"Tripes my-way with polenta".

This is what I cooked yesterday from scratch untile almost cooked,
when Mom came in and took care of it in the last 10 minutes of
cooking.
Tripes here is from the first stomach of the cow (rumen), as I
discovered yesterday while chatting about tripe, and is a very light
brown in color, almost white. If the butcher has trimmed it well,
there are no parts with that creepy slimy texture, otherwise tripes
can be really off-putting. Then there's the way they clean it: some
use chemical reagents, I believe acids, and this the rule in the
supermarkets, while private butchers prefer to use the knife and the
difference is big: better texture and better taste.
The one I cooked yesterday, 1.5 kilograms, I had bougth it in a
good butcher shop friday after work, then saturday I made it boil in
a almost full 8 quarter pot of water with a glass of red wine
vinegar. It boiled almost an hour then I just turned the heat off
and left it sit covered for 2 more hours before draining the tripes
out and cutting them into small stripes.
Yesterday morning I took the tripes out of the fridge while I
started to ready up the final part.
First I minced the usual trio: carrot, onion and celery, but for
tripes I use much more carrot then usual, we like it so. Then in my
family we don't use to put potatoes, beans or mushrooms in tripes,
so this is a very basic recipe one can modify with the addition of
one of the above or with something else.
I've put a good 150 grams of butter in the pan and and added the
minced veggies and let it go over low heat for a good quarter of ah
hour, so to make it all tender and cooked, expecially the carrot,
and this is the basic "soffritto". Obviously one can adjust the
proportions of the variuous veggies or just substitute the onion
with garlic or leek or scallion, to obtain a different soffritto.
Then came the tripes: I put them in the pan with the soffritto,
mixed all well and started adding some white wine, a fifth of a
glass at a time, and mixed well over medium-high heat to make the
wine evaporate. I went along like this for about half a glass of
white wine, adding it in 3 times, circa 20 minutes sauteeing. Then I
added about 0.75 liters of a tomato preserve which is just tomato
and salt, nothing more, and about one liter of water to obtain a
runnier sauce for the long cooking time which was just starting.
After these last additions I ended up adding a teaspoon of salt, a
kind grating of black and white pepper and then covered the pan.
It cooked over very low fire for circa 2 hours, getting ready for
the lunch.

Meanwhile I took 300 grams of polenta, which is just corn flour,
brigth yellow. In a pot I brougth to a boil 1 liter of water with
two teaspoons of salt, then added the flour few at a time so to
avoid the formation of lumps and started to cook the polenta, which
wasn's a quick cooking one: this was just crushed corn, no steaming
to reduce cooking times as in the quick versions. I sometimes buy
this and sometimes buy the quick ones because the difference in
taste and texture is minimal, these quick polentas have improved
much since the first ones I tried years ago.
So I had to cook it for 40 minutes, and it needs to be mixed well
and often, so the last 40 minutes have seen me working on that with
some help from Mom.

Serving: polenta was cooked and trippa too so I, in the kitchen, put
a good ladle of polenta in every dish and then added a good ladle of
trippa over that, finishing every dish with a full fist of grated
parmigiano and so the dishes went to the table, where a small
cheese-tray filled with more grated parmigiano was awaiting.
The wines have been a lambrusco "Concerto" from Ermede Medici, 15
kilometers from here, and a bottle of Salina Bianco from Hauner, in
the sicilian island of Salina, one of the Lipari Islands.
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

In article >,
"ViLco" > wrote:

<snipped>
> Serving: polenta was cooked and trippa too so I, in the kitchen, put
> a good ladle of polenta in every dish and then added a good ladle of
> trippa over that, finishing every dish with a full fist of grated
> parmigiano and so the dishes went to the table, where a small
> cheese-tray filled with more grated parmigiano was awaiting.
> The wines have been a lambrusco "Concerto" from Ermede Medici, 15
> kilometers from here, and a bottle of Salina Bianco from Hauner, in
> the sicilian island of Salina, one of the Lipari Islands.
> --
> Vilco

Sounds pretty good Vilco!

Tripe is something on my list of "things to try" when I can work up the
nerve. ;-) They do sell it around here and it does not look bad. I
think I'd try this recipe with sweetbreads first tho'. <g> Thymus
sweetbreads.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:08:55 -0600, Omelet >
wrote:

>with sweetbreads first tho'. <g> Thymus sweetbreads.

I love sweetbreads. I've never seen them for sale in a grocery store
though, so I order it in restaurants.


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:08:55 -0600, Omelet >
> wrote:
>
> >with sweetbreads first tho'. <g> Thymus sweetbreads.
>
> I love sweetbreads. I've never seen them for sale in a grocery store
> though, so I order it in restaurants.

Mmmm. I love them too, especially grilled.
I can get all I want at both local Grocery stores _and_ at Wal-mart for
$1.29 to $1.49 per lb. :-) I have a 5 lb. package in the freezer as we
speak.

I need to do a photography series and a serious recipe with them one of
these days. I generally just electrogrill or wood grill them and eat
them as is with a little salt and lemon pepper.

Mom used to boil them, then remove most of the membranes (the cats got
that part and loved it) then use the boiling water to make a roux cream
sauce to serve them with over toast or scrambled eggs.
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

sf wrote:
>
> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:08:55 -0600, Omelet >
> wrote:
>
> >with sweetbreads first tho'. <g> Thymus sweetbreads.
>
> I love sweetbreads. I've never seen them for sale in a grocery store
> though, so I order it in restaurants.
>


Try a Hispanic carneceria or supermarket, if you have any nearby. Look
for 'mollejas' or sometimes 'lechecillas'.

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:04:45 -0700, Arri London >
wrote:

>Try a Hispanic carneceria or supermarket, if you have any nearby. Look
>for 'mollejas' or sometimes 'lechecillas'.

Good tip, thanks!

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:
>
> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:04:45 -0700, Arri London >
> wrote:
>
> >Try a Hispanic carneceria or supermarket, if you have any nearby. Look
> >for 'mollejas' or sometimes 'lechecillas'.
>
> Good tip, thanks!
>


Just noticed my spelling error: should be carniceria. Not as though I
don't see the word frequently around here.

On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:24:43 -0700, Arri London >
wrote:

>
>
>sf wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:04:45 -0700, Arri London >
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Try a Hispanic carneceria or supermarket, if you have any nearby. Look
>> >for 'mollejas' or sometimes 'lechecillas'.
>>
>> Good tip, thanks!
>>
>
>
>Just noticed my spelling error: should be carniceria. Not as though I
>don't see the word frequently around here.

That's ok, I knew exactly what you meant.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:
>
> On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:24:43 -0700, Arri London >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >sf wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:04:45 -0700, Arri London >
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >Try a Hispanic carneceria or supermarket, if you have any nearby. Look
> >> >for 'mollejas' or sometimes 'lechecillas'.
> >>
> >> Good tip, thanks!
> >>
> >
> >
> >Just noticed my spelling error: should be carniceria. Not as though I
> >don't see the word frequently around here.
>
> That's ok, I knew exactly what you meant.
>

Good luck! As much as I like offal, sweetbreads aren't a favourite.