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Lengua Loaded Tacos
PIN THIS RECIPE!Time for me to vent. But what else do I do on this blog? It’s my diary. With other people reading it. Ya creeps.
I’m kidding. Don’t go getting all emotional on me, I’m already a sh*t show.
It’s be a tough couple past days. On Saturday morning, we began landscaping on our property. We had a giant tree in the front yard that needed to come down before something like lightning struck and it came through our house. And we needed to have our entire back yard property line of bushes come out as well. All so we can put a fence up and begin to make our house look like we give a damn. I left for the gym as they began cutting down the tree in our front yard so when I came home to a flooded laundry room in our basement, I began the juggling game: dealing with the landscaping while trying to solve the plumbing issue myself. After nothing worked, since well I know absolutely nothing about plumbing, I called up a plumber and he came to roto rooter or whatever the hell it’s called.
He instantly knew something wasn’t right and called for a sewer scope. Boom, our sewer line had collapsed. Luckily it hadn’t collapsed completely that we had feces in our basement or some horror like that, but enough that the only way to solve the issue was to dig 8 feet deep and repair where the damage was done. You see, old Denver home sewer lines were built out of clay. Genius. And luckily the line went through a really convenient place: below our cement patio. So they began cutting and digging and after they fixed the small issue near the house, they scoped the rest of the line which went through the entire back yard and found what? More collapsed lines. Because, well, THEY’RE MADE OF F*CKING CLAY. So since they were already there, digging away, they asked us if we wanted them to do it all because this would all just happen again later on if it wasn’t replaced. We agreed and I went and sat on the toilet that I could not flush, to cry and cry.
We have our wedding coming up in less than a month, which we are paying for. And it’s tax season and since I own my own business, well you know how that goes. Perfect timing. We had been saving for the past year for the fence and some landscaping but no where in there were we prepared for a new sewer line. You know why? Because our contractor lied to us and even though he knew there were issues, he ignored them and told us nothing of the fact. What a terrible human being.
When sh*t like this happens, I have a real hard time turning on the positivity. Especially since I haven’t heard back from insurance yet and I am pmsing like a mother f*cker. Will insurance pay for it? I have absolutely no clue right now. I just know that we are freaking the f*ck out and I’m trying to not go off the deep end. Even though I remind myself how lucky we are to even own a home and have our health and get to marry each other in less than a month, IN JAMAICA, the money just has a much stronger voice and opinion in this situation. Especially since this could have been completely avoided before we moved in. Sorry for all the downer talk guys, it just sometimes hard to see the light when so many human beings are creating clouds.
But you know what doesn’t create clouds? TACOS! There is an amazing taco place in Denver that seriously has the best tacos I’ve ever had. And when we recently went there for date night a few weeks back, I decided to man up and try their lengua taco. I was scared and creeped out but it was totally amazing. This is where that taco was inspired from! Because when Yellowstone Beef sent me some slabs of meat, including a giant tongue, I was very intimidated…mostly creeped out. The taco place made me step up and own that beef tongue. Ew. Just try it, ok?
Lengua Loaded Tacos
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
For the tomatillo salsa
- 1–2 tablespoons ghee
- 10 tomatillos
- 3 jalapeños
- 2 garlic cloves
- juice of 2 limes
- 1/3 cup packed cilantro
- salt, to taste
For the shredded beef
- 1 beef tongue
- 3 garlic cloves
- enough beef broth to cover
- 1/2 white onion, sliced
- salt, to taste
For the pineapple mayo*
- 1 cup mayo (homemade or store bought)
- 1/2 cup diced pineapple
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
For the tacos
- Siete Foods Tortillas or homemade tortillas from Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook
- avocado, sliced
- radishes, thinly sliced
- pineapple, cubed small
- cilantro, roughly chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
- To help with time management on these, make your tomatillo salsa a day ahead so you don’t have to mess with it the day of. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos and jalapeños on the baking sheet. Use a brush to brush each pepper with a bit of ghee or coconut oil and then sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven to cook for 20-30 minutes, until charred on the outside. Let cool then run under cold water to help peel off and discard the skin and seeds of the jalapeños. Place all ingredients for the salsa in the food processor and blend until smooth. Place in the fridge to cool.
