For the record

I've got a cow tongue boiling in a pot on the stove.

Right now.
In a pot.
And it turned white.

I have an old fear-and-avoidance of cow's tongue, since I was 5 years old, when I saw my aunt pulling it, long and drippy and bumpy, out of a pot of boiling water at my parents' house when she was out for a visit. As legend has it, I had "always liked it before" but wouldn't touch it once I saw it in its whole form.

Therefore, I was reasonably nervous when Diego asked, "What is that?" when I pulled the tongue out of its wrapping today. I made a quick decision and bit the bullet, saying, "It is meat -- the tongue of a cow" and it didn't even phase the ol' boy. He just ran around saying, "Meat! Meat! Cow meat for dinner!"

Okaaaay . . .

Thank goodness he was alright with it. He's only one year younger than I was when I could no longer hack it. My mom was raised on/around farms; she grew up eating organ meat and tongue, so it was definitely something I had "had before". Before seeing it, that is.

But, shoot. I have two in the freezer. I need to use them. And my picky sister tried cow tongue last year (that the same aunt prepared) and said it was good, so I thought I should go for the gold and get over it.

Here's the recipe I'm going to use: Delicious Beef Tongue Tacos

The only thing I'm really not looking forward to is peeling off the skin. Eeeeeegh . . . it gives me the willies. We shall see.

:: 9:00 PM UPDATE ::
Peeling the skin off wasn't so bad; unpleasant, but do-able. I shredded the meat, then chopped what I couldn't shred. The boys yummed it down, Diego said, "Yummmm . . . cow's tongue is tasty!"; I liked it well enough, but faced the familiar old mental block; Squeeze said he didn't care to ever eat it again, though I believe it to be more with the fact that it was a cow's tongue vs. taste or texture.

We did it! One down, one to go.

I'd do it again.