, cumin, beer, beef broth, salt & pepper — until they were soft, then fried them with some bacon fat and onion, mashing them down as they simmered. It might be too soon for another Redo Weekend, but I’m really tempted to do this again for the 4th.
Inspiration has been peeking around the corners for me this week, so I hope to have something new for you soon. But in the meantime, enjoy the weekend and try a redo if you need to.
both of those dishes are amazingly splendiferous!
it would be hard to choose between them
beautiful photos
you’re an excellent photographer
one of my favorites
Comment by claudia (cook eat FRET) — July 2, 2009 @ 6:18 pm
I admit I get a little skeeved by the picture of the partially peeled tongue, and I generally think of myself as un-squeamish. Gotta work on that.
I’m seeing a blueberry cobbler redux this weekend — second time this season. Yum!
Comment by Jessica — July 3, 2009 @ 10:09 pm
Swoon. Need to get my hands on some beef tongue…
Comment by Jennifer Hess — July 4, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
Claudia – Thank you! Good thing there was ample time over the weekend to include both.
Jess – Glad I wasn’t the only one, but it gets better with practice, I promise. How was the blueberry cobbler? I wasn’t so happy with my last crisp, to be honest – waaaay too sweet.
Jennifer – Definitely! Your farmers’ market MUST have tongue, right? They seem to have everything else!
Comment by Amy — July 6, 2009 @ 4:10 am
You had me at tongue.
Gorgeous tacos!
Comment by [eatingclub] vancouver || js — March 17, 2010 @ 10:40 pm