So I’m sitting here eating a bowl of menudo, and it occurs to me: Whose idea was it to eat the stomach lining of a cow? Did someone hundreds of years ago make a south-of-the-border haggis? He cut open the stomach wherein the pudding was cooked, and scraped off the inside? He said, “Mmm! That stomach lining tastes pretty good!”? And then instead of cooking a bunch of stuff in a cow’s stomach, he decided to just take the tasty part and make a soup?
Or did the Grand Poobah get all the meat and just leave the entrails to the peasants? “Sorry gang, me mates an’ I et all the porterhouse. Have some guts to chew on.”
Or was it a case of: “Hey, I’ll bet you won’t eat that!”?
I have other questions about the cosmic significance of putting a stomach in your stomach, but for now: Why did people start eating tripe?
Remember, most people, geographically and historically speaking, aren’t and haven’t been as rich as us First Worlders. A whole cow has typically been a pretty major investment, and when you butcher that sucker you don’t want to waste any of it. Just like the American Indians and the buffalo.
The use of the whole animal (in this case cow) is not
limited to Mexico.
In Italy you’d order Minestra di Trippe alla Milanese.
Caribbean cooks cool the Soppi Mondongo for
three hours and then reheat it (they say it improves the flavor). In fact, they might even add a tablespoon of dry sherry to each soup plate.
And during their winter at Valley Forge, Washington’s men
were said to relish a hot bowl of Philadelphia Pepper Pot.
In the case of the Pepper Pot soup the tripe is usually sold precooked.
Like MEBuckner said, a cow is an expensive thing to kill. In my copy of The People’s Guide to Mexico, there’s a mention that most Mexicans are vegetarians out of necesseity, not by choice.
Then again, you could think of our only eating muscle as being odder than using the whole animal. After all, menudo tastes good, and while I’d never think of barbecuing a cow’s thymus gland, the lapitas (laipitas? lupitas?) I had in South Texas once tasted great!
I realize that; but why the stomach lining? How did people find out they could eat it at all? It doesn’t seem as obvious as the filtration unit – er, liver-- kindneys, heart, tail, feet, etc. Why don’t we have colon casserole or pancreas pie? Or (following up on cornflake’s suggestion) thymus cones?
I know that people eat tripe, and I know it’s often out of necessity; but stomach lining doesn’t seem like a very obvious thing to eat.
Actually, menudo is a soup made of tripe. Still seems fitting though.
Main Entry: chit·ter·lings
Variant(s): or chit·lins /'chit-l&nz/
Function: noun plural
Etymology: Middle English chiterling
Date: 13th century
: the intestines of hogs especially when prepared as food
Main Entry: sweet·bread
Pronunciation: 'swEt-"bred
Function: noun
Date: 1565
: the thymus or pancreas of a young animal (as a calf) used for food
I imagine I’d probably be pretty excited to try something called sweetbreads until I found out what it was.
Since this should relate to things Mexican please change chitlins to chicharones.
And before Johnny LA asks what happens to anything else of the cow (like lungs, sweat glands, etc.), please pick up a package of chorizo next time you’re in the meat market and read what’s in it.
Not only are we wealthier and therefore able to consider certain parts icky, but we also know more about how bodies work, so we have reasons for thinking it’s icky. Of course, the reasons don’t really have anything to do with how bad or good the organ meats actually are for us. A well washed intestine is not actually grody anymore, we just know what used to be in it.
Organ meats are actually very high in vitamins and very rich. I have read that in primitive societies, the organs were considered especially good and reserved for people with more status. Part of that may be the rarity factor - there’s a lot more muscle than liver in an animal.
BTW, intestines are usually cleaned out and used for sausage casings. If that grosses you out, what would you prefer to use as casings, plastic?
I don’t think I said anything about being grossed out. I eat stomach linings and filtration units, and prefer a little “snap” to my sausages.
I will confess though, that I draw the line at head cheese. I don’t like seeing the piggy snout bits suspended in a gelatinous mass. The gelatine reminds me too much of snot, and having the snoutlets in such close proximity is a little disturbing.
In Puerto Rico, where they’re from, “Menudo” means “small change” or “young’uns” (in the very, very beginning – mid 70s – it was a child, not teen, band). The dish in question is called “Mondongo” there.
…and is considered a powerful pick-me-up at the end of a night of overdrinking…
Johnie, Another tasty treat from Mexico is called moronga. It’s a type of sausage made from beef blood. Also tripas or intestines are served all the time, one of my sons favorites.
The best pozole is made with the pig’s head,snout and all.
About the only parts of a cow or pig that aren’t eaten are the moo and the oink.
One day in culinary school, we learned to prepare sweetbreads, and of course, we were also expected to taste them afterwards. I’m not much for organ meats, but I was pleasantly surprised. When properly cleaned (all the blood needs to be washed out), breaded and fried, they’re quite tasty and don’t have that “organ meat” flavor that I braced myself for.
