Beef Tongue Financiere

Glazed slices of beef tongue over fried bread with quenelles and truffles.

Blanch a couple of fresh beef tongues, put them into a saucepan lined with vegetables cut in slices and a few small pieces of bacon, moisten with a little broth, cover the tongues with paper, put the saucepan on the fire with hot ashes on the lid, and cook until the tongues are quite tender. Remove and drain them; trim the thick or root ends, making them as round as possible, and with a sharp knife cut the tongues transversely to half their length and remove the top pieces. Cut these into slices and put them back in their places. Put a flat crouton of fried bread in the center of a dish, mask it with forcemeat poached in the oven, glaze the tongues and put them on it, with their root ends meeting in the middle; surround the base with a financiere garnishing and garnish with quenelles made with a spoon, and some larger ones studded with truffles. Serve with a sauceboatful of brown sauce reduced with wine. Should salted tongues be used they will only require to be boiled with plenty of water until they are tender, and then treated as above.