Things to do before Christmas: Festive fare for the freezer

IF pressed tongue from the deli is out of your league financially, go along to the butchery department for a pickled tongue and cook and press it yourself. Pickling is a job for experts but the rest of the process is not difficult and can be done well ahead of Christmas because it doesn’t lose its texture as a result of freezing.

Simmer the tongue gently with a handful of fresh herbs for 1½ to 2 hours. You can use a saucepan on a stove plate or a slow cooker on high.

It is done when you can remove the skin easily. Don’t throw away the cooking liquid.

Once it is skinned, curl it round and put it in the smallest casserole that will hold it. I do have a specialised tongue press, designed and made for my late mother by a friend with a bent for engineering and a taste for pressed tongue. I very seldom use it as it takes two large tongues, curled together in a ‘69’ shape to fill it.

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Before the advent of the tongue press, I remember my mother having some intriguing methods of maintaining pressure on the meat while it cooled, including putting it UNDER a marble slab. Once she sat on it for the whole evening.

My father was never much of a handyman and probably never owned a G-clamp in his life. If he had, I’m sure my mother would have come up with a similar solution to mine. Turn the casserole lid upside-down, press it down on the tongue and clamp the handles together. Stick it in the fridge overnight.

If you used a slow cooker, you will have too much cooking liquid and it won’t be sufficiently concentrated to set into hard jelly. Reduce some of it by boiling.

Pour the reduction over the tongue to fill the gaps between the meat and return to the fridge to set. When it’s ready, turn it out, garnish it and you should have something like the picture at the top of the page. If you don’t need it immediately, wrap it up and freeze it.

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