- Cut three deep holes in the beef tongue and press the garlic cloves in the holes. Place the tongue in the crockpot then cover with beef broth, onion and a healthy amount of salt. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Once cooked, remove from broth to let cool for a couple minutes then peel back the skin of the tongue with the tastebuds. Shred or chop (I did both) then set back in the broth to soak up more flavor while you finish other ingredients.
- Place all ingredients for the pineapple mayo into a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Lastly, place a medium pan over medium heat. Once hot, add 1-2 tablespoons of ghee or coconut oil. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chopped and shredded tongue from the liquid and let it drain a bit (this will make sure that the tongue gets crispy in the pan) then place it in the pan in one single layer. Let cook for 2-3 minutes until browned and crispy on one side, then use a spatula to flip the meat to the other side and let cook for 1-2 more minutes, until crispy.
- Then build the tacos: tortilla, crispy tongue, tomatillo salsa, avocado slices, radishes, diced pineapple, pineapple mayo, and cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice on top! Serve immediately!
Notes
*Pineapple mayo does not keep for very long. Use this in 2-3 days before discarding.
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You Need To Make These Too:
Street Fish Tacos on page 148 in Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook
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41 thoughts on “Lengua Loaded Tacos”
you have a very good perspective on everything – being positive is one thing, prepared another, realistic another altogether. Let the contractors fix things, and don’t let this take away from the excitement of your wedding.
I came to comment on the awesome tacos – but couldn’t resist giving a stranger some e-support.
But the tacos…seriously….awesome!! SOLID
thanks for the support, erin!
I have to try these. I think I have 3 tongues sitting in my freezer and I’ve been putting off making them into… something. I’ve actually had tongue before – it’s like very tender beef. Delicious! This is happening over the weekend. Sending positive vibes to you – I know your wedding will turn out great!!
three?!? hahaha that must be taking up so much space! that’s why i made the tacos in the first place, i need more freezer room lol!
The same exact thing happened to our sewer line three weeks after we bought our house last year. Clay pipes are the worst and so are inspectors who don’t catch these things! Check with your local county government. Since this is such an issue where I live there was an executive order put into place where the bill for the repairs was added to our tax bill over 40 years and we didn’t have to pay out of pocket. We were lucky and one of the only people who was able to get this done before they got rid of the program, but it’s worth a shot to look into where you live. Good luck!
that’s awesome, i’ll look into that!
First, let me say I’m sorry for the crap you’re going through with your poop lines. I’m not a rah rah, it’ll get better type of person, so I’ll just say I’m sorry and soon you’ll dive into the next crisis. Congrats on the upcoming wedding.
I love your blog and your recipes, but this one, just yuck. I’m sitting at my desk eating mashed sweet potatoes with a hamburger/mushroom gravy and trying to read the recipe. I can’t. I could barely make it past the “lengua” then to read “…skin…with the taste buds…” I think I lost my appetite! Maybe I’ll try it with a crock potted roast or something.
Oh, glad you didn’t have to scoop poop from your laundry room…that woulda been a real shitty job!
i’m with you lol! i made these tacos when i had a really bad cold and had to deal with the tongue while feeling miserable and totally grossed out by it! if you ever want to try tongue for the first time, have someone else do the prepping for you lol!
Daw, as a fellow home owner I can sympathize! It just sucks sometimes. Just focus on fixing the immediate problem, and move to the next. I know this will sound like total crap, but things will work out in the end (life loves to throw a shit storm at you sometimes) . As for the beef tongue….nope! I love your food, but NOPE NOPE NOPE!
they always do, and my fiance is really good about remembering and reminding me of that. and i totally get it about the beef tongue, it was a big step for me to finally try it.
