kerouac

In France, tripe is usually served in a stew ("à la mode de Caen&quot but it is the Lorraine preparation that I have always preferred.
After lengthy boiling (at least 3 hours if you don't use a pressure cooker), you lay the tripe out on a cutting board and squeeze out any excess water, using paper towels or just a clean kitchen towel. Next, you cut it into strips like long macaroni. Then you just fry it with a massive amount of butter, chopped parsley and garlic (not forgetting the salt and pepper, if course). It doesn't need to brown, but if certain parts get a little crispy, it makes it even better.

teaberry

So many of the foods we eat are connected with our culture, and what we were served at home growing up. For instance, my grandmother used to make gefilte fish from scratch (mashed raw fish that is formed into little cakes,then boiled, and served with horseradish), and I love it. Yet, people who were not raised ever eating something like that find it absolutely disgusting, and when I think about it, I don't blame them. For me, though, it's almost a comfort food.

Tripe, on the other hand, is not. I do find it disgusting. It was never served in my house, or at any family or cultural gatherings. I tried it once in Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup, and wasn't pleased at all. I also don't do snails, or mussel or clams or oysters for that matter. Don't care for slimy things. That's just me.

cmt

Neil Oz: Now I'm really wondering about those snails.... They weren't the least bit slimy on the very few occasions I've had them properly prepared, once in France and once in a French restaurant in NYC and I don't exactly remember when else. They were wonderful. There was nothing unpleasant about their texture. When I bought them a few years ago at an Italian grocery in the local farmers' market, I just thought I'd have fun with them. This grocery didn't normally carry snails, but that weekend they had a barrel full, I guess maybe for some holiday that I was unaware of when snails might traditionally be eaten. People were amused by my buying such a small quantity, and I got into several conversations with fellow customers and also with one of the other non-farm vendors in an adjacent shop. I just remembered bits and pieces of their advice--something about letting the snails eat some cornmeal and giving them time to excrete it, and then salting them while alive (horrible, horrible thing to do to them!!!) so they will give off slime (of course, the salt is killing them and their body desperately sends out the slime as protection) which can be washed off. I think it was the Greek shopkeeper who told me about the salt. Maybe what you had in Greece was prepared by that method, and maybe it's supposed to be like that for some dishes. Or maybe, like me, the cook just didn't follow that method properly, so the slime produced in reaction to the salt was never thoroughly removed.

Brahmama

First of all, I never PLANNED to eat tripe in any form. I have seen it in soup in Mexico (used for hangovers) and blithely waved it away.

But we were in Naples with our charming (and cute) tourguide at tiny little restaurant (also charming) where we were the only English-Speakers. Rino was ordering away for us - no menus - and the food started appearing. Most was recognizable and nothing alarming. Then I received a plate of something with a red sauce, and began to cut a bite. I asked him what it was and he replied "Trip". Oh, I said. Hmm. I took a bite, still thinking, Trip, Trip, and the penny fell. TRIPE! I did not clean my plate (sorry mom) but actually it wasn't THAT bad. Of course, we were drinking significant quantities of red wine at the time.

I have tried so many foods that I had sworn would never cross my palate - and been pleasantly surprised by almost all of them. Maybe I'm growing up finally -

Carol

cmt

The preliminary preparation of tripe sounds almost like what I imagine is involved in preparing chitterlings, but that would be much worse, because so much cleaning would be required first. I've never had chitterlings. Something like it seems to be served as an appetizer at Penang (Malaysian chain restaurant).

P.S. I love mussels, clams, and oysters. (Mussels I've had only cooked.)

P.P.S. It's odd that I'm having so much to say on a thread about tripe.

GSteed

Words!!! Tripe or as I know it, flaki, is a Polish mainstay. It is made into a delicious meaty soup. Markets sell it as a product and as a soup. It is impossible to imagine its animal origin by its taste. Try it you will like it!

