Everything Food with Seth: In Praise of Tongue (Lengua)
Seth Cloutman - PVNN
October 02, 2009


If you have not tried this delicacy I urge you to put your brain aside and let your taste buds do the decision making.

Not an hour ago I was sitting with my partner's family for breakfast eating fresh flour tortillas filled with tongue and salsa verde. Now while I am perhaps the greatest fan of all of the "nasty" meats, I have never been a great fan of tongue.

Something about most preparations gives it a soft texture that I do not particularly like. However, Celeste's preparation this morning was revelatory. Instead of being cut into chunks, the meat was shredded so it did not have the consistency I dislike. It was substantial, yet incredibly tender.

So many of us Gringos are terrified to try something new, particularly something that, at least in our heads, is not something we think of putting in our mouth. Because of this mind over matter situation, we often miss a memorable experience.

I recall the first time I lived in France, someone served me veal sweetbreads. Fortunately, I had no idea what ris de veau were so I blindly dove into the dish and was delighted by the taste. It was only afterwards that I learned that what I had eaten with so much gusto were the thymus glands of a baby cow.

Interestingly, the cooking method used on the tongue is a similar one used to prepare sweetbreads. They are cooked in milk (or more commonly, water). The process is remarkably easy. Simply take the tongue and cut into large pieces that will fit in a good sized heavy bottomed pot. Add several bay leaves, some good kosher or sea salt, whole black pepper corns and enough milk to cover the meat. Either in a slow cooker or on a very low heat, cook overnight. When you wake in the morning the scents wafting through the kitchen should wake you up better than coffee.

Remove the tongue from the milk and let cook enough so that you can handle the meat. Once it has cooled sufficiently, you will need to peel the outer skin off of the meat and discard the skin. Then with hands or a couple of forks, shred the center meat. Serve with flour tortillas (preferably as fresh and hot as you can get you hands on) and salsa verde.

The history of eating tongue dates back to Paleolithic times when hunters preferred the higher fat content meats including feet and organs over the leaner cuts. Over history many cultures have devised their own way of preparing the dish.

In Mexico they are most often eaten in tacos, on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot boiled tongue is often eaten and the meat is favored in the cuisines of Romania, Germany, Portugal, Phillipines, Albania, Russia and Japan. In Belgium, the dish is most often served with a Mushroom and Madeira sauce. Pickled beef tongue is also considered a great treat.

If you have not tried this delicacy I urge you to put your brain aside and let your taste buds do the decision making. If this dish is enjoyed by so many around the world in so many different fashions, then there must be something to it. Don't think about it and enjoy!

The Joys of Jan

It is a rare day when I meet another person who shares my enthusiasm for food. Okay, obsession. So imagine my surprise when on a site visit to another chef’s kitchen, I immediately found a kindred spirit and someone whose life revolves around the search for a great combination of flavors or a fresh ingredient not found before. Two weeks ago that is exactly what happened when I met Jan Benton, the Chef de Cuisine of Mark’s Bar and Grill in Bucerias.

Jan is a native of New Zealand but found herself in many parts of the world before she finally landed permanently in Mexico. One of her earliest training grounds was the family garden in the land of Kiwis. It was there that she developed an intense fascination with fresh, home raised vegetables. That initial education was only further enhanced when she worked in the perfume industry. In her position, it was necessary to take scents and identify them thereby honing her olfactory senses. This only assisted when she finally took to the kitchen.

Living in San Francisco she took up cooking as a home chef. One of her first dishes, one that friends requested again and again, was a Pesto Negro. It was simply a basil pesto with black olives but this was to be the beginning of what would become her greatest passion. Soon she was hording cookbooks by Charlie Trotter, Nobu Matsuhisa of Manhattan’s famed Nobu Restaurant, Japanese-Australian Tetsuya Wakuda of Sydney’s Tetsuya and Judy Rodgers of San Francisco’s Zuni Café to name a few and honing her skills.

Fast forward to Bucerias 1991. Mark purchased the building which still houses the restaurant and essentially created a hot dog and beer hall where he could hang out with his buddies. Little did he realize that a year later Jan would arrive in town and that they would fall in love. One Valentine’s Day Jan suggested that they do a meal special and see what happened. They purchased 25 pounds of fresh San Blas shrimp, put a sign out on the street and before the restaurant closed that evening, they had sold out. At the time such an investment in that much shrimp was a real risk but clearly worth it.

Since this flight of fancy, Jan has been creating menus that dazzle the palate. Her intensity when she discusses food is such a joy. The first day I met her she and I ended up huddled at the end of the bar talking about ingredients and dishes and meals like two little children discussing an upcoming vacation to DisneyLand. But what impressed me most was her “food geek” level. I am often accused of being the consummate food geek (I accept this gladly) and to sit down with someone else that has the same leaning was more exciting than I can possible describe. The ability to get so feverish about a certain cooking method or flavor or flavor combination is just not up everyone’s alley.

But for all the talk about food, I had still not tried Jan’s cuisine. I admit I was a little nervous because I did not want to be disappointed. I had found a new friend and I wanted to be as proud of her actual culinary skills as I was about her knowledge and enthusiasm. One of the first things she did when I arrived after we had been introduced was to ask me to come into the kitchen and look at the tuna her fishmonger had just dropped off. As we approached she said nothing but “can you look at this and tell me what you think?” In retrospect, I think she was testing me a bit just as I was about to test her as I bit into one of her creations. Upon seeing the tuna, we both instantly agreed that it was not up to quality so without a moment’s hesitation she rang the fisherman and said, no way. That meant no tuna for that evening menu but she simply would not serve that fish.

The dish she wished me to taste was a toasted coriander seed crusted tuna filet with a wasabi sauce. She asked if I minded trying it with Huachinango (red snapper). Of course I quickly agreed. When she brought it out the scents were amazing and when I bit into the firm fish, I was relieved not only to be enjoying the delicious flavors but also to have confirmed that not only was my new food geek friend great fun to talk endlessly with about food, but she could cook as well.

Mark’s Bar and Grill is located at Lázaro Cárdenas 56, Bucerías, Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit 63732 Reservations are recommended (329) 298 0303