Pressure Cooker Puerto Rican Lengua Mechada

Ingredients

Beef tongue and sauce

• Rumba Meats® Beef Tongue (1 package)
• 2 quarts water
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
• 3 large bay leaves
• 2 small onions, peeled and cut in half
• 1 head garlic, kept whole and top cut off
• ¼ cup simple sofrito (Simple Sofrito recipe)
• 2 packets sazón con culantro y achiote
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• Adobo all-purpose seasoning, to taste
• Hot sauce, for serving
• Cooked white rice, for serving
• Avocado, sliced for serving
• Lime slices, for serving

Stuffing

• 1 very small yuca root trimmed, peeled, and cut into small dice
• 1 roasted red pepper slice, small dice
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained
• 2 tablespoons simple sofrito ( Simple Sofrito recipe)
• Pinch kosher salt
• Pinch coarse ground black pepper

Recipe Notes

If unable to find fresh yuca, frozen is fine. Thaw out overnight in the refrigerator and follow recipe ingredients from that point on.

Instructions

1. For beef tongue and sauce: Set up pressure cooker with the internal rack insert. Place tongue on rack. Add water to just cover the top of tongue. Add kosher salt, black pepper, bay leaves, onion halves, garlic, ¼ cup simple sofrito and sazón packets.
2. Cook tongue on high pressure setting for 90 minutes, or until tongue is tender and the internal temperature reaches 160ºF. When the timer goes off, allow the pressure cooker to unlock on the natural release cycle.
3. Carefully remove tongue from liquid and set aside to cool. Using a slotted spoon, scoop up and discard bay leaves, garlic head, and onion. Remove the rack insert. Turn pressure cooker to sauté function on normal temperature setting.
4. Add tomato paste and diced tomatoes to pressure cooker. Stir in brown sugar and bouillon cube. Taste and adjust seasoning with kosher salt, black pepper, and adobo all-purpose seasoning.
5. When tongue is cool enough to handle, use a sharp knife to carefully trim and peel the outside skin from the tongue, revealing the meat inside. Trim off any excess inedible tissue or gristle and discard. Set tongue aside.
6. For stuffing: Combine yuca, red pepper, capers, 2 tablespoons sofrito and a pinch of salt and black pepper in a bowl and stir to blend. Set aside.
7. Carefully cut 1-inch slits into the tongue, going down the center and left and right sides. Take heaping teaspoons of stuffing mixture and gently spoon it into the slits all over. Repeat until all of the slits are stuffed. Add remaining stuffing back into sauce where the yuca is going to act as a natural thickening agent for the sauce.
8. Gently place the stuffed tongue back into the pressure cooker with the sauce. Set saute timer for 30 minutes.
9. Once the timer goes off, remove the stuffed beef tongue and transfer to a carving board. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Slice beef tongue.
10. Serve sliced tongue topped with sauce. Pair with cooked white rice, sliced avocado, hot sauce and lime.
11. Buen provecho!