Dish of Lamb Tongue Salad
(click to enlarge)

Lamb Tongue Salad


Lebanon   -   Lsanat Mtabbali
Makes:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 salad
***
30 min
Part		 An excellent salad, and not difficult, but you need to start making it well in advance. It worked fine with regular lettuce when Radichio was not available.

1
----
7
2
5
3
1/2
----
8
4
4
1/4
4
tt
tt
----
ar
#
---
oz
oz
oz
T
t
---
oz
oz
oz
c
oz


---
Lamb Tongues (1)  
-- Broth
Celery
Carrots
Onion
Vinegar (2)
Salt
-- Salad
Radichio (3)
Mikti Pickles (4)
Celery heart (5)
Mint Leaves
Red Onion
Salt
Pepper
------
Dressing (6)
Do-Ahead   -   (1 day - 45 min work)
  1. Make Lemon Mint Dressing. This salad will need at least 2/3 of that recipe,
  2. Soak TONGUES in cold water for 4 hours (if you have time).
  3. Put Tongues in a pot with lots of cold water (the tongues will expand at first) and bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Pour out into a clean sink.
  4. Clean the pot. Return Tongues to the pot and add cold water to cover. Slice Celery and Carrots medium, quarter Onion lengthwise, put in with tongues along with Salt and Vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.
  5. Let Tongues stand in the broth until just cool enough to handle, then peel off skins - but see Note-7. Return to broth, cool well, and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.
Make   -   (40 min)
  1. When Tongues are thoroughly chilled, remove them from the broth and slice about 1/8 inch thick (some recipes shred the tongue).
  2. Make salad: tear RADICHIO medium. Slice PICKLES very thin diagonally (split in half lengthwise before slicing if quite large). Slice CELERY diagonally very thin, including leaves. Chop Mint Leaves coarse (measure is after chopping). Peel RED ONION, cut in half lengthwise and and slice very thin. Mix all.
  3. When about ready to serve: Let Tongue slices come to room temperature.
  4. Scatter warm Tongue slices over the Salad, spoon on enough Mint Dressing to moisten the salad (about 2/3 of our recipe) Season to taste with Salt and Pepper. Toss well and serve.
  5. Serve cool, but not chilled.
NOTES:

  1. Lamb Tongues:

      These will most often be found packed in foam trays of 4 to 6 in markets that serve Levantine, Middle Eastern, Armenian, Turkish, North African or other lamb focused communities. For details see our Lamb Tongues page.

  2. Vinegar:

      Distilled white vinegar can will work fine - or lemon juice if you prefer.

  3. Lettuce:

      The pattern recipe, by a chef, specified Radichio. Due to COVID-19 supply disruptions, Radichio wasn't available, so the photo example is with regular red leaf lettuce, and it worked fine.

  4. Mikti Pickles:

      These are often labeled "Wild Cucumber" and are quite different in taste from regular pickles - they're a melon, not a cucumber. These are widely available in cans or jars in markets that serve a Levantine, Middle Eastern, Turkish, or Caucasian community. For details See our Armenian Cucumber page.

  5. Celery Hearts:

      Use the tender yellow and light green stalks from the center of the celery. including any leaves found there.

  6. Lemon Mint Dressing:

      This is a standard Lebanese dressing, variously made. See our Lemon Mint Dressing page for recipe. This recipe will consume around 2/3 of that recipe.

  7. Skinning Tongues:

      This can be difficult for some tongues, impossible for others, even in the same batch. If the skin won't peel, or is too tender to peel, or you just don't want the trouble, leave it on - it's perfectly edible.

  8. Comments:

      Lebanese Lamb Tongue salads are served with the lamb tongue heated up just before mixing it into the salad, but this often doesn't work well here, so I call for "room temperature".
  9. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch tt=to taste ar=as required
mgm_lmbtong2 091023 r 200710 saha   -   www.clovegarden.com
©Andrew Grygus - agryg@clovegarden.com - Linking and non-commercial use permitted