Menudo without tripe or pigs feet

[thymetobake]

How would you go about making this? I've made it only once before using pork roast, chicken broth, onions, garlic, hominy and the menudo spice packet. Hubby said it tasted like what he grew up with but it's been 25 years since he's had any. To me it tasted like it was missing something.

I'm making it tonight and was thinking maybe I should add some beef broth? The only kind I have are those little containers of concentrated knorr broth/boullion.

Any tips? And can anyone explain to me what it is supposed to taste like? The stuff I made just made me think of watered down chili. It wasn't what I would call a rich broth. And should it be just stuffed full of meat? Or is it a brothy type soup in general?

[luckyfatima]

Menudo means intestines, and you can buy packets of 'menudo/menudos' at the store to take home and clean for making menudo.

I come from menudo country and I have never seen menudo made with pig's feet. It is a bovine based dish with cow foot and beef intestine. It was interesting to look at the link to the old menudo thread provided by Paulj and see other types of menudo beyond the Northern styles typically found in my part of Texas...barbacoa in my native parts is always beef cheek and head, but having been exposed to barbacoa from other regions I came to know that it could be made with other parts of beef, pork, goat, and to be healthy, even with chicken. But menudo and barbacoa both mean cow parts for me. Out of curiosity I googled "menudo" and "menudo mexicano" and all the first hits for recipes I see are calling for cow/veal trotter and beef intestine. I also tried "menudo de puerco" and "de cerdo" and I got many hits for Spanish and not Mexican versions. Filipinos also have a menudo which I have seen done in chicken. When I google 'menudo de pollo' all I get are recipes for actual chicken intestines but not for the soupy stew.

Maggi Jugo seasoning and/or Knorr chicken powder is useful for soupy stew recipes like this, I very much agree with that point.

I thought of the same thing as wanker that if you made a menudo type recipe using chicken you would end up with a dish that is a pozole. Chicken pozole is very common (you can try rojo for something more similar to menudo with red chiles but also see pozole verde and blanco) and you will find lots of good recipes for that online. You will not be able to replicate the slight thickness and richness given by the gelatin released from cow trotter in a chicken soup, though.

Good luck with your experimentation, I am a huge fan of soupy stews myself and have made pozoles but am not brave enough to clean the tripe for home made menudo (you have to clean it really really well or it tastes like the smell of wet dirty dog fur). Pozole is very easy, though.

[paulj]

I wonder about the menudo = intestines. The way the Wiki Menudo article puts it is more consistent with my experience: 'menudo' comes from a Latin word for 'bits, worthless things etc', and in Mexico means the soup or the stomach (tripe), while 'tripas' means the intestines. So if a taco truck offers 'tripas' or 'tripitas' as the filling, I expect chopped bits of intestine (most likely pork).

When we recommend pozole, do we also expect the OP to use hominy? Isn't hominy to pozole as tripe is to menudo? But having raised that issue, I often make a Mexican style soup with what ever I have on hand, most likely pork stock. Besides the spices, what makes it 'Mexican' in my thinking is keeping the vegetables in large chunks.

[John E.]

If menudo is made without tripe, is it still menudo?

[ipsedixit]

That was my thought.

Would clam chowder be clam chowder without clams?

[paulj]

Come to think of it, I have seen 'menudo spice mix' packets in the Mexican spice rack, but haven't paid much attention to them. They looked like the condiments that get served along side menudo (in taquerias). They appear to most contain Mexican oregano.

But looking at ones online, I can see where they might be used to flavor the soup broth, with ingredients like this oregano, cumin, onion, chile flakes. I don't think any are meant as the main soup base; rather as an accent to a broth that is dominated by the tripe and feet.

Menudo, at least the version that I've had in West Coast taquerias, is not a thick or highly seasoned broth. It would loose a lot by not having the distinct textures of tripe and feet. By the way, beef foot is usually preferred to pork.

You could use those menudo spices in another soup.

[Will Owen]

The Mexican restaurateurs that came to Nashville in a wave starting in the '80s made a menudo whose base was a sort of 20-weight red chile gravy, with a good whiff of oregano. The spices served in a cup on the side were primarily more oregano, with some dried chile flakes and whole cumin. That must have been a regional thing, because the menudo I've had out here in SoCal is as you describe it. It's good, but I prefer the thicker, spicier stuff I was first introduced to.

[paulj]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/507909
A old thread about varieties of menudo across Mexico

[Allen_Rick]

Menudo without tripe or pigs feet is simply not menudo. You could certainly make a very lovely soup with the ingredients you list above, but you can't call it menudo. I could sprinkle a "menudo spice packet"--whatever that is--over a bowl of chocolate ice cream, but that wouldn't make it menudo.

[wanker]

Maybe I'm missing something, but menudo without the tripe etc. is essentially pozole rojo (aka red posole). Search the Internet, as there numerous sources for great pozole rojo recipes.

