How have you enjoyed tripe?

[kare_raisu]

I have become inspired by this ingredient after having an awesome preparation in the Basque style at a San Francisco Spanish restaurant.

So please contribute: where, how, and what was this magnificent ingredient was prepared with?

[cassis]

Back when I was a starving student in Florence in the 60's, I used to get a tripe sandwich from a stall in the street on certain days. This guy had a huge copper pot on wheels, with some sort of a fire underneath it. He would spear out a slab of tripe that had been simmering in a broth with vegetables and herbs, slice it up and slam it into a split bun that he had dipped in the broth. Lots of coarse salt and pepper, wrapped up in waxed paper....heaven on a chilly day! The "tavola calda" where I took most of my meals also had it on Thursdays, I think, prepared alla vicentina, which meant simmered in a tomato sauce, but this preparation was a little too rich for me.

Another great standby dish was was a crepe of pigs blood, but we're not talking about that today.

[Will Owen]

Don't know why I didn't think of this back in October, when I was first responding to this thread, but my favorite tripe lately has been the stewed tripe they offer in our favorite dim sum restaurant in L.A.'s San Gabriel Valley - stewed and quite gooey, served in a bowl with a hot chile-oil sauce poured over. Yes, it does sound like a greasy mess, and is. Yes, it is also utterly divine. When I'm too stuffed to eat one more bite of shrimp in slippery rice noodle, I can still suck down two servings of that tripe!

[4Snisl]

When I was little, my parents used to cook blanched tripe that was cut into little squares kind of like a curried hash- pan fried with cumin, corriander, cayenne, turmeric, onions and diced potatoes. Us kids would eat 1-2 pieces of it on dares. :)

Recently though (in the past 6 months) I was thinking of how I've grown to love all kinds of offal that I didn't like as a kid, so I bought a small package of cleaned honeycomb tripe to make at home.

I rubbed it with vinegar and a little baking soda, rinsed and split it into 3 batches for experimentation (since it was just for myself :). First, I made it the way my parents made it. Batch 2 was simmered in super-garlicky tomato sauce and eaten with pasta. Batch 3 was simmered in broth with soy, ginger, star anise and scallion.

I loved all of them, but it's a once-in-a-while treat for me.

[jayt90]

Surprisingly no one has mentioned Tripe a la Mode de Caen, a famous dish from Normandy. This recipe: http://www.foodresearchers.com/master...
is typical, with veal shank, leeks, cider, Calvados, and 10 hours of slow cooking in a pastry-sealed vessel (although 300F is a bit high). When the aromas are unsealed at the table, few fastidious eaters can resist!

[purple goddess]

I swore I'd never eat tripe again after Mater Beige's Great Tripe And Lumpy White Sauce Debacle of 1973.

Pho was my gateway drug.

I love it a la my ex MIL, who slow boils it in beef stock, and then adds it to a deep, slow-cooked pan of tomatoes, black olives, assorted Italian spices, LOTS of garlic, and serves it on rye bread.

Heaven.

[Deepster]

I love it best fried crisp. I have eaten stew type dishes in Milan and all over Portugal. And, of course we can't forget the every popular menudo....well, if you like tripe =). Growing up in the South tripe was rather frequently served at my house. My mother would not eat it, but my dad loved it. I think it was always either cleaned or cooked in a mild vinegar solution, as I remember that it always had a slight taste of the vinegar remaining after being fried. I've always been greatful for the exposure at an early age, or I might not have been as adventurous in eating it at restaurants as an adult. I personally love it any way it's prepared, but only from a "reputable" eating establishment. I'd never prepare it at home.

[polish_girl]

I make tripe quite often in winter (it's too heavy in the summer in CA), and it is always the polish style. I start with boiling tripe in 3 waters-bring up to boil in 2, actually cook till tender in the third water. In another soup pot I make a rich beef boulion. Later on I combine the boulion with cooked beef and tripe both cut into small pieces, add a roux (equal parts of butter and flower) so it's is a little thicker. I add salt, pepper, lots of marjoram, and sweet red hungarian paprika. I serve it with a piece of bread and a squeeze of lemon juice -it's to die for!