When we bought our house our home inspector missed soooooo many things. One of the major things we found out about 4 months after we moved in was our sewer line was FILLED with roots from a huge tree the previous home owners planted 4 feet from the sewer line. Being brand new homeowners we never even thought to have that checked because we just trusted that the home inspector would tell us things that might be a concern. Also, who the eff plants an effing tree 4 feet from a sewer line!?!? We found out about the sewer line when I was 3 months pregnant so my hormones were crazy and I spent a good week crying about how we were going to afford to pay for all this stuff and save for the new baby. Adulting sucks so hard sometimes. I hope your insurance will pay for the repairs!
i truly can’t imagine dealing with it while pregnant and worrying about the costs with a baby. so overwhelming!
I’m so sorry this is happening right now! And don’t feel the need to be like “I know I’m lucky, we have a house, we’re getting married” yada yada, you don’t have to minimize it or try to look on the bright side. You have a really terrible situation on your hands.
So you don’t feel so lonely- I always freak out over house stuff, because it ALWAYS takes longer than planned and ends up costing more money. I have a 1930s Denver house in a NE neighbor hood and every.single.project ends up being a way bigger deal than we ever expected. I had a meltdown in the middle of the carpet removal/old wood floors being refinished just six months ago, but now it seems like forever ago and we somehow paid the 40% cost increase and now we’re loving our floors.
One thing I’ve learned is to prepare myself for things to go wrong, because they ALWAYS do. Plan for it to cost more. Plan for it to take way longer.
We are having our entire backyard redone (patio, pergola, garden beds) next month and I feel like for everyone’s sanity I should just go live with a friend for that week b/c otherwise I’ll be hyperventilating and crying about the entire process, when they inevitably find/cause problems that cost more and have to be dealt with. I was just at a baby shower last weekend and we’re all 30ish with houses built in the 1930s and we ALL had stories. My friend who is having a baby next month had to replace her roof AND all the electrical stuff two months before giving birth. Fun times. At least we could all commiserate.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. You guys will be on the other side eventually, and then you’ll have a beautiful backyard. And you’ll at least be confident THIS particular problem can’t happen again.
i have absolutely no idea how people pay for crazy sh*t like this when they have children. that’s SO many expenses! how do you save for the next home disaster when you gotta pay for diapers?! ahhhhhh, so scary.
I swear our wedding year was the most stressful year of our lives. My husband had gone back to school and we were juggling one income and wedding bills. Now, if something comes up, it’s not like we have a deadline to meet with this huge be-all-end-all bill waiting for us.Of course, our wedding was completely WORTH IT, but not having the threat of “omgificantpaytheDJwhatwillwedo” hanging over our head has alleviated a lot of stress.
Jamaica will be awesome and you will be sooo happy once it’s all over. And you’re almost there!
TOTALLY! we know we have that final bill coming in and that’s totally looming over our heads now with everything else! the more i talk to people, the more i hear how people have crazy stressful stuff happen close to their wedding day. it must be the stress amplifying more stress!
Ugh! I’m so sorry to hear, good luck dealing with everything 🙁
I completely understand how you feel! When my fiance and I first moved into my house a little over a year ago, we had the same kind of “waterfall” of issues happen to our home. About a week after moving in, our cesspool filled up and we had to get it drained. After having it drained, it decided that because it was empty, it would collapse… literally collapse into the ground and create a crater where there WAS a walkway to our home. I found this out after stepping down the walkway to go to work one day and having my entire foot sink into the ground. Basically, I almost died by falling into a crater of shit. About a week later, I was getting ready for work and stepped down into the basement, into about a foot of water. It was then that I heard a waterfall in the laundry room. Apparently our holding tank had rusted out from the bottom causing the entire basement to flood. We had to rip up the rug… the couches got ruined, the pool table got ruined, and the walls were ruined. We were FREAKING out and I definitely cried, and probably on the toilet as well. At this point, I stopped keeping track of what was going on, but all I know is that a week after that I had to go to Home Depot to buy a mop and a pale because there was more poop water on the floor in the basement. I am not sure what the moral of me telling this story is….. but hopefully you know that …crying on a toilet I guess is totally normal!?
OH MY GOD, that is absolutely horrible. i think i should be counting my blessings that something like that didn’t happen. how awful! it makes you never want to buy an old home! so annoying!
