Smoked Beef Tongue Pastrami

Protein:

Nose to Tail Cooking

Method: Stovetop and Smoker

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Beef tongue is one of those foods that people never give a chance because it seems "to weird" or exotic to them. When cooked correctly, however, beef tongue can turn out tender and moist and is an often-overlooked part of the cow to cook. For this smoked cow tongue recipe, we brine/cure the tongue before smoking it and making a fantastic smoked beef tongue pastrami. In our opinion this is the best way to cook cow tongue and will be certain to impress your guests.

How to Make Smoked Beef Tongue Pastrami

To make the pastrami with beef tongue you will need to brine/cure the cow tongue, boil it briefly to remove the tough outer section of the tongue, then season and smoke the beef tongue. For this recipe we cooked a wagyu beef tongue from KC Cattle Company, but any cow tongue from a local butcher will turn out great.

Prepare the brine for the beef tongue

To make the pastrami from beef tongue you first need to cure the meat. This is not a complicated process but does take about 5-7 days and requires quite a bit of refrigerator space.

To make the pastrami brine you will need distilled water, Kosher salt, Prague powder (pink cure #1), brown sugar, onion, garlic and a variety of spices and seasonings.

If you do not have all of the spices or seasonings it is not a big deal to substitute as needed or experiment with different spices. The salt, sugar, and Prague powder should remain the same, but you can feel free to play around with the remaining ingredients in the brine/cure.

What is pink curing salt? Is it the same as Himalayan salt?

Also known as Prague powder, cure #1 pink curing salt is an essential ingredient in curing meat that will later be cooked or smoked, like corned beef or traditional pastrami. Prague powder contains sodium nitrite and is not interchangeable with Himalayan salt. The two are vastly different and care should be taken to be certain you are using the correct salt.

Cook the brine

Combine all of the brine ingredients with 1 gallon of the water, in a large pot.

Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and continue to simmer for 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and add in the remaining 1 gallon of water. Adding the cold water, helps to bring the temperature of the brine down more quickly before you add the meat.

To further cool the brine, place it in a nonreactive container or large brining bag and place in the refrigerator and cool.

Once the brine for the beef tongue has cooled, add the meat to the brine and brine for 5 days. Shake the bag daily or flip the meat, to ensure even brining.

Boil the cured beef tongue

After 5-7 days bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove the beef tongue from the brine and boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the water and cool. Once it has cooled enough to handle, peel the tough outer layer off of the beef tongue. The cow tongue does not need to be fully cooked after boiling, you just want to be able to peel the tough outer portion of the tongue off.

While the meat is cooling, combine the rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix to combine. It may help to crush some of the larger spices like the peppercorns and coriander with a mortar and pestle or the back of a spoon, to help crack them.

Next, rub the outside of the beef tongue liberally with the rub. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Cooking beef tongue on your smoker

Preheat your smoker, or set up your grill for indirect heat, to 250-275 degrees. Smoke the beef tongue to an internal temperature of 193 degrees, then remove from the smoker. This typically takes about 2-3 hours, but times can vary. It may help to flip and rotate the meat about every 30 minutes to ensure even cooking.

For smoking the beef tongue, we like to use stronger flavored woods like oak or hickory, but milder woods like pecan or maple work well too. We cooked this beef tongue on a Big Green Egg, but any smoker type will work well including pellet smokers like a Traeger.

Rest the Smoked Beef Tongue Pastrami then slice

Once the beef tongue pastrami has reached 190-195 degrees, remove it from the smoker and wrap in foil and rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

We are strong supporters of making use of the entire animal, so be sure to check out more of our nose to tail recipes:

• Bone Marrow Compound Butter
• Jamaican Style Cast Iron Oxtail Stew
• Beer Braised Beef Cheek Barbacoa
• Jalapeno Black Eyed Peas with Smoked Pork Jowl
• Spanish Cochinillo Asado: Roast Suckling Pig

Enjoy your smoked beef tongue pastrami with your favorite BBQ sides like our Smoked Hatch Chile Mac and Cheese, Smoked Au Gratin Potatoes, or Jalapeno Coleslaw With Bacon Aioli.

Be sure to try some of our other smoked beef recipes:

• Smoked Chuck Roast Chili
• Smoked Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf
• Garlic Picanha
• Beef Tallow Rubbed Prime Rib
• Beef Short Rib Tomahawk
• Beef Short Rib Burnt Ends

Frequently Asked Questions about Smoked Beef Tongue

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