How should one eat tripe for the first time?
 

I will be in Florence in early June, and would like to taste tripe for the first time in my life. I will admit that it sounds ghastly to me--but too many people have mentioned how wonderful it is.

Can you tell me WHERE in Florence I should buy the best tripe? AND, how should it be prepared for one who is totally ignorant of tripe? (Fried, boiled, sauces, alone, in a sandwich, ?????)

Hi DM,

Tripe isn't all that wonderful.

Here's a nice, simple recipe.
http://italianfood.about.com/library...y/aa042899.htm

You will find that tripe often has the texture of overcooked spaghetti.

((I))

Oh, the mind whirls. Tripe gelato? Tripe sauce on pasta? Trippa mi su for dessert?

Just like other "odd" foods, it's really going to be all about the sauce. No one would like escargot the first time if it weren't for the rich garlic butter.

Tripe in a tomato sauce would probably be the easiest for someone with a squeamish side to get down. While tripe is served in a variety of ways in Tuscany, I'd stick to the most usual one: Trippa alla Fiorentina, which is indeed in a tomato sauce.

To get the taste of tripe, (trippa) or lampredotto, in Florence, I would get a sandwich from one of the tripe stands. There is one outside the San Lorenzo (central) market and another popular on the corner of Via Tavolini and Via dei Cerchi, near both the American Express office and the best gelato store in the city, Perche No? You can order it as a sandwich or on a plate. You will also find it on menus of the traditional trattorie in the city.

Go into this with an open mind. I cannot tell you how many times I tried something knowing I was eating it and that the idea disgusted me and thought "well, this is gross" and then a few months later have tried the same thing under a different context and really enjoyed it.

So, don't let the giant word "tripe" loom over the experience. Just think "delicious" and if the texture bothers you, examine why. Is it really the texture or is it that you have in your mouth "the texture of tripe"?

Personally, I like it. Not fried, though. The sauce is key and tomato is a good place to start.

Well stated, Claire. As an aside, know that the Florentines are not the only aficionados of tripe. It plays a large role in the cuisine of many other places, including Mexico.

Try one of the stands right in the food market for the best tripe, with the most excellent sauce(s)-not all sauces are created equal.

In a very small bite, just in case.

In Italy, the Romans are also into tripe in a big way. "Trippa alla romana" is also made with a tomato sauce.

Googling for a recipe, I found that it is also made alla bolognese, alla lucchese and alla genovese in addition to alla fiorentina and alla romana.

I grew up eating tripe every now and again, not all taht unusual in a working-class Australian family in the 1950s, but the Italians of course do it far better than the dubious English approach favoured my dear old mum. I agree that trippa alla fiorentina is a good start. A friend of mine who grew up in Piemonte kindly introduced me to HIS dear old mum's version, which included fresh broad beans and I think beef stock - even my wife, no tripe fan, enjoyed it.

If the "problem" is the thought of what the basic food itself is and/or where it comes from, how on earth could anyone really manage to eat an egg?

LJ,
Just to be clear. The "food market" is the San Lorenzo market? And can you give me some tips for identifying excellent sauces vs. not-so excellent sauces?

Oh, Neopolitan, tripe gelato will have to wait until I have acquired a taste for tripe in general.

Ek Scrunchy (or are you Eks Crunchy?) :) Thanks for the specific addresses!

DM

The food market is the Mercato Centrale (north center of the city). It is a wonderful big building where all the produce, meat, fish, cheese, etc, is sold out of booths by local merchants.

One simply should not eat tripe...ever. And this comes from someone who is pretty much an omnivore.

The one and only time I (unwittingly) had tripe was at one of those sandwich stalls in Florence - the taste and the texture of my very first bite were so utterly shocking...repulsive..horrifying..that I actually spat it out onto the ground, to the amazement of quite a few Florentines.

I think you should ask local people where they like to eat tripe. If you ask people like the hospitality managers or head receptionists at hotels, who are really accustomed to dealing with foreign tourists in some courteous but not especially frank way, they may just steer you away from eating tripe. You might be more likely to get honest advice from a small shopkeeper or the handyman at the hotel or some ladies waiting on line with you for a public bus or some university students.

I agree that you should try tripe. Maybe you'll like it. Lots of people do. My father and my paternal grandfather loved it. Much to my surprise, an Italophile English-born archeology professor whom I met at some Italian culture function in Princeton mentioned it as one of her favorite foods.

I HATE TRIPE myself. I've tried it several times, as a child and as an adult, just to see whether my tastes might've changed. They haven't. I still hate it. I find the texture repulsive and I don't like the taste either. But lots of normal people whose tastes I otherwise share seem to like tripe. so maybe you will, too. Or if not, at least you'll know you tried it.

Not that it makes a bit of diff. to you, but I meant to say my MAternal grandfather liked it. I never met my peternal grandparents. (But they probably liked tripe, too.. It must not be an inherited preference.)

I don't really understand the thinking behind any statement that one should &quot;try tripe&quot; even though one admits it is disgusting. Not meaning you cmt, but generally, everyone admits that it is just plain downright nauseatingly disgusting and obviously, it is not a food that we <i>need</i> to eat..so why would anyone need to try it?
Tripe, to me, is one of those foods that people made do with when there was not much food to eat. Why do we still need to try it?
This is all very subjective and just a matter of curiousity for me, since I don't eat red meat and have never eaten tripe, but it sounds so odd...<i>yes, it is disgusting but you must try it! :)</i>

Another thing: however you try it, if the person who has prepared it for you is around, be as gracious as possible. There is nothing more hurtful to a cook than to have someone spit out one of your creations.

Read Guy Davenport's essay on the practice of eating in his collection &quot;The Death of Picasso.&quot; It is really well written and very enlightening.

Scarlett, many people like tripe. I don't. I also don't like macaroni and cheese or coconut candy, things that most people like. It's just taste preference, or in this case texture preference. I guess &quot;typical Americans&quot; usually don't like tripe. Southern Italian immigrants often do. I grew up with my grandmother's southern Italian immigrant cooking and loved the foods she made. I enjoyed many things that some people seem to think might be disgusting to try--brains, pork liver, all sorts of weeds, rabbit. But I just don't like tripe. In that way, my taste is lined up with the &quot;average American&quot; and not with my ancestors. But I just think it's silly not to try it. It's food, it's edible, lots of people like it, it's not harmful, and if Dog mother is curious, why shouldn't she try it.

After doing a little web searching about tripe, I'm thinking it might be a little like rubbery tofu--and is very dependent on the sauce and seasonings. Am I right? Or does it have a distinctive taste of its own?