Re: Tripe

Only way I'll eat it is with salt, pepper and vinegar. Then, I think it's rather tasty.

Spam is okay but as I age (I'm 62) I find that I notice (and can taste) the enormous amounts of sodium in canned goods - especially Spam. For example, a small can of baked beans supplies over 100% of the recommended daily allowance of sodium. I can feel my body swell up from just reading the label.

I live in Mexico, and tripe is a staple of "menudo". I don't care for it, though.

In message , Mack A. Damia writes

I think it was Mr Pennington, a food technician, who recommended draining baked beans. His view was that the baked beans were fine, that the problem was with all the crap: salt, sugar, msg, tomato paste etc in the sauce. He maintained that there was far too much sugar and sauce used as a bulking mouth-appeal agent in baked beans anyway and that one was unlikely to notice the removal of most of it anyway.

Mrs Montage of the Full