You’ve just opened up the comments for everyone to vent their house issues! It’s refreshing to hear that everyone has these issues. We are about 2 months into our first home, and it’s amazing to me how much the inspector missed. That ass.
And then a ‘small’ renovation turns into so much more. HGTV filled my head with so many lies. I cry ALL the time about house stuff. There will be times when I tell my boyfriend that I need him to be strong because I am about to lose it. It helps if one person somewhat keeps it together. And I hear all the time, from the family, well at least you have a house or somewhere to stay, blah blah blah. Shut it and let me sulk for a little bit. I’ll be better off if you let me be pissed about it instead of having to hear you tell me what I should be thankful for.
Sorry you are going through so much right now yet still giving us recipes and stories and not neglecting us!
it really is nice to hear that other people go through the same things and the same financial battles, misery loves company i guess haha!
Oh no! I live in Denver too, in a 1905 house with the old clay sewer pipes, and we were nervous during our landscaping projects a few years ago, especially after our church had a crushed sewer line that most likely came from the heavy equipment working on a landscaping project there. Unfortunately, it was hard to pinpoint the damage to the landscaping company and their insurance, but it’s worth a shot, if you haven’t tried that already.
Where can I buy lengua? I don’t remember ever seeing it lol
And stay strong Julie!!! You can vent any time – as long as you bring yummy paleo deliciousness with it!!
i got it from a beef company, the one i listed above. you usually get them when you buy a portion of a cow, but you can get them at some mexican markets!
Ugh, I feel for you. This is major stuff. If you can pull off a destination wedding and still like your husband at the end of the day, that’s a huge accomplishment. We just did a destination wedding last summer and I thought that was the most overwhelming thing I’ve ever done. Then we bought a house – 4 days ago – on the other side of the country. All these stories of houses falling apart are going to keep me up at night, haha. We moved from Virginia to Arizona. Now that it’s done I can say with confidence that the move was the most overwhelming thing I’ve ever done. You’re basically dealing with both at the same time. Yuck.
During the last few months buying a house my husband has said to me repeatedly how he is amazed that people can buy a house without becoming an alcoholic or getting divorced. Sending positive vibes your way, girlfriend. Just get to Jamaica!! 🙂
buying a house was absolutely one of the most difficult experiences in our relationship, just because being a small business owner they tear you apart and drove me insane! but it’s definitely been worth it!
Yum, I tried beef tongue tacos at a local Mexican restaurant here in DC and I will definitely be making these! As for your house, I am so sorry! I own a condo, and last week my sink was backing up and the maintenance guy ended up having to cut a hole in my wall to get to pipes because my plumbing was so clogged. So, then I had to have the drywall fixed and get my place repainted. I love owning my own place but the costs can definitely add up!
Unexpected costs definitely make it hard to stay positive. I hope that your insurance will cover it.
owning a home is definitely way better than paying someone else’s mortgage, but it definitely blows sometimes for sure!
Julie- I’ve lurked for quite a while – have never posted a comment until now. I’m a fellow Denverite, small business owner and also own an older home (1923). We bought it years ago – when we had no money for repairs – and shortly after we moved in received a note from the city that our 3 elm trees had to be removed. They gave us two weeks to get it done and yes, I cried buckets. First I called tree removal companies and got quotes in the range of 8,000 – money we absolutely did not have. Pretty much desperate, I called the city and let them know we couldn’t afford this. They then told me that the city has a loan program set up with low interest loans for when homeowners get in a bind like this.
I know you’ve had the work done, but it might be worth a call to the city to see if you can get one of these low interest loans. It was a 3 year loan if I recall – pretty easy monthly payment.
Know this will pass and believe it or not someday you will laugh about it. Best of luck!
awwwww thanks so much for the recommendation! i can’t believe they just expect you to pay for it when they are telling you to take it down, that’s bull!
I know, right? The trees had dutch elm disease – so to stop it from spreading they waned them down asap. What’s worse is they micro-managed us and the city forester came out and had to approve the new trees we put in as well as spacing of trees. Awful.