[thymetobake]

Yes, I've heard about pozole. The point is in trying to mimic menudo without using tripe and pigs feet. Not only are they not available here (I suppose I could ask for some to be ordered and they'd charge me 5.99 per pound or something) but I just don't want to use them. Sometimes it's really hard to replicate a recipe without the true ingredients and sometimes you can get close. Getting close is what I would like to do. As I said, I've never tasted it. I'll have to make a special trip into the 'big city' and buy some to try. Of course, who knows if that will be good menudo or not. I've heard people call it mind blowing, etc. My mind is not blown... yet. But I'm hoping some day.

[Will Owen]

My favorite canned soup when I was a kid was Campbell's Pepper Pot, which back then had chunks of trip cut in medium dice, about 3/8". My mom gave me some for lunch one day when I was maybe nine, and here were these cubes of flesh with one kind of fuzzy-looking side. I asked, "What's this?" and Mom said, "Tripe. Try it", so I did. Instantly became my favorite innard. They still make Pepper Pot, in Canada, but the tripe is cut tiny and there isn't much. It is sort of the Official Soup of Philadelphia, though it's not as widely popular there as it used to be.

I don't know what sort of remote hamlet you're in, but if there's any grocery store within driving distance that has a Latino section among the canned goods, they'll probably have cans of Rosarito or a similar brand of menudo. Canned menudo is like canned chili: not that much inferior to what Pedro's mom used to make and a lot better that what MY mom made. That would give you a cheap introduction to both real menudo and to tripe.

Everybody doesn't like it, but millions do.

[wanker]

Menudo has a great "mouth feel' because the tripe, stomach and pigs feet have a lot of connective tissue (ie., collagen) that breaks down when cooked.

To replicate this I would follow a Pozole recipe and use pork shoulder which has a fair amount of and connective tissue. You can add a couple of teaspoons of non-flavored gelatin (mix it with a few tablespoons of water first) to the soup shortly before serving.

Also great Pozole and Menudo is served with chopped onions, cilantro, oregano, lemon/lime wedges, radish, avocado that can be added at the table.

[paulj]

There are tripe stews/soups that don't use feet. I'm thinking in particular about French, Italian and Spanish versions. But tripe by itself does not add much body (gelatin) to a broth. Feet are a great source of gelatin; so much so that a concentrated food stock will glue your lips together. But the stock isn't 'beefy' in flavor. That comes more from roasted bones.

Many versions of Mexican tripe soup don't have a lot of ingredients beyond the tripe and feet. The spicing is even light - they give you condiments (minced onion, chile flakes, dried oregano) to spice to taste.

I've seen a version of Menudo that has chickpeas, which I suspect is a Spanish influence, as in Callos ala Madrilena.

Knorr/Maggi flavor enhancers are commonly used in Mexico.
---------------------------
I just realized that you didn't want tripe either. May I then suggest you look up pozole recipes. Traditionally this was hominy cooked with the pig's head - on slaughter day. But it works well with a mix of pork parts. The same issues about flavor and body apply. Connective tissue and skin give the gelatin. There are also Mexican recipes for chicken soup (gallina). And soups with meat balls (albondigas).

[thymetobake]

Re: Maggi

Thanks! I am of cajun descent and often use a splash or two of soy sauce in my gumbo. I know, sacrilege. But sometimes it needs a bit of oomph if the chicken isn't rich enough or the roux not dark enough, whatever. I never thought to use it for menudo but it makes sense. The comment about Maggi flavor enhancer brought me to this thought. To me it just tastes like super concentrated soy sauce. So I can see how either would work.

[todao]

Try replacing the tripe/pigs feet with lamb shanks or veal shanks.

[thymetobake]

That's a great idea. How do you think ham hocks would work? They are hard to find here (but can be found on occasion) and I've never seen veal or lamb shanks at the market. Maybe beef shanks (is that the same as osso bucco sp?) would work? Or maybe even beef ribs? Or would that make the soup too beefy?

[Will Owen]

For one thing, you should start your base by frying the onions in enough oil, then sprinkling the spices over them and frying everything over medium heat until it's good and fragrant, then add the liquid and whisk to blend. The better menudo I've had doesn't have a thick broth, but it does have a depth of flavor you can't get from putting raw spices into liquid.

It is a brothy soup, but the tripe and the feet give it a subtly gummy mouth feel - all that dissolved collagen - that I can't think how to add otherwise. The tripe also contributes a lot of the flavor. I can certainly do without a big foot in my bowl (calve's is what I've been served) but I'd hate to forego the tripe. What you're making is more like posole - not a bad thing either.

[thymetobake]

Thank you for that tip about frying the spices. I did fry the onions this time, first, until they were a little caramelized. Most recipes I've found just have you dump everything in and simmer.

I had already started it before I got any responses, so unfortunately I did not get to fry the spices this time. I will next time, though.

Last nights menudo turned out better than the first time. I think it was a result of the caramelized onions, more meat, and reduced chicken broth. I reduced it by half and added more. I opted not to add beef bouillon.

We both agreed that it was better than last time. I still don't like it, though. But that doesn't matter as I'm making it for hubby. I suppose, next time I'm near a Mexican market - which isn't often, I'll buy a small container of it and try the broth at least. That way I can at least try to figure out how it is supposed to taste. I'm truly flying blind here.