[polish_girl]

oops, for the roux it was supposed to be FLOUR!

[Sam Fujisaka]

I like all tripe dishes. What I make at home includes Lao laab (use a bit tof tripe along with beef and/or pork) and mondongo.

[RicRios]

An etymological issue for you Sam, coming from latin environments:

Word TRIPE is akin to TRIPA = intestin.
However, all uses above refer to stomach offal.
I don't get it.

Any ideas?

[Sam Fujisaka]

Good question. According to Wikipedia for "intestino": "El intestino es la parte vísceral tubular del tubo digestivo que se extiende desde el estómago hasta el ano."

What I don't know is if the "desde" means inclusive or exclusive of the stomach. If inclusive, we have our answer.

[RicRios]

Possible. However, intestins are very common staple in Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil ( "chinchulines" ). However, I haven't heard of it being used anywhere else, except for the Eastern European, or rather Jewish, Kishkas. Why upper digestive tube is so commonly used as to make "stomach" synonym with intestin, and very little use for all portions further down? Prejudice? Lack of know-how?

[alanbarnes]

Re: "I haven't heard of it being used anywhere else, except for the Eastern European, or rather Jewish, Kishkas."

Most cultures that eat pork also eat pork Intestines, although they may only be part of the diet of certain segments of the population. For example, in the American South, chitterlings (the word is curiously similar to "chinchulines") are a fairly common holiday dish, although traditionally only among members of lower socioeconomic classes. The pork stomach, or maw, is also eaten, and is considered a distinct cut.

And most Asian cultures take a "whole hog" approach to eating pork, so you can find the entire digestive tract--all the way down to the unambiguously named "pork bung"--in the butcher case at many Chinese / Vietnamese / Korean / etc. groceries.

[RicRios]

"(the word is curiously similar to "chinchulines") "

Yeah, I liked that one, but the naked truth is:

cheterlingis "entrails, souse," origins obscure, but probably from O.E. and having something to do with entrails (related to O.E. cwið "womb;" cf. Ger. Kutteln "guts, bowels, tripe, chitterlings"). Variants chitlins (1845) and chitlings (1880) both also had a sense of "shreds, tatters.

http://dictionary.reference.com/brows...

[alanbarnes]

I found the etymology of chitlins, but couldn't find anything (that I could read--monoglot here) about where the Spanish word comes from.

[RicRios]

From the native quechua lenguage, it seems:

"De la cultura andina, proviene una serie de palabras tomadas del quechua, como choclo (marlo de maíz), poroto (frijol), chaucha (haba), chinchulín (trozo del intestino delgado del ganado vacuno)."

http://redaxxion.com/foro/showthread....

Now, how the quechuas, originally from the andean (i.e., western region ) reached out to the east coast where the word "chinchulin" is used, that really beats me. But I'd rather stop here, I don't want to incur the wrath of the Gatemasters.

[Sam Fujisaka]

In Bolivia (Quechua-speaking area of the Andes) "porroto" is used in place of "frijol"; but "habichuela" is used rather than "chaucha". In Colombia (not a Quechua area), it is just the opposite in terms of these word usages.

[kare_raisu]

Habichuela is also used in Puerto Rico - Habichuela Guisadas is one of my favorite bean dishes - with nice tart and salty spanish olives, tender chunks of potato and sometimes pumpkin!

[paulj]

Dictionaries trace the English tripe back to Old French, where it seems to cover both intestines and stomach. In Spanish the plural tripas seems to apply more to the intestines than other parts of the gut, but the singular can refer to the stomach or more generally belly or guts.

And when talking about cows, there a 4 stomachs, each with its own name, depending on the language.

paulj

[butterfly]

Here in Madrid tripe is often called callos and only refers to the stomach. You find it in all sorts of stews and soups. It is great for thickening and giving texture.