Seamus

Drunk. Very drunk. Or suffering a massive hangover. (Tripe is the main ingredient in the classic mexican hangover cure, menudo.)

cigalechanta

CMT, here's what on chefs says about preparing live snails.
like squid, octopus, bear in mind if overcooked it can be rubbery.

http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/f.../preparing.htm

kismetchimera

Personally I dont like Tripe,growing up in Rome I have eaten it few times, but is not my favourite's dish.
Now,I truly enjoy eating the squirmy little escargots with garlic and butter sauce...but of course, food is very subjective, so we should not trow the first stone to a person that likes to eat something that we thought as Disgustating.
BTW, if you must buy tripe or liver, dont buy beef, but veal..although that I refuse to eat Veal..

ekscrunchy

Here is more information about Tuscan tripe and lampredotto including addresses of the tripe stands in Florence.http://www.vivifirenze.it/cgi-bin/ne...ezione=leisure

Pausanias

I tried it several times and was always disappointed. I suggest you try to find a small portion to see if it appeals to you.

Funky ethnic foods are not always what they're cracked up to be.

almcd

The only person I know who liked tripe was Santa Claus. When I was young,(60 years ago), I used to leave a plate of tripe and onions by the fire on Xmas eve and, lo and behold, it was always gone the next day.

Neopolitan

Gee, Santa left me great presents in exchange for milk and cookies. What did you get for leaving him tripe?

bardo1

D-M,

Where do you live? There are are many places to get tripe in the US (certainly the Wash. DC area). As mentioned, Chinese restaurants often have it (look for places that have almost all Chinese patrons). Similarly, authentic Mexican restaurants in the US (again, look at places where most of the patrons are Mexican) often have wonderful versions of tripe soup and tripe tacos. You don't need to wait for Italy to enjoy tripe.

SB_Travlr

Wow, this thread brings back a memory. When I was a kid (in England), my grandparents lived with us. They were from the Midlands, and my grandad LOVED tripe. When I was walking home from school, as I came up the hill, I could tell when it was Tripe Day. My nan served it with generous amounts of onion sauce, which I assumed was to disguise the flavor. But nothing could disguise the way it looked or the texture, so I was never persuaded to try it. And never will be, I'm sure!

No problem with some other innards that people have reservations about -- heart, liver, kidneys come to mind, all probably served out of necessity, because they were cheap and available during all the shortages after WWII. But that tripe was in a class by itself, and best left there IMHO!

Good for you, DogMother for being willing to give it a try. If you do, be sure to come back and tell us about it!

Lorenzi

The best time to eat tripe would be after your dead.

Larry_M

Both of my parents were first generation Southern Italians, and when we had tripe, it was a treat. My mother made a long-cooked (3 hours or more) version in a spicy tomato sauce, and it was so tender that it almost melted in your mouth! My parents, sisters, and I all loved it.

And lest anyone think it's one of those dishes that hold fond memories from many years ago, and when you taste it now it's YECCHHH!, not so. After not having it for a long time, I asked my mother for the recipe, and have made it a number of times for my own family ... my wife and children all like it. My son will eat just about anything, but that also includes 2 girls who are pretty finnicky eaters.

Tripe has a very distinctive, uh... shall we say, aroma ... while cooking, but I like it very much.

My father also used to love a dish of cow's lung that he called "pluck" ... I tasted it just once, and I don't think it's legal to sell the suff in the US any longer - 'nuff said about that one.

As the saying goes, that's why they make chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Dog_Mother

Alrighty..... may I bring up another "taste treat" I've never had, and have wondered if I should try it while in Italy? And that is TONGUE. How is tongue typically cooked, and do you have any suggestions regarding where this could be ordered and ENJOYED?

kerouac

Tongue is also boiled a very long time, but it is very simply served with a spicy sauce. There is absolutely nothing unpleasant about the taste, and anyone who doesn't like it usually just doesn't like the way it LOOKS.

Suelynne

My parents started married life on rations in postwar England, and we were brought up on tripe, tongue, brains, lamb's fry [liver]... - at least one of these once a week. That said, my favourite tripe recipe is Indonesian, my favourite liver recipe is Italian.