Sous Vide Ox Tongue | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Ox tongue with celeriac slaw and Marmite bread

COOK TIME: 2 Hours
PREP TIME: 6 Days
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 8

Ingredients

1 ox tongue
250g of Demerara sugar
360g of rock salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp juniper berries
3 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
25g of saltpetre
2.5l water

Marmite bread

430g of flour
12g of salt
20g of fresh yeast
125g of Marmite
210ml of water, warm

Beetroot syrup

500ml of beetroot juice

Celeriac coleslaw

1/2 celeriac, finely sliced
1 kohlrabi, finely sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, finely sliced
1 tbsp of mayonnaise
1 tsp chopped chives
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp shallots, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
salt

To serve

rapeseed oil, for frying
1 handful of radicchio
1 handful of baby cress

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of chef Ollie Moore from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

To brine the ox tongue, mix together the sugar, salt, peppercorns, juniper, bay leaves, thyme, saltpetre and water in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook until boiling, then take the pan off the heat and leave to cool.
Once cool, transfer the brine into another container, passing it through a fine sieve to remove the solids. Place the ox tongue in the container with the brine, ensuring that the meat is fully submerged, then chill in the fridge for 3 days.
After 3 days, preheat the water bath to a temperature of 64⁰C.
Take the tongue out of the brine and wash off any residue with plenty of clean water. Place the washed meat in a vacuum bag and seal, then leave the bag to cook in the water bath for 48 hours.
After this time, take the bag out of the water bath. Leave the tongue to rest for 10 minutes, then carefully pull off the skin before the meat cools down completely.
Place the tongue flat on a baking tray, then cover with a second baking tray and weigh down it with something heavy. Chill in the fridge overnight.
After placing the tongue in the fridge, make the dough for the Marmite bread. Using a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, salt, yeast, Marmite and water, mixing for 5 6 minutes to produce a smooth, well-kneaded dough. Place the dough in the fridge and leave overnight to prove.
The next day, take the proved Marmite dough out of the fridge and form into a log shape about 3cm in diameter. Lay the loaf on a baking tray, add a loose cover over the top and set aside to rise for 2 hours.
For the beetroot syrup, bring the beetroot juice to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over a medium heat and cook, stirring from time to time, until reduced to a thick and syrupy consistency. This should take about 20 minutes. Once reduced, take the pan off the heat and set aside until needed.
To make the coleslaw, lay the celeriac and kohlrabi slices in a colander and place over a large bowl. Mix the slices with a generous pinch of salt and leave for 1 hour. During this time, the salt will draw the moisture out of the vegetables.
After 1 hour, press down on the slices to squeeze out as much moisture as possible, then place in a clean bowl and add the apple, mayonnaise, chives, parsley, shallots and lemon juice. Stir well, then chill in the fridge until needed.
Preheat the oven to a temperature of 210⁰C/gas mark 6.5.
To finish the Marmite bread, place the risen loaf in the oven and cook for 20 minutes until brown and crusty. Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack, then slice to the desired thickness.
Prior to serving, take the pressed tongue out of the fridge, remove the baking trays and slice the meat into portions. Heat a dash of rapeseed oil in a large frying pan, add the tongue and sear over a medium heat. Turn the tongue slices during cooking to ensure that they are crispy all over and heated through.
Using a toaster or a grill, brown the sliced Marmite bread, then cut the toast into cubes.
To serve, smear some beetroot syrup over the base of each plate in a swirling line. Add a portion of tongue, some toast cubes and a generous spoonful of celeriac coleslaw, then finish the dish with a garnish of radicchio and cress leaves.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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