[paulj]

Dictionaries traced 'callos' back to Latin (calus?), but none offered a Latin origin for 'tripa'. One even speculated it came from Arabic.
paulj

[butterfly]

Callos comes from callum, meaning thick skin (callo also means callus, which obviously comes from the same latin root). Here, tripas tends to refer to the intestines, though there are lots of other names, depending on the animal and the stretch of the digestive tract that you are talking about. Offal is still very widely available and really common here.

The Dictionary of the Real Academia Española list the origin of tripa as unknown (and I would take them at their word). It's in the (quite hilarious) Fuero de Béjar from 1290, so it's certainly not a recent introduction to Spanish.

[kare_raisu]

What I am really interested in is the Andalusian word, Menudo - which made its way to the Americas. Perhaps this is of Arabic, Celtic, or VIsgothic origin.

[butterfly]

That one is easy. Menudo is from the Latin "minutus" (a very typical evolution of /i/ to /e/ and /t/ to /d/). It is a very common word that has many different uses and meanings in Spanish. Here, I think it goes back to one of the original Latin meanings: in many little pieces. (Forgive me, I'm a linguist...)

[kare_raisu]

:) Thank you so much - as I was wondering about this. It is interesting that this seems to be a regional term of Southern Spain, wheras callos is the norm elsewere.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Oh, and how did I forget dinogu-an from the Philippines?

[MrsT]

The best tripe I've ever had was at a popular Italian restaurant in my neighborhood. It was very tender and prepared in a tomato sauce and it was a cross between stew and a soup (I refuse to Rachael Ray-ify it). I was just telling my husband last night that we have to go back. Until then I usually had it deep fried.

[Chinon00]

Tried andouillette many times while in France and hated it every time (although I think that they include a little intestine too). I, on the other hand, love Pepper Pot soup which includes a healthy dose of tripe. Tripe is good in Pho too!

[beetroot22]

Tripe is good raw with plenty of salt and vineger.

[Gingerleen]

Growing up, my grandfather who was born and raised in Alabama, cooked tripe by dredging it in cornmeal (like you would to fry fish) and frying it. I love it!

[Gabo]

Haven't tried it basque style, but I have had "Callos a la Madrileña", which is Madrid style, and it is in a yellow, saffron-rich sauce, and simply spectacular!

[kare_raisu]

I actually assumed it was this style - which we had recently at a Phillipino restaurant chowdown.
Almost equally as delicious:
http://flickr.com/photos/nbchowdown/1...

[JungMann]

Callos a la Madrileña is terrific, though I have always made it with a bright and piquant tomato sauce more akin to what kare_raisu posted. I forego the chorizo bilbao in favor of Spanish chorizo and occasionally morcilla for an offal overload.

The Sichuanese also make a spectacular dish of shaved tripe, beef or pork and tendon flavored with a numbing ma la oil of peanuts, scallions, garlic and Sichuan peppercorns.

[ipsedixit]

Deep-fried.

Dipped in batter, deep-fried to a golden brown, served with horseradish sauce.

[Miss Needle]

I wrote above that I said that I loved tripe in all forms. I take that back. Unfortunately, deep fried tripe wasn't to my liking. I can't taste the tripe.

[bitsubeats]

I LOVE it when its cut up and eaten in a spicy korean soup. I forget what the name is, but its exceptional and very very spicy - good for hangovers.

I don't know why, but I love chewy meats....especially when it's offal.

[hannaone]

Gopchang Jeongol(sp?)
Usually made with both scalded tripe (stomach) and braided marrow gut (intestine) This was a very popular dish when we ran our Korean Rest.

[Miss Needle]

I think you're talking about hae jang gook.