We didn’t realize as homeowners that parking strip (grass) in front of your house is city property. You can plant trees and grass on it – but city gets the last word. Oh and the sidewalk – city has a say in that as well. The joy of owning a home!
When I am super stressed like that I always like to stand barefoot and feel the ground beneath me (oh jeez I sound so crunchy lol) and just tell myself that “this too will pass” and think about a happy future. That always gets me through the worst of it?
This too shall pass and you will be stronger and have more experience for it! Feel better 🙂
Owning a home is SO stressful! And there is so much of this type of “stuff” that goes wrong and it’s so overwhelming. I always just try to remind myself that the alternative was living living in our small, cramped apartment, and paying too much for rent. It’s stressful but you totally got this! Being an adult sucks!
Oh my gosh. Hang in there! Along with everyone above – we’ve gone through that as well. And it is always ill-timed..say…RIGHT BEFORE your wedding. I agree as well – you have every right to complain. That sh*t sucks…. Thanks for your blog posts, instagrams and snap chats. Tthey keep me sane. I have to say – it must be kind of annoying that you have make the “its not paleo” disclaimer on your posts that involve gluten free bread or whatever. You built a brand and you definitely provide something very valuable to the outside world. Most of us are just like you – we occasionally have dairy or gluten free bread, dairy but paleo is the template.
Who builds that crap 8 feet under?! A dead body ain’t even buried that deep. Even the ones buried just a foot or two underground break, and they’re made of clay, too. I don’t see why, it breaks more often than not. But, then it’s probably too expensive to use any other material. I hope insurance pays for it, as it wasn’t your fault.
this looks AMAZING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE lengua. I’m married to a Mexican so I kind of have to, but this is another way of preparing it that I never thought of (sticking garlic into holes inside… who’d have thunk). isn’t it so delicious?
sorry that you’re super stressed right now… having stuff quite literally implode around your house isn’t fun, and spending money on it sucks even more. you’ll get through it. just let it be big to you right now, and regain your positivity later 🙂
OH MY GOD…I had forgotten to check back on your blog for the past two days to hear why you had been having such a crappy time! Want to know why I had forgotten?? Oh, because I was at the doctor for a follow up of my sinus cat scan and bloodwork after getting THREE colds since January and having asthma-like symptoms since the first cold. This Tuesday, the doctor told me to get our house tested for MOLD because my bloodwork showed antibodies to MOLD!!! So, today we had the mold inspection on the house we bought in August 2015 and they basically told us the entire master bathroom needs to be demolished, treated for mold, and redone. SO…we are waiting on lab results from MOLD samples to come back Monday, then we get to try to file a claim and have the insurance company actually help us-which according to the internet is hard to do. I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! I am so furious and want to cry and run away and I hate everyone right now…I hope your house gets fixed asap and I hope you can put it all out of your mind so that you can fully enjoy your wedding!!
Hey….have you put an insurance claim in yet? There is a way to increase the payout. I will have to ask my husband what it is called. I know out in Colorado you guys get a lot of hail and the roofers all augment the claims the same way. Completely legal. Insurance companies just try to get it over on you. You should be able to get a check big enough to restore you to the way it should be. My husband and i went through this about 6 yrs ago when we bought our dream house….right after we closed we had to replace the whole roof, lots of electrical, termites like crazy, and then the WHOLE plumbing…it was a 1923 bungalow that we thought had been remodeled with permits..lol… dont stress! again call your insurance. the plumber may even take proceeds to do the work. ask him.
you had “black water” and check your policy for “Ordinance and Law”
insurance won’t cover it since it’s “outside the dwelling” 🙁
I’m so sorry about the mishaps in your home! I know for a fact that if you just keep grinding away and try to solve the problem, then everything will work out in the end, I swear 🙂 these tacos look absolutely DELICIOUS–they’re probably loaded with flavor and spice!
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Man, I grew up in Colorado Springs and I remember getting days off from school because of a water pipe breaking. It was the best, like having a snow day without the annoying snow! When it’s in your house… not as much fun. Hope things start looking up soon!