DEVILED TONGUE SANDWICH

Ingredients

• 0.25 pound cold boiled tongue (Pre-cooked and fully cooled before use. Ask your butcher for ready-boiled tongue if you prefer not to cook it yourself.)
• 3 whole hard-boiled eggs (Boiled until fully set, then cooled and peeled before chopping.)
• 1 dash red pepper (A small pinch — roughly 1/8 teaspoon or less. Use cayenne pepper if you cannot find ground red pepper.)
• 1 dash paprika (A small pinch — roughly 1/8 teaspoon. Sweet or smoked paprika both work well.)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (Adds a deep savoury note. Shake the bottle well before measuring.)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (Melt gently and allow to cool slightly before mixing in so it doesn't cook the eggs.)
• 8 slices thin slices of bread (Use a soft white sandwich loaf and slice as thinly as possible, or buy pre-sliced thin bread.)
• 2 tablespoons butter (Softened at room temperature so it spreads easily without tearing the bread. Used for buttering the bread slices.)
• 1 small bunch sprigs of watercress (Rinse and pat dry. Pick small, leafy sprigs. Watercress adds a fresh, peppery contrast to the rich filling.)

Instructions

1. 1Place 3 eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by about 2.5 cm (1 inch). Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs with a spoon and place them immediately into a bowl of cold water. Leave them to cool for at least 5 minutes, then peel off the shells. Set aside.
2. 2Place 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl. If using a saucepan, heat over the lowest flame until just melted — do not let it bubble or brown. If using a microwave, heat in 10-second bursts until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. 3Take the cold boiled tongue and cut it into rough chunks small enough to fit your equipment. Pass it through a meat grinder (meat chopper) to produce a finely minced texture. If you do not have a meat grinder, use a sharp knife to chop the tongue as finely as possible — aim for a texture similar to coarse mince. Place the minced tongue in a mixing bowl.
4. 4Place the peeled hard-boiled eggs on a chopping board. Use a sharp knife to chop them as finely as possible — you want small, even pieces throughout the filling rather than large chunks. Add the chopped eggs to the bowl with the minced tongue.
5. 5To the bowl containing the minced tongue and chopped eggs, add a dash (approximately 1/8 teaspoon) of red pepper, a dash (approximately 1/8 teaspoon) of paprika, 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and the 2 tablespoons of slightly cooled melted butter. Stir everything together thoroughly with a fork or spoon until all ingredients are evenly combined and the mixture holds together.
6. 6Lay all 8 slices of bread out on a clean surface. Using a butter knife, spread a thin, even layer of the softened butter over one side of each slice — this is the lightly buttered bread. Spoon the tongue and egg filling generously onto 4 of the buttered slices, spreading it evenly to the edges. Place a few small sprigs of watercress on top of the filling on each slice, distributing them evenly. Top each with a remaining buttered bread slice, buttered side facing down onto the filling. Press gently to bring the sandwiches together. Cut each sandwich in half if desired and serve immediately.