I love tripe in all forms. I've had it sliced in Korean oxtail soup, dim sum parlors -- light and dark preparations, mondongo, in pho, prepared Italian style with tomatoes and in tacos. Zuni Cafe cookbook also has a great recipe for tripe prepared with poached eggs, tomatoes and pancetta that is sooooo good.

[bitsubeats]

doesn't hae jang gook have blood in it? if so, I've never had it before.

[Miss Needle]

Yeah, there's definitely blood in hae jang gook. The two "hangover" soups I've known were hae jang gook and sul long tang (I prefer sul long tang), but haven't been hung over in about 10 years. I'm not sure what you had.

[RicRios]

Some typical tripe dishes, according to the Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe

Tripe is eaten in many parts of the world. Tripe dishes include:

Andouille — French poached and smoked cold tripe sausage
Andouillette — French grilling sausage including pork or beef tripe
Butifarra — Catalonian sausage
Chakna — Indian spicy stew of goat tripe and other animal parts favoured by Muslims in Hyderabad
Dobrada — Portuguese tripe dish usually served with white butterbeans and chouriço
Flaczki — Polish soup, with marjoram
Fuqi feipian A spicy Chinese cold-cut dish made from varius beef offals, nowadays mainly different types of tripe and tongue.
Haggis — Scottish traditional dish made of a sheep's stomach stuffed with oatmeal and the minced heart, liver and lungs of a sheep.
İşkembe çorbası — Turkish tripe soup with garlic, lemon and spices
Kare-kare — Filipino oxtail-peanut stew which may include tripe
Lampredotto — Florentine abomasum-tripe dish, often eaten in sandwiches with green sauce and hot sauce.
Menudo — Mexican beef tripe stew
Mondongo — Latin American and Caribbean tripe, vegetable and herb soup
Pacal or Pacalpörkölt — Hungarian spicy meal made of tripe, similar to pörkölt
Pancitas — Mexican stew similar to Menudo but made with sheep stomach
Patsás (Greek πατσάς) — Greek hangover fix, similar to Turkish İşkembe
Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup — American (Pennsylvania) tripe soup with peppercorns
Phở — Vietnamese soup
Tripas à moda do Porto — tripe with white beans, in Portuguese cuisine, a dish typical of the city of Porto.
Tripe and Drisheen — in Cork, Ireland
Tripoux — French sheep tripe dish
Tsitsarong bulaklak — Filipino cruncy fried tripe (lit. "flower" crackling)
Yakiniku and Horumonyaki — Japanese chargrilled, bite-sized offal.
Shkembe (Shkembe Chorba) — is a kind of tripe soup, prepared in Bulgaria, Romania, Republic of Macedonia and Turkey — a good hangover remedy.

My personal favorite: the mondongo they make in Venezuela.

[ipsedixit]

Mondongo is great. Still trying to find a good place for it in LA.

[paulj]

The version of mondongo that I had in Ecuador was all cow foot and no tripe. In a typical Ecuadorian fashion is was finished some milk and ground peanuts.

paulj

[Gio]

Interestingly, there's no mention of the various Italian versions of Trippa. Genoa, Rome, Calabrese and other regions have their own dissimilar methods of cooking this delicacy. The way I remember my relatives preparing Veal Tripe is sauteeing the diagonally cut pieces in a very fresh red sauce for a few minutes after having simmered the tripe in water and white wine vinegar for about 2 - 21/2 hours. I guess this is closest to the way the Genovese prepare it.

[Will Owen]

Yeah, Trippa Fiorentina was what I was thinking of. Very similar to Tripes Niçoise, which also was not mentioned, and which I had for lunch a few days before we went to Florence...and I wish I'd gotten tripe there, too, instead of the very dry pork loin and some overcooked rabbit! Andouillettes, BTW, are supposed to be made from chitterlings, not tripe, though there seems to be some latitude there.

