Chef Isabel
Cachopo Asturiano
Cachopo is Asturian comfort food with no mystery: two thin veal fillets, jamon, melting cheese, a firm seal, and enough oil to fry it golden without leaking.
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Lengua en Salsa Riojana
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Lengua en salsa is La Rioja's patient way with beef tongue: cook it tender first, peel it while warm, then let the slices settle into a deep onion and wine sauce.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
3 hr 30 min cook•4 hr total
Yield6 servings
Lengua en salsa Riojana belongs to La Rioja, where the wine is not decoration and the sauce is built slowly: onion, garlic, tomato, pimentón, and red wine cooked down until it tastes round and dark. The tongue is not fried hard, not hidden under tricks. It is boiled tender, peeled clean, sliced thick, and finished in the sauce until it gives under the fork.
The method that decides it is the first cooking. Tongue has a stubborn skin, and it only lifts away easily when the meat is fully tender and still warm. Pull it too soon and you fight it. Let it go cold and you fight it again. Cook it until a skewer slides into the thick end with little resistance, peel it while your hands can bear the heat, and the rest is simple.
If you are far from La Rioja, use a good dry red wine you would drink at the table, not a sweet one and not a cooking bottle that tastes tired. If you cannot find pimiento choricero, use a dried ñora or a little more sweet pimentón de la Vera; the sauce will be less Riojan in its depth, but it will still know where it is going. No hace falta haber pisado España. Pésalo, no lo adivines, and this comes out right.
Lengua en salsa belongs to the old Spanish household habit of using the whole animal well, a habit especially strong in inland regions where beef, wine, and preserved peppers shared the same kitchen. In La Rioja, sauces often lean on local red wine and pimiento choricero, the dried red pepper that gives body and colour without the sharpness of fresh chilli. Tongue was never everyday food for the grand table; it was careful home cooking, made tender through time and served sliced in a sauce that could be stretched with bread.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
beef tongue
Quantity
1, about 1.2kg to 1.5kg
rinsed well
leek
Quantity
1
cleaned and halved
carrot
Quantity
1
peeled and halved, for the broth
small onion
Quantity
1
peeled and halved, for the broth
bay leaves
Quantity
2
black peppercorns
Quantity
8
coarse salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
large onions
Quantity
2
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely chopped
carrot
Quantity
1
finely diced, for the sauce
tomato paste
Quantity
1 tablespoon
grated ripe tomato or canned crushed tomato
Quantity
150g
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried pimiento choricero or dried ñora
Quantity
1
soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and scraped
dry Rioja red wine or another dry red wine
Quantity
250ml
strained tongue cooking broth
Quantity
500ml, plus more if needed
plain flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| beef tonguerinsed well | 1, about 1.2kg to 1.5kg |
| leekcleaned and halved | 1 |
| carrotpeeled and halved, for the broth | 1 |
| small onionpeeled and halved, for the broth | 1 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| black peppercorns | 8 |
| coarse salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| olive oil | 3 tablespoons |
| large onionsfinely chopped | 2 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| carrotfinely diced, for the sauce | 1 |
| tomato paste | 1 tablespoon |
| grated ripe tomato or canned crushed tomato | 150g |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| dried pimiento choricero or dried ñorasoaked in hot water for 30 minutes and scraped | 1 |
| dry Rioja red wine or another dry red wine | 250ml |
| strained tongue cooking broth | 500ml, plus more if needed |
| plain flour | 1 tablespoon |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Deep heavy pot or pressure cooker
- •Wide cazuela or heavy saute pan
- •Fine sieve
- •Sharp slicing knife
- •Blender or food mill, optional
Instructions
- 1
Cook the tongue
Put the tongue in a deep pot with the leek, carrot, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, and coarse salt. Cover with cold water by 4cm and bring it slowly to a simmer. Skim the grey foam that rises, lower the heat, cover partly, and cook at a gentle simmer for 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, until a skewer slides into the thick end with little resistance.
A pressure cooker is allowed here because it costs the dish nothing: cook the tongue with the same aromatics for 55 to 65 minutes under pressure, then let the pressure fall naturally. - 2
Peel it warm
Lift the tongue to a board and save the broth. When it is cool enough to handle but still warm, slit the thick skin along the underside and peel it away. Trim any rough bits from the root end. This is the step that decides the dish: tender and warm, the skin comes off clean; undercooked or cold, it makes a fool of everyone. Nadie nace sabiendo, but do not make this harder than it is.
- 3
Slice and reserve
Slice the peeled tongue across the grain into 1cm slices. Keep the slices together on a plate and strain 500ml of the cooking broth for the sauce. If the tongue looks a little firm at the centre, do not worry; it will finish gently in the sauce.
- 4
Build the sofrito
Warm the olive oil in a wide cazuela or heavy pan. Add the chopped onions, garlic, and diced carrot with a pinch of salt and cook low and slow for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and almost jammy. This sofrito, the slow onion base, is where the sweetness comes from. Rush it and the sauce tastes thin.
- 5
Cook the pepper
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add the grated tomato and cook until the oil starts to show at the edges. Pull the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón, then add the scraped flesh of the soaked pimiento choricero. Pimentón burns fast; off the heat it gives colour and smoke without bitterness.
- 6
Reduce the wine
Return the pan to medium heat, sprinkle in the flour, and stir for 1 minute so it loses its raw taste. Pour in the red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Let it bubble for 5 to 7 minutes, until the sharp smell of alcohol is gone and the sauce looks glossy and darker.
- 7
Finish in sauce
Add 500ml of the strained broth and bring the sauce to a low simmer. Blend the sauce smooth if you want the Rioja table version, or leave it rustic if that is how your house likes it. Lay in the tongue slices, spoon sauce over them, cover, and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, until the slices are tender and the sauce coats a spoon. Add a splash more broth if it thickens too much.
- 8
Rest and serve
Taste for salt and let the pan rest off the heat for 10 minutes. Tongue in sauce is better when it settles a little; the slices drink in the wine and pimentón and the sauce rounds itself out. Serve with fried potatoes, boiled potatoes, or good bread for the sauce. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Buy tongue from a butcher with good turnover and ask for beef tongue, not veal tongue, unless you want a smaller, milder dish. A 1.2kg to 1.5kg tongue feeds six once peeled and trimmed.
- •Peel the tongue while it is still warm. If it cools before you get to it, return it to the hot broth for 10 minutes and try again. Cold tongue peels badly, and there is no prize for suffering.
- •Use a dry red wine with some backbone. Rioja is the natural bottle here; if you are far from it, any honest dry red works, but avoid sweet wine and thin cooking wine.
- •Pimiento choricero gives the sauce its Riojan depth. If you cannot find it, use a dried ñora, or add another 1/2 teaspoon sweet pimentón. The sauce will be a little simpler, and that is the truth of the swap.
- •This is a make-ahead dish. Cook it the day before, chill it in the sauce, and reheat gently. The slices hold together better and the sauce tastes more settled.
Advance Preparation
- •The tongue can be simmered, peeled, sliced, and refrigerated in its strained broth up to 24 hours ahead. Finish it in the sauce the next day.
- •The completed dish keeps well for 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat it slowly over low heat with a splash of broth or water so the sauce loosens without turning salty.
- •For a cleaner sauce, soak and scrape the pimiento choricero while the tongue cooks; the flesh is ready when it comes away from the skin with the back of a knife.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
560 calories
Total Fat
42 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
27 g
Cholesterol
210 mg
Sodium
750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
12 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
32 g
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