Beef tongue

Beef tongue or neat's tongue is the tongue of a cow. Beef tongue is very high in fat, at almost 75% of its calories derived. Some countries, including Canada and specifically the province of Alberta, export large quantities of beef tongue.

The tongues of other animals, notably pigs and lambs, are also eaten, and are very similar to beef tongue.

In some animals, the tongue is reputed to be the tastiest part. For example, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld found most of the walrus not particularly tasty, but walrus tongue, a delicacy. The whale tongue, too, was viewed as a Lenten delicacy by Roman Catholics in the Middle Ages.

Preparation

Tongue is often seasoned with onion and other spices, and then placed in a pot to boil. After it has cooked the skin is removed. Pickled tongue is often used by the preparer because it is already spiced. If cooked in a sauce, it can then later be reused as a sauce for meatballs or any other food item.

Another way of preparing tongue is to scald it in hot water and remove the skin, then roast the tongue in an oven, using the pan drippings to prepare a gravy.

Tongue

The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floor of the mouth of most vertebrates that manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste (gustation), as much of its upper surface is covered in taste buds. The tongue's upper surface is also covered in numerous lingual papillae. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. In humans a secondary function of the tongue is phonetic articulation. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning the teeth. The ability to perceive different tastes is not localised in different parts of the tongue, as is widely believed. This error arose because of misinterpretation of some 19th-century research (see tongue map).

Structure

The tongue is a muscular structure that forms part of the floor of the oral cavity. The left and right sides of the tongue are separated by the lingual septum. The human tongue is divided into anterior and posterior parts. The anterior part is the visible part situated at the front and makes up roughly two-thirds the length of the tongue. The posterior part is the part closest to the throat, roughly one-third of its length. These parts differ in terms of their embryological development and nerve supply. The two parts of the tongue are divided by the terminal sulcus.

Tongue (disambiguation)

Tongue most generally refers to the muscle on the floor of the mouth. By analogy or other figure of speech it can also refer to:

Place names

Tongue, Highland

Coordinates: 58°28′42″N 4°25′05″W / 58.47839°N 4.41799°W / 58.47839; -4.41799

Tongue (Scottish Gaelic: Tunga from Old Norse Tunga) is a coastal village in northwest Highland, Scotland, in the western part of the former county of Sutherland. It lies on the east shore above the base of the Kyle of Tongue and north of the mountains Ben Hope and Ben Loyal. To the north lies the area of Braetongue.

Tongue is the main village in a series of crofting townships that runs through Coldbackie, Dalharn, Blandy, and the harbour of Scullomie to the deserted township of Slettel. The village includes a youth hostel, a craft shop, a general store and garage, a bank, a post office and two hotels, the Tongue Hotel and The Ben Loyal Hotel. It is connected to the west side of the Kyle by the Kyle of Tongue Bridge and Causeway, built in 1971.

Toponymy

Contrary to popular belief, the name Tongue does not refer to the shape of the Kyle of Tongue (though the kyle can be described as "tongue-shaped"). Rather it is a geographical term in Old Norse which refers to a piece of land shaped like a spit or tongue. That tongue of land projecting into the Kyle is the terminal moraine of the Kyle of Tongue glacier, and forms the eastern part of the Kyle of Tongue causeway.