My introduction to tripe was Campbell's Pepper Pot, which used to have nice fuzzy chunks of it about 3/8" square; I was about eight or nine at the time, and I fell in love with that stuff. If you can even find the soup now the tripe content has become all but undetectable. Luckily, I'm living next to the barrio here in Pasadena, and all the markets have every kind of tripe. Now all I need is some soup weather...

[kare_raisu]

I actually had the pepper pot at Bookbinders in philadelphia when I was probably 14 - I dont recall if I knew what it was.

[Will Owen]

THAT'S the real deal, or so I've been told. The recipe I intend to follow (as much as I ever do that) is in the Bookbinder's Cookbook - of course it's only an adaptation of the restaurant's recipe, but it's elaborate enough to make me think it'll be a fair approximation.

[alanbarnes]

Weekly (at least) in pho. Great stuff.

[Barry Foy]

Tripe is a wonderful and peculiar and peculiarly wonderful item. It is extremely versatile, though in fairness let's say that through all its uses it remains just what it is, and if that doesn't appeal to someone, then no amount of searching is likely to change their mind. I've enjoyed tripe in Mexican menudo, of course; in northern Chinese "red-cooked" style (hearty and fantastic); in a mild, rather eggy Turkish soup; from a street wagon in Florence, dressed in a thick marinara-type sauce with a mountain of grated cheese on it; and, as alanbarnes says, pho. You should note that there are different sections of tripe (I'm talking beef tripe now), of varying textures and degree of coarseness and chewiness. All but the last of the above dishes featured robust honeycomb tripe, whereas in my experience the kind added to pho has been a more delicate sort, or at least cut more finely. The world is full of tripe recipes, if you're willing to do your homework. Enjoy the quest.

[paulj]

I mostly use honeycomb tripe. I once cooked 'book' trip (99 Ranch label), and found it much tougher. It's not hard to cook honeycomb to the point that it is almost gelatinous.

Most often I cook tripe menudo style with foot (cow or pig) to add body to the broth. My current batch has a substantial proportion of Peruvian hominy, and is flavored with the mild Peruvian ajipanca (pepper puree).

I've also been happy with an Italian style dish, with a substantial tomato based sauce (more of a ragu than marinara).

paulj

[Veggo]

paulj has incredibly good taste and with his encouragement, and my friends from Guyaquil who have a restaurant on the coast in Ecuador (and visited us in Mexico last week) prepared a grilled tripe tapa with roma tomato, garden herbs, crunchy roasted garlic kernels, and arbol chilies, it bowled me over.

[alanbarnes]

There are three different kinds of tripe--one from each of the first three of the steer's four stomachs. Flat tripe (first stomach) and honeycomb tripe (second stomach) are used pretty much interchangably; I eat them most frequently in menudo. As noted, book tripe aka bible tripe (from the third stomach) is much firmer; it's generally sliced very thin and adds a crunchy texture to pho.

[geekyfoodie]

Agreed. Pho tai sach (thin rare beef slices and tripe) is my favorite way to enjoy tripe.

Kare_raisu, could you give more details on the Basque dish you ate and where this restaurant was? I'll have to make sure to visit the next time I'm in SF.

[kare_raisu]

Geekyfoodie,

Here is the post from the SF boards: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/43881...

I am not a huge red meat eater - but I have found myself completely taken by the texture of the of the honeycomb tripe. It was the perfect component to soak up this rich tomato sauce they served it in.

I even submited an inquiry for a recipe to the 'RSVP' section of Bon Appetit magazine for a recipe - THAT is how much I like this dish (or how strange I am - tripe recipe in Bon appetit- ya right).

Thus far - a book search at my local library has equiped me with three recipes for basque style tripe. One leads me to believe it is specifically from Cantabria.

However I might attempt at following the owner/chefs recipe for a tomato sauce he serves with chicken in his book "The Basque Kitchen" (Hirogyen)

[SweetPea914]

I tried it once from a Dominican restaurant near where I work. I didn't enjoy it. The texture was too chewy for me. Do you think it was the way it was prepared? Or was yours "chewy"as well?