Deer Tongue Tacos

For the last few years I’ve toyed with the idea of saving and cooking my deer tongues, but an innate sense of apprehension has always prevented me from following through.

This year—thanks in large part to the wobbly bits renaissance that’s been ushered in within the hunting community by luminaries like Hank Shaw, Steve Rinella and the whole crew over at Meateater— I decided to cast those apprehensions aside and dive head first into the world of deer tongue tacos.

At first glance, the extracted deer tongue is a site to behold for sure, but not one that necessarily inspires thoughts of culinary granduer. With proper preparation, however, this oft discarded cut of meat became a huge hit in our Kentucky deer camp and will likely endure as a camp favorite for years to come.

The first step in your journey from tongue to taco should be a simple braise. Just throw the tongue, or tongues if you’re lucky enough to have a lot of them, into a Dutch Oven with whatever stock you have on hand, bring the concoction to a boil, then back off on the heat and let the tongues simmer, lid on, for roughly three hours. You could also put them in the oven at 350 degree for approximately the same amount of time.

Don’t worry about browning the tongues before hand as you would for a proper braise. The main purpose of this step is to tenderize the meat and prepare the rubbery, inedible outer skin for its ultimate removal. If you want to add some spices and aromatics to the braising liquid, feel free. We did, and it seemed to enhance the flavor of the braised tongue substantially. We went with garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, black pepper and bay leaves.

I have to admit that what you left with post braise is not the most attractive thing that the culinary world has to offer, but don’t let that distract you from your end goal. Keep your eye on the prize. Delicious lengua tacos await.

After your braise is complete take the tongues from the Dutch Oven and drop them straight into an ice water bath. This process serves to loosen the outer skin from the meat, not unlike poaching a steamed tomato prior to peeling.

Carefully peel the white outer skin from the tongue, making sure that all traces of skin are completely removed. What you are left with is a nice lean-ish cut of meat. To me it seamed kind of like a cross between organ meat and regular muscle meat.

Slice it thin or cube it up, then toss it straight on to a hot cast iron coated in olive oil and apply a fairly liberal coating of smoked paprika. This final sear will add flavor and color to your end result, making the tongue even tastier and more visually appealing.

The only thing left to do at this point is to lightly fry some white corn tortillas, chop some white onion, cilantro, avocado, and lime and proudly ring the dinner bell.

You’ll now have the satisfaction of knowing that you made your harvest go a little further while expanding your own culinary horizons and hopefully turning other hunters on to the possibilities saving and cooking with this top-notch cut of meat.