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Menudo Rojo |
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Rod Franklin
Chef Joined: 17 February 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 921 |
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Posted: 25 April 2013 at 14:56 |
Menudo Rojo 2 1/2 lbs honeycomb tripe, washed, trimmed and cut into just a few large pieces 1 1/2 pig feet, in half longwise and rinsed of any bone fragments 2 quarts water 1 large onion, peeled and left whole 1 head garlic, like 25 cloves, peeled and smashed 12 stems and leaves of cilantro 2 teaspoons ground black pepper 2 big bay leaves 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 tsp Mexican oregano Hot chiles to taste, be aware there will be more later 1 Tbs kosher salt, and more to adjust later 1 Tbs vinegar
The red part 12 dried guajillo chiles, rinsed, destemmed, deseeded and deveined. water 2 Tbs vinegar 1 Tbs sugar 2 cloves garlic minced 1 tsp Mexican oregano 1 tsp ground cumin
The finish 1 28oz can of yellow hominy, drained and rinsed well Chopped cilantro Chopped onion Shredded cabbage Julienned radish
This is sort of two recipes in one; the soup part and the red part. The soup part speaks for itself. The red part is a chile sauce that can be used for more than just this menudo. Tripe comes in more than a few forms. Honeycomb tripe as used in this recipe comes from the second stomach of a cow. Tripe also comes in wildly varying quality, from bleached white and soaked, to what is called green tripe. I try to find the bleached type as it has all the other stuff and smells removed. I will smell it to determine the bleachiness and soak to get that out before using it if needs be. Green tripe on the other hand can be pretty nasty. From as removed, to just well rinsed. It can be dealt with, but it can be a lot of work. Much trimming of fat and picking of hair and stuff and much fresh water used, followed by scrubbing like you were hand washing clothes using lime juice or vinegar and lots of salt, followed by the bleach soak and then finally leaching the bleach out. A lot of extra work. Been there, done that. I find my best tripe in Asian markets. YMMV. Well, if that hasn’t turned you off and you’re still reading, then I guess you’re serious enough to follow through, so I’ll continue. This is red menudo and is the kind you would normally encounter in Mexican, Texican/Tex-Mex places in the US or like that found in Northern Mexico. Red Menudo lends itself to the use of greener forms of tripe. There is a white variety which I more often make, that comes from an area of the Northwest part of Mexico according to Wikipedia. It has no hominy or red chile like this recipe, but that’s for another thread. It’s also very traditional to use beef feet instead of pigs feet. If you can find them then you need to cook those first for a few hours before adding the tripe. I have this fair sized screen ball to put spices and stuff in and it would help if you could locate one of those, but it’s not necessary. Enough of all that, let’s make menudo rojo! In a big pot with a lid over high heat, place the water, tripe and pigs feet. Bring to a gentle boil and skim the scum off the top. Then add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar. In the screen ball place the cilantro, bay leaves, cumin seeds, oregano, and hot chiles. If you don’t have a screen ball, tie the cilantro and bay leaves together with cotton string to make them easier to fish out later and throw the rest of the stuff in the pot. It’ll be OK. Cover and boil gently for 2 hours. The chile sauce recipe. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. Place the flattened guajillo chiles on a half sheet pan sprayed with a little aerosol cooking spray. Lightly spray the chiles and then into the oven for just a minute. Just till they begin to smell nice, but NOT burned. Put the baked chiles in a very small pot and put enough water in to just under the amount needed to cover the chiles and bring to a boil while pressing down the chiles. Sorry, I didn’t measure the amount of water needed. Add the vinegar, sugar, garlic, oregano and cumin powder. Stir to mix and mash down the chiles one last time, turn off the heat, cover and let it sit for ½ hour. After the ½ hour, place the contents of the chile pot into a food processor and process till smooth. Add a little water if needed to make a sort of thick sauce. If you are making extra for other uses then add salt to taste. Strain the sauce through a food mill or a big strainer. Reserve the strained sauce. After the tripe has boiled for 2 hours remove the mesh ball and discard its contents. Fish out the onion and the cilantro/bay leave bundle and discard. Fish out the pigs feet and tripe. Set these aside to cool enough to handle. Degrease the soup if needs be. You might want to strain the soup as there may be a little bone or two from the pigs feet in there. Cut the tripe into 1”X2” pieces and pull all the bones out of the pigs feet and roughly chop the rest, skin, cartilage and tendons and everything that isn’t bones and roughly chop. Put it all back in the pot, add the reserved chile sauce and boil gently covered for 1 hour more. Add the hominy. Check for salt. This stuff is noticeably better after a couple of days in the refrigerator and if you can manage that please do so. Prep the garnishes and serve with corn tortillas wiped with
fresh squeezed lime juice and salt if desired. |
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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Nice post Rod, and very informative. I don't know if I'll ever get around to making a batch of menudo, because I just can't handle the idea of eating it....but great post!
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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Rod, that's a beautiful rendition of a classic Latin-American dish! Plating and presentation are near-perfect, and I think you hit a home-run out of the park.
For anyone who has been curious about this traditional favourite, this looks like the way to go!
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Rod Franklin
Chef Joined: 17 February 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 921 |
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Y'know, I was very skeptical before I tried it the first time. Think about this. Is this any worse than eating shrimp or lobsters presented still in the shells? Or any kind of egg for that matter?
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Hungry
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africanmeat
Chef Joined: 20 January 2012 Location: south africa Status: Offline Points: 910 |
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Hi Rod
i never tried tripe my mom used to make it .
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Ahron
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Margi Cintrano
Master Chef Joined: 03 February 2012 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 6357 |
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Gentlemen, It is quite similar to CALLOS MADRILEÑOS which are served in a piquant smoked paprika sauce and they are delicious ... Thanks for posting Rod. Looks very tasty. Have nice wkend. Margaux.
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Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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