Looking for a tasty beef tongue recipe? Come along with me on a journey through Czech cuisine! Today on the menu: slowly cooked beef tongue, served with plum butter sauce.
Here is an old-world Czech recipe for beef tongue. It is simmered slowly in water until tender, with an added mix of vegetables and spices. After cooking, the tongue is peeled, sliced, and served warm on a bed of plum butter sauce. For a classic side, add two to three slices of bread dumplings.
My tip: As a delightful twist, Czechs also enjoy cooked beef tongue served with fresh bread and grated horseradish with apples, a condiment known as „Vejmrda.“
The Czech name of this recipe is: "Hovězí jazyk s povidlovou omáčkou." I have recorded a short audio clip for you to listen to its authentic Czech pronunciation.
Ingredients for cooked beef tongue
✅ You will find the exact ingredient amounts in the recipe card below, which you can also print out.
Butchers typically offer raw beef tongue as a whole, as one large piece. If you have never cooked tongue before, it might appear unappetizing at first glance. That is okay; once the cooked tongue is on your plate, you will forget all about any unpleasant thoughts. Preparing the tongue before cooking doesn't require any special steps. Simply rinse it under running water and put it in cold water to cook. After cooking, let it cool briefly in cold water and peel it; it is easy. A beef tongue weighs around 5.½ pounds (a little over 2 kg). So, if you are not cooking for a crowd, you will usually end up with about a third of the cooked tongue leftover.
Ingredients for plum butter sauce
Plum butter is something that we Czechs know as "povidla," an item you can find in almost every Czech store. However, I've found that this povidla thing is not as readily available abroad. I discussed it with Czechs living in the USA, and they agreed that the closest equivalent can be found in American stores labeled as plum butter. This delicacy is traditionally made from ripe plums, slowly cooked in a pot. Through slow cooking, the water evaporates, and the fruit mixture thickens. Nowadays, sugar is often added to plum butter, but its content can vary.
Rum is the second ingredient I want to talk about. We Czechs love our Božkov rum, or Tuzemák. However, traditional Czech rum doesn't really have much in common with genuine rum. If you are based in the USA and would like to complement your Czech cooking with the authentic taste of rum, reach for Austrian Stroh 45, or head to Costco and look for Kirkland spiced rum. These rums should most closely resemble the spirit that Czechs use in their cooking.
MY TIP: If you have leftover boiled tongue, prepare some grated apple horseradish to go with it. Arrange slices of the tongue on a plate, add horseradish, and serve with a slice of fresh bread.
Hints for success
- For making the plum butter sauce, I use broth that forms while cooking the tongue.
- Strain the broth leftover from cooking the tongue through a sieve and freeze it in batches after it has cooled. It is a great base for making soups and sauces.
- You can shorten the cooking time to one hour by making the tongue in a pressure cooker. However, the broth won't be as rich as if you were to cook it traditionally in a pot, as I describe in the recipe card below.
Beef Tongue with Plum Sauce
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Beef tongue
- 1 beef tongue raw
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 small parsley root (optional)
- 1 small onion
- 1 Tablespoon lemon peel freshly grated
- 2 pieces bay leaves
- 5 pieces allspice
- 10 pieces peppercorn
- ½ Tablespoon dried thyme
- water to cover the tongue
- 2 teaspoons salt
Plum butter sauce
- 1 cup plum butter sweetened (Czech Povidla)
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon lemon peel freshly grated
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 1 Tablespoon spiced rum e.g. Kirkland from Costco or Austrian Stroh 54
- ½ cup beef broth or more
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cooking beef tongue
- Peel and dice 1 medium carrot and 1 small parsley root into half-inch (1.5 cm) cubes. Peel and roughly chop 1 small onion.
- Clean and rinse 1 beef tongue under running water. Place it in a pot and cover it with cold water. Add the diced vegetables.
- Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. If foam forms on the surface, skim it off with a spoon. Once the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, add 1 Tablespoon lemon peel, 2 pieces bay leaves, 5 pieces allspice, 10 pieces peppercorn, ½ Tablespoon dried thyme, and season with 2 teaspoons salt. Let it simmer slowly for three hours.
- Once the tongue is cooked, carefully transfer it to a pot of cold water and let it sit for about ten minutes. Use a small knife to peel off the tough outer skin.
- Cut the peeled tongue into thin slices and serve.
Plum butter sauce
- In a skillet, heat 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour and stir until the mixture starts to foam.
- Reduce the heat, add 1 cup plum butter and lukewarm ½ cup beef broth, and stir. Season with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon lemon peel, and ½ teaspoon salt. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
- Finally, add 1 Tablespoon spiced rum. If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with a little broth. If the plum butter was not sweet enough, add sugar, and adjust salt to taste.
Notes
- The basic recipe makes about 6 portions.
- SERVING: Serve warm. Place the plum sauce on the plate and arrange slices of cooked tongue in it. Add two to three slices of bread dumplings.
- Expect to have some leftover cooked beef tongue. The tongue is usually sold whole as one piece, not portioned out.
Nutritional estimate pro serving
More Czech sauce recipes:
- Svíčková sauce
- Dill sauce (Czech Koprová omáčka)
- Sweet tomato gravy (Czech Rajská omáčka)
Tried this recipe?
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Elizabeth says
I'm looking forward to trying this. We bought a 1/4 share of one of our friend's cows, and the butcher adding in the tongue in our share. Since we don't eat tongue too much in the US, I was at a loss of what to do with it! Thank you.
Petra | Cook Like Czechs says
That is awesome! I hope you will like it.:)