Trying to get kids to eat tongue these days is virtually impossible; in fact most grown-ups also turn their noses up at the stuff. I personally think it's one of the great cold cuts, especially when eaten with home-made piccalilli. If you present the children with a sandwich with melted cheese and a fried egg yolk poking out of the top they probably won't even question what meat is inside; after all, it looks like ham.
The idea of this sandwich came about when the editor-in-chief Simon Kelner took the boys to Tenerife on a golf trip for his birthday and it turned up on the table as a post-golf snack in the club house. If you really can't face tongue then you could also use ham.
8 slices of bread
Softened butter for spreading
Enough slices of cooked ox tongue to cover 4 slices of bread
4 or 8 slices of cheese such as Gruyère, Emmental or Cheddar
4 eggs
Vegetable or corn oil for frying
Lightly toast the bread on both sides then lay the tongue on 4 pieces and the cheese on top. Cut a hole in the tops of the other 4 slices, large enough for the egg yolk. Melt the cheese under the grill and fry the eggs in the vegetable oil. Then lay them on the cheese with the bread on top so that the yolk shows through the hole.
To see Mark Hix's exclusive cookery videos, see http://www.independent.co.uk/hixcooks
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