Cold-Smoked Tongue

Cured and smoked beef tongue is one of my favorite delicacies. It’s best to cure several of these at a time, and they should be purchased fresh at a meat processing plant. Wash the tongues in salted water, then pack them loosely in a nonmetallic container. Cover them with brine (at least 2 cups of salt per gallon of water) and weight them down with a plate, board, or some nonmetallic object. Leave the beef tongues in the brine for 3 or 4 weeks, repacking and stirring the brine every week or so. Dry the tongues and cold-smoke them for a day or longer.