Persian Lamb Tongue Soup

Most people will run a mile if you wave a lamb tongue at them. But you're not most people are you, you daring little deviant, you.

I lived in Tehran until I was five and Iranians don't share the contemporary western squeamishness around offal. I say contemporary because it's only in the past few generations that we've become quite so theatrical around the wobbly bits. Your grandparents, regardless of their heritage, would have had liver, kidneys, tongue, brains and lights (whatever the fuck they are) on the table. If they'd squealed at the sight of it like you do, they'd have gone to bed with a thick ear (pigs, poached in milk probably).

Anyway, in Iran, at least when I was growing up, every bit was the best bit if you knew what you were doing with it. Lamb tongue soup was and still is my favourite. Cooked properly, it's buttery, sweet, mellow and meaty. Yes, it's confronting if you're not keen on your bits of animal looking like bits of animal, but once you've tried it, you'll get over the optics. I have a few friends who recoiled at the sight of my steaming bowl of mouth-meat, but once they'd tried it (under duress) their eyes filled with tears, they fell to their knees and they sobbed, for they had found true happiness.

They're not the easiest items to find but your butcher will love you if you ask him to source you some. You may need to call ahead and order some, but my butcher (Frank's in Fremantle) has a vacuum sealed stash at the back of his mystery-meats cabinet. If you can't find lamb tongues, calf tongues are almost equal - although you'll need to add another half an hour to the simmering time.

I always make more Lamb Tongue Soup than I need and freeze a few portions for a rainy, often hungover, day. It makes sense given the time it takes to simmer and peel them. "Peel them?!" you shriek. Ah, relax, it's quite therapeutic once you get into the flow of it.

Persian Lamb Tongue Soup

~ 4 servings ~

Ingredients

8 lamb tongues

2 onions, quartered

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

1-2 slices of ginger, peeled (optional)

1 stick of cinnamon

2 tbsp turmeric

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1 tbsp salt

To serve

1/4 red onion, diced

1 cup chopped parsley

1 glug extra virgin olive oil per serve

8 lemon or lime wedges

8 warm pita bread

Rinse the tongues under a cold tap, then soak them in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes and give them a little rub to remove any stubborn blood blobs. If you cook them still bloody, a delightful grey foam will form and muddy your broth.

Place the cleaned tongues in cooking pot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and let it rip for 10 minutes. The water probably looks a bit foamy now so tip it away and re-rinse the tongues.

Add the quartered onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, peppercorns (but not the salt) and 8 cups of fresh water to the pot and bring to a low simmer.

Put the lid on and let it gently simmer for 3 hours.

Turn the heat off and scoop the tongues and the cinnamon stick out of the cooking liquid. You can bin the cinnamon stick now - its work is done.

Let the tongues sit on a plate for a few minutes. When they're cool enough to handle, peel the thin outer layer of skin from the tongues. It should come away quite easily - if not, pop them back to simmer for another 30 minutes. I rinse the skins and feed them to my dog. She's never more than a metre away if there's meat in the kitchen. She's basically a hairy vacuum cleaner/floor mop.

Before returning the tongues to the pot, I use a stick blender to blitz the cooking liquid, softened onions and garlic into a beautifully fragrant broth.

Now add the salt and let it simmer for another 30 minutes.

To serve, pop a couple of tongues in a bowl, add a ladle of broth and top with parsley, red onion, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Now eat it and mourn for the years you've spent without Persian Lamb Tongue Soup in your life.