Veal Tongue Salad

Cut the pre-cooked veal tongue into strips. You can easily check how well it is cooked by the skin - it should come off the meat easily.

Slice the mushrooms into thin strips. They also need to be cooked in advance. To be fully cooked, the mushrooms only need to stay in barely boiling water for fifteen minutes.

Grate the 'Russian' cheese on a coarse grater to make the cheese shavings as long as possible. 'Russian' has a slight bitterness, but it pairs perfectly with the other flavors in the salad.

Cut the Baku cucumbers into very thin, almost transparent strips. Chop the dill, cilantro, and parsley not too finely to preserve the distinct dill flavor. In a bowl, mix the tongue, mushrooms, cucumbers, dill, and cheese. Add salt, season with ground fragrant pepper, and dress with mayonnaise. The mayonnaise can be homemade or store-bought, whichever type you prefer.

Finely chop the red onion. First, cut it into half rings, then chop the half rings into cubes. The red onion is moderately sweet and not too bitter — just what we need for our salad.

Cut Baku tomatoes into cubes. It is important to cut them with a very sharp knife to avoid damaging the flesh and losing juice. Mix with onion, add salt, pepper, olive oil, and gently stir to avoid harming the tomatoes.

On a large plate, arrange four lettuce leaves in a cross, breaking off the part at the base of the leaf that resembles a gathered accordion with your hands, so that the leaves fully adhere to the plate.

Place the salad with tongue in a special round mold, which can be bought at a kitchenware store, and arrange tomatoes and onions around it. Remove the mold from the salad and serve. The mold is not necessary; the salad can simply be piled up. If, of course, it doesn't offend your sense of beauty.