Beef tongue in cream sauce

If there is excess fat at the base of the beef tongue, it is best to trim it off. Place the tongue in the pan. Try to choose a container of such a size that the entire product fits there. Fill your tongue with water until it covers it completely.

Start cooking the tongue on maximum heat. As soon as the water in the pan boils, reduce the heat to low, skim the foam off the water if necessary, boil the tongue for another 5-7 minutes and remove the pan from the heat.

Remove the tongue from the pan and discard the remaining broth - you won’t need it. Rinse your tongue thoroughly under running cool water, and also wash the pan well.

Place the tongue back into the pan and fill with cold water so that it is at least 5 centimeters above the product. Add salt, spices and onion cut into 4 pieces into the pan and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan with a lid and cook the tongue over low heat for about 2 hours. Check the water level periodically - it should always cover the product. If the water evaporates, add more water as needed.

After 2 hours, check if the tongue is ready. To do this, take a fork and try to pierce the tip of your tongue with it: if the meat is ready, the fork will easily enter it. Remove the finished tongue from the broth, place it on a plate and let cool at room temperature.

Remove the vegetables from the remaining broth, strain the broth through a sieve and pour into a container - it will be useful for further preparation of the creamy sauce.

Cut the champignons into thin slices. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms in it over high heat until golden brown. Remove the mushrooms from the frying pan onto a plate. Finely chop the remaining onion and fry in the same frying pan where the mushrooms were fried until translucent.

Remove the skin from the tongue and cut it into slices about 1 centimeter thick. Add the tongue to the pan with the onion and fry over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Make sure that the food does not burn and stir it if necessary.

Add room temperature cream to the broth container and mix thoroughly. Pour the resulting sauce into a frying pan with tongue and onion. Bring to a boil over low heat.

Add the fried mushrooms to the frying pan with the tongue, carefully mix all the ingredients and simmer over low heat under the lid for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid from the pan and check if the sauce has reduced sufficiently. If it is still too liquid, simmer the dish for another 5-7 minutes without a lid, until the sauce thickens.

When the sauce is completely reduced, add salt and black pepper to the pan; if desired, you can diversify the taste with rosemary or thyme. Stir, cover the dish with a lid and turn off the heat.

Let the dish sit for 10-15 minutes. During this time, the sauce will reach the required consistency, and the flavors of all ingredients will finally mix with each other.

Serve the tongue in portions or on a shared platter. An excellent side dish for this dish would be mashed potatoes or mashed green peas. If you wish, you can decorate the dish with your favorite herbs.