Menudo (tripe soup)

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb Tripe -OR 1 cup canned red chile
1/2 Calf's foot Sauce
1/3 c Vinegar Finely chopped green onions Cold water Chopped cilantro leaves
2 Cloves garlic Lemon wedges
1/2 sm Onion Corn tortillas heated
3 qt Water (approx.) Red Chile Puree: Salt 8 California chiles (1/4 lb)
1 1/2 c Hominy 2/3 c Water

Instructions:

Red Chile Puree (see below) It's traditional to recover from a night on the town with a bracing bowl of menudo. Scrape off any fat from tripe. Cut tripe into 1-inch squares. Place tripe and calf's foot in a large bowl. Add vinegar and cold water to cover generously. Let stand 3 hours. Drain. Rinse tripe and calf's foot thoroughly. Place in a large pot. Add garlic and onion. Pour in water to cover ingredients plus 1 to 1 1/2 inches about 3 quarts. Add salt to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 6 hours or until tripe is tender. After 1 hour skim foam from surface of soup. Skim again as needed. Add more water if liquid evaporates. Prepare Red Chile Puree. Add hominy and Red Chile Puree during last hour of cooking. Ladle into large bowls. Serve chopped green onions cilantro lemon wedges and hot corn tortillas separately. Makes 10 to 15 servings. Red Chile Puree: Remove stems from chiles. Break chiles open and rinse out seeds. Place in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil. Continue to boil until chiles are softened about 5 minutes. Drain; discard water. Place chiles in blender; puree. Add enough water to make puree the consistency of tomato sauce. Press pureed chiles through a sieve to remove bits of peel. Makes about 1 cup. Variation: Substitute 1 1/2 cups nixtamal (cooked dried corn) for canned hominy. Combine with soaked tripe and calf's foot garlic onion and water. Cook as directed above. From: MEXICAN COOKERY by Barbara Hansen HP Books Tucson. 1980. ISBN 0-89586-038-4 Shared by: Karin Brewer Cooking Echo 6/93