Beef Tongue in Madeira Cream Sauce

Heat some oil in a large saucepan. Fry the meat bones and the halved onions with the cut surface facing down. The onions can look almost black. This will give the sauce its color later.

Roast the roughly chopped soup vegetables as well as the tomato paste. When everything has taken on a nice color, pour about 2 liters of water. Add the cloves and bay leaves and put the well-washed tongue in the broth. First of all, don't add salt. The cured tongue is sometimes more, sometimes less salty. Try the broth after half an hour of cooking. Possibly add salt. The whole thing has to cook for a total of 5 to 3 hours.

If the tip is easy to pierce, the tongue is cooked. The skin is then quite loose at the tip.

Remove the tongue from the broth, let it cool down a little, and then carefully peel off the skin. It's very easy now. Cut off excess fat and connective tissue. Return the tongue to the broth and refrigerate overnight.

The fat in the broth has now set and can be easily removed. Lift off with a spoon and drain on a colander. To dispose.

Now take the tongue out of the broth and set it aside. Pour the broth through a sieve.

Measure 1200 ml of the broth. Freeze the rest and use it later as a gravy.

Melt the butter / margarine in a larger saucepan and add the flour. Let it turn brown while stirring. (Roux). This gives the sauce a particularly fine taste afterwards. Deglaze with the broth and cook for a few minutes. Add the cream and Madeira. Season savory with salt and pepper.

If possible, cut the tongue into thin slices with an electric knife and heat it in the finished sauce. The tongue is now tender as butter and incredibly tasty.

We ate boiled potatoes, cucumber salad and lamb's lettuce with it.

Unfortunately, this dish has gone completely out of fashion. In the seventies it was almost not missing on any menu. I can't understand why that is so. You can usually only get the tongue to order. It tastes so good. You should try it.