Mexico’s tripe soup in a red guajillo chile broth — a weekend and New Year’s dish, and famous (without scientific backing) as a hangover cure. This version leaves out the hominy.
Untested: I have not cooked this one yet. It is here because the Offal dive needed it, and it is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef tripe, honeycomb and book preferred
- 2 calves’ feet, optional
- 1/2 cup white vinegar, plus 4 cups water and 1 tablespoon salt, for soaking
Chile purée
- 6 to 8 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
Salt
To garnish
- Fresh mint, cilantro, lime wedges and crushed dried chile
Directions
- Clean and soak. Rinse the tripe (and feet, if using) in several changes of cold water. Soak 30 minutes in the vinegar, water and salt, then rinse again. Cut the tripe into bite-size squares.
- Simmer. Put the feet in a large pot of water and simmer 20 minutes. Add the tripe and simmer gently about 4 hours, until the tripe is soft “but still has some texture.” Skim as needed.
- Make the chile purée. Toast the guajillos briefly in a dry skillet until fragrant, then soak them in hot water 15 minutes. Blend the chiles with the garlic, cumin, coriander, salt and a little soaking water until smooth.
- Finish. Stir the chile purée into the pot through a strainer and simmer 20 to 30 minutes more. Season with salt.
- Serve in deep bowls, with mint, cilantro, lime and dried chile at the table.
Notes
Source Adapted from Pati Jinich, “Red Menudo.” The soak, the 4-hour simmer and the garnishes are hers. The chile purée quantities are this collection’s; the research recorded her ingredients but not every amount.
Tripe American supermarket tripe is “dressed”: cleaned and bleached. Honeycomb tripe (from the second stomach) is the prized one.
The Offal dive on the Food site covers this part in depth.