I was wrong. He loved it! We ordered another dish of tripe and have enjoyed it ever since.
But flash forward to today, pandemic, and stifled meals out. Add that to a severe reduction in income and one has a need for inexpensive proteins. Tripe, beef neck, chicken livers — all are inexpensive, well under my $5/pound cap on meat spending.
I found the right kind of tripe at the SF market in SE Portland and set out to make dim sum tripe with jalapeño and ginger.
It was easy. Dim Sum Tripe
Poach the whole omasum tripe for 30 minutes in weak chicken stock with garlic and ginger. I used remouillage or the stock made from a second cooking of the bones, but you can water down chicken stock, 3 units stock to 1 unit water.
Remove the tripe and let it cool. Taste the broth, it should be mild but flavorful with hints of the ginger and garlic. Strain and add a little soy sauce to taste
Cut the tripe into strips. To serve, heat the tripe in some of the broth with fresh ginger, jalapeño, and garlic.
Yum!
I first heard about Philadelphia pepper pot soup from my mom. They used to serve it at the Hess’s department store restaurant in Allentown, Pennsylvania. This was back in the day when stand-alone department stores had luncheon restaurants (not a snack bar). Women — or at least my mom — would wear their best outfit, (and lipstick!) to go shopping. After hours of shopping wearing a girdle and teetering on spike heeled shoes, I guess a gal needed a spot of tea and a bowl of soup.
Pepper pot is basically beef soup with tripe. It’s heavy on the protein, in this case honeycomb tripe and beef, with just enough mirepoix to make it respectable.
Honeycomb tripe requires a bit more care. It is poached in water (to cover plus one inch) with a teaspoon of vanilla and a small amount of salt for 1 hour. If it is tender after an hour, shock it in cold water (to stop the cooking process) and chill until cool. Cut into 1/2 inch squares and set aside.
Sear beef neck bones (I got them at the SF (Asian) Supermarket in SE Portland), add rough chopped mirepoix. Lightly brown mirepoix, deglaze with white wine and add water to cover plus an inch or two and simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Remove meat, strain stock, and set aside.
Up to this point the recipe is really just beef soup - which it is - but less brown and earthy, more brothy and lighter color.
Small dice and sear one onion, one celery stalk and one carrot in butter until soft. Add the beef stock, neck meat and tripe and simmer. Add a bunch of salt and chopped rosemary.
Serve with crusty bread or potatoes. Oh yea, and lots of ground pepper.
Stay safe, love big & eat well
xoxo
Nancy
