Menudo

It’s strange how a simple comment by someone can set off such an interesting series of discoveries. On Facebook someone mentioned he was cooking menudo for his mum; there was a jolly picture of them both and I wondered what menudo was. The simple explanation is that it seems to be a tripe stew.

Tripe is something I always associate with my dad; he loved tripe and onions, but only I shared his enjoyment. he would cook it in a traditional way, as no doubt his mum and grandmothers had, in milk and with onions and with plenty of black pepper. It was something he would have as supper, and I would enjoy a bowl with him, eating it with bread and butter and plenty of conversation. When I first went to Manchester there were tripe shops, selling different sorts of tripe; in the south as far as I knew we only had one sort, the white, bleached variety.

Years later I went to France with some friends, some friends who like me really enjoyed food and wine; one morning we were all feeling very delicate after enjoying rather too much wine. We did not surface until lunchtime and we sat round the table, wondering what to eat when our tummies and heads were certainly very tender… Tripes á la Mode de Caen was on the menu, a Normandy tripe stew and for some reason I chose to eat it, much to the disgust of my fellow sufferers… Well, it was amazing! Not only was it delicious but it was just the thing for my sensitive condition, and within a few mouthfuls i was feeling better, and by the time I had finished I was perfectly fine! I felt fit and ready to g for the rest of the day, clear head, settled tummy, loads of energy!

So back to menudo… I found out that it was tripe stew with tomatoes and chilli, it’s a Spanish or Mexican dish and when I looked up the recipe, one of the things the little write-up said was this:

Have you ever wondered what people in other countries use as a remedy to cure a hangover? Well, besides the classic 2 aspirin and drinking a lot of water, in México some people swear this tasty and aromatic menudo soup, with its distinctive spongy texture, will do the magic trick of bringing you back to life.

Here is the recipe…. sounds good to me!

http://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/2010/04/how-to-make-mexican-menudo-soup-como.html