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.