Monday, March 8, 2010

Jezyk/Ozorek

Recently, I attended a birthday/nameday (imieniny) gathering (it was for two different people.) It was maddeningly boring (a real marathon of dullness), but that's beside the point. The real humdinger of this event was the ozorek (beef tongue) that was served. Now, it might not be very special for many people, but in the US, beef tongue is not often served, so I was quite curious to try it.
I should note, that I—as a rule—don't eat offal of any sort (liver is especially repulsive. It's absolutely hideous in terms of texture, taste, and smell. It's the organ that filters out toxins from your body!) I was willing to try tongue on the basis that it's not an organ meat, but rather a muscle.
The ozorki were arranged on a plate with some horseradish sauce. It may be just the way that it was cooked, but they were dull brown and didn't at all look like tongues. They had a beefy taste (no surprise there) and they were very tender (imagine what a cooked tongue would have as a texture and that's what it's like.) I ate only one portion and didn't go for any more, but the experience wasn't unpleasant in any way. The horseradish sauce complimented it quite well.
The bottom line of it all is that, had no one told me that it was tongue, I would have never had known or guessed (and probably helped myself to more.) It's a food that can please even the most squeamish of eaters; just don't tell them it's a cow's tongue.

3 comments:

Dr. Detroit said...

This reminds me of a time my Polish friend and I fed our American colleague some kaszanka (with a mandatory pickle on the side). He really enjoyed it. After the big reveal that it was blood sausage he just had, slightly surprised, he asked for more.

BTW, have you tried flaczki? I don't know what your impression is, but at least in the western parts of Poland it seemed to have been the national dish that could have been had practically anywhere.

Dr. Detroit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PolishMeKnob said...

I have had kaszanka (I knew full well going in what it was going to be) and I wasn't the hugest fan. Tastes too metallic and is a waste of good buckwheat.

I won't try flaczki since tripe is pretty hideous. I've heard of Poles that hate it, but eat it when they go drinking. So it's a drinking food, I guess.