"Tongue in piquant sauce." Boiled veal tongue sliced thinly and served with a piquant sauce with parsley, garlic, anchovies and vinegar.

"Tongue in red sauce." Boiled veal tongue sliced thinly and served with spicy tomato sauce on top.

"Tongue in green sauce." Boiled veal tongue sliced thinly and served with salsa verde.

Pickled tongue

"Big tongue." Spotted flounder. A grey flounder found in the Mediterranean. These fish are best filleted and fried.

Spotted flounder. A grey flounder found in the Mediterranean. These fish are best filleted and fried.

"Algerians' tongues." Courgettes (US: zucchini) sliced on the diagonal, giving them the appearance of tongues, fried, coated in cream and Parmesan sauce and fried again.

"Whores' tongues." Thin linguine served with a spiced sauce wtih tomatoes, garlic, and hot chillis.

"Sparrows' tongues." Long flat, narrow pasta, thinner than linguine.

A Sicilian method for cleaning sardines. Cut off the heads and fins, but not the tails of the sardines, remove the scales, slit the belly and remove the guts. I have been taught not to wash fish, as this removes flavour. Holding the fish belly up, in the palms of both hands, run your thumb along the backbone so that the fish opens like a book. The remove the backbone, which will have been loosened by this process, as far as the tail.