i've only had cow tongue twice. once at a market dedicated to meat in center city Oaxaca. grilled over a wood fire, chopped and sauced, wrapped in a warm corn tortilla with diced radish and a squeeze of lime. i got amoebic dysentery later that night. my second tongue experience happened more recently here a few years ago. we were shrimping off the west side of Spieden island in a boat that belonged to a guy name Victor. "you don't need to bring anything but your goddam license. you bought your goddam license didn't you?" Victor was a football coach at U of Oregon years ago. we're not exactly close friends. along with shrimping comes gov. regulations and expensive equipment. you are limited to a certain # of shrimp per licensed boat occupant. a mutually beneficial relationship. Victor gets to catch more shrimp. jay gets to eat fresh shrimp w/out spending over $100K for a boat like Victor's.
i chilled the tongue and shoulder roast, strained and fat skimmed the broth, made rice noodles (the wide ones), and got condiments ready. a lime, some basil leaves, chopped scallions and serrano chilli, hoisin sauce. Victor's fillet knife was sharper than mine but i did my best to slice the tongue super thin. constructed bowl with noodles, stack of tongue, ladled broth, condiments. goddam. some might be put off by the idea of tongue. or just the texture might disagree with folks. it's rubbery in a meaty sumptuous way. kind of like if you could make a noodle out of meat. and tongue and hoisin are heavenly together.