 The soup menudo is a traditional Mexican dish; a spicy soup made with tripe. It is often thought of a cure for a hangover, and is traditionally served on special occasions or with family. Menudo is an ethnic dish that has its roots firmly planted in peasant food heritage and poverty. In pre-revolution Mexico, poverty amongst the campesinos was chronic and little if anything that might be prepared as food was left to waste. Usually, the best cuts of meat would go to the hacienda owners while the offal went to the peons. These leftovers consisted of organ meats, brains, head, tails, hooves, etc. Inventive peasant cooks created a soup that made good use of one of the major leftovers: -- the stomach. As cattle and sheep are ruminants that require lengthy intestinal tracts to digest their diet of grasses and raw seeds, the stomach is one of the largest pieces of offal available from these animals.
Classic menudo is basically a slowly cooked stew of tripe infused with several varieties of chile peppers and spices. It is presented as a soup and typically is served with corn tortillas or white bread rolls (bolillos). Typical condiments added to menudo are dried oregano, ground chile flakes, lime juice, and chopped onion . Due to the length of time needed to cook tripe to be tender enough to be edible, menudo is generally cooked in large batches and sold as a special menu item in Mexican restaurants, rather than prepared at home. In some areas menudo is sold as a weekend-only specialty in regular restaurants (typically announced by signs reading Menudo fin de semana), in other areas, menudo is made daily, but mostly sold in restaurants and market stalls (fondas) that specialize in the dish.
There are a number of regional variations on menudo. In northern Mexico, typically hominy (creation of hominy is one step in the production of tortilla dough) is added. Adding patas (beef or pigs feet) to the stew is popular but not universal. In some areas of central Mexico, "menudo" refers to stew of sheep stomach, "pancitas" stew of beef stomach. Other variations have clear or green broth rather than the reddish colored type usually seen. A similar stew made with more easily cooked meat is pozole.
The popularity of menudo in Mexico is such that Mexico is a major export market for stomach tripe from US and Canadian beef producers. Large frozen blocks of imported menudo meat can frequently be seen in Mexican meat markets. The word "menudo" in Mexico can mean the raw stomach meat as well as the stew. The word tripas normally refers to the small intestines rather than the stomach. Tripas are also eaten, but normally in tacos rather than stews.
* 2 1/2 pounds beef tripe
* 3 pounds fresh hominy
* 3 medium onions, chopped
* small jar of dried oregano
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* small jar of red pepper flakes
* 1 tablespoon salt
* Red Chile Powder
* Lemons
* Tortillas - corn
Tripe
1. Wash the tripe.
2. Soak it in water with lemons.
3. Wash it again. And again.
4. Cut off the fat.
5. Chop tripe into small pieces, about 1/2 inch.
Hominy
1. Rinse the hominy and drain it.
Cooking
1. Open the windows..
2. Place the hominy, 4 tablespoons of red chile powder, 1 tablespoon of black pepper, onions, hominy and tripe in a stock pot.
3. Cover with water, and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer overnight hours or until the hominy opens up. Once the hominy opens up, don't cook it any more.
5. Let it cool, remove the fat from the surface.
6. Refrigerate. Remove more fat from the surface.
7. Reheat. Skim the excess fat from the surface.
This soup is better the second day after cooking.
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