More Of Celine. Pork Stock And Braised Tongue.

It's still Sunday.

And here's Celine, de-skinned. I'll be making a pork stock and braising the tongue. All the meat has been cut out and refrigerated and I'm going to use the skull to make a pork stock that I think would be really tasty for a hearty bean soup this winter.

The skull is going into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

I have a big stock pot with water heating up. First I added in the pig skin. That should make for quite a gelatinous stock.

Fresh bay leaves went in.

My aromatics - celery, carrot, and onion.

I coarsely chopped the onion, celery, and carrots and added them to the stock pot.

Here's Celine after her 40 minutes in the oven.

Into the pot she goes.

And I simmered, simmered, simmered for about 7 hours, every now and then, scraping whatever I could off the head. I strained the liquid, covered, and refrigerated. Monday, I'll skim the congealed fat off the surface. Now, for the braised tongue.

I have chicken stock and veal stock, onion, carrots, green onions, thyme, garlic, and white wine and white vinegar.

Chop all the aromatics.

I put in a few cubes of veal stock.

Celine's tongue.

The veggies went in, along with the thyme, and a quart of my chicken stock to cover.

A little vinegar.

A little wine.

The French Laundry recommended covering the tongue with a parchment lid, with a steam hole cut out in the middle. According to The French Laundry, having the parchment lid allows for evaporation and a long cooking time. It also keeps the surface of the meat from caramelizing as it cooks.

The tongue went into a 300 degree oven for four hours or until the meat was very tender.

Here it is four hours later. The French Laundry instructed to leave the tongue in the braising liquid for 30 minutes so it could reabsorb part of the liquid it released during cooking.

Tongue.

Next you want to peel the tongue while still hot.

I stored the tongue in its braising liquid in the fridge until I was ready to use it. And that, my friends, is how I spent my Sunday.