Well, for years I’ve been trying to psyche up to have some menudo. I figured it’s a necessary food item to scratch off one’s list in order to have any weird food cred. I opted for the large bowl because it was only 50¢ more. I guess cow stomach must be cheap because I haven’t seen so much animal organ in one bowl in my life. It wasn’t bad, the tripe had the consistency of overcooked calamari. A little chewy but nothing like the animal skin it resembled. It’s texture is really nothing like the tripe you get in pho, which is kind of crunchy like cartilage. It also doesn’t have the bizarre feathery look to it like the pho tripe or the stuff you see at the supermarket. I know that cows have something like 4 stomachs, so maybe they use a different one. I wasn’t hungover, which was unusual for a Saturday morning, so I was unable to test its medicinal effects.
I don’t think I’ll have it again any time soon. I only managed to eat about 1/8 of it. I will try it again sometime. People tell me that the Rose Cafe is the local spot to get it, and the broth is to die for. What’s your opinion?
I don’t know about menudo in particular, but tripe rules. So much so that it will be the featured dish for our New Year’s feast this year. I prefer it the Spanish way (callos) but the local dish (mondongo) is also very good.
Actually, I work with a Mexican fellow, and sometimes on the weekends we’ll order some from Roberto’s Taco Shop . It’s really kinda tasty, and Roberto’s version contains pig’s feet as well (which my co-worker tells me is true menudo).
Every Mexican place I’ve ever been to only serves it on the weekends–I assume that’s a tradition owing to its alleged hangover-curing powers.
Interesting info about the pig’s feet. A lot of the recipes online have either calve’s feet or pig’s feet. I didn’t see anything that looked like a pig’s foot. There was some huge bone in mine that looked like a vertebrate but it had some piece of organ hanging off of it. It’s definitely just a weekend thing as far as I can tell.
I’ve had this kind of menudo, with warm corn tortillias and fresh lemon juice squeezed from a thick lemon wedge. MMMmmmm! It’s good! ETA: And it was Texans of Mexican descent who made, and served, and ate it with me as well.
I like a nice bowl of menudo, with cilanto, fresh chopped onions, lime juice, and some Tapatio. I usually don’t do the tortillas though. Not that I have anything against them, but I usually just don’t eat them with it. I prefer it without the hominy.
There’s something intriguing about putting a stomach in your stomach. And it’s mighty tasty to boot.
Pho was mentioned. I was all ready for a nice bowl of pho yesterday. But when I got to the restaurant they were closed. Maybe I’ll get some mañana.
Menudo is awesome, but I grew up eating Polish tripe stew, so it doesn’t gross me out. It’s yummy if prepared well. Menudo and pozole/posole (pork-hominy soup) are reasons to look forward to the weekend (both are generally only served on weekends around here, although I’m starting to see more places offer posole at all times).
Menudo is part of a good 3am meal after a night of drunkeness on a Saturday evening heading to Sunday morning. Sorry. You get no “weird food cred”. Well. At least not in Texas or most of the Southwest. Menudo is part of any taqueria in the US.
It’s an acquired taste. But once you acquire it there are times when you gotta have some.
It needs to be served piping hot so that the chopped onions and whatever else you throw in to personalize it can cook in the broth.
One reason it may appear only on weekends (besides the hangover traditiion) is because proper preparation is labor intensive. A restauraunt may not have the time to make it daily.
One clue to good menudo: while you’re in the restaurant on a Sunday morning you witness a constant stream of people coming in with empty buckets and leaving with full ones.
Before going in for bariatric surgery menudo was my last meal. It seemed appropriate.
ETA: And it was Texans of Mexican descent who made, and served, and ate it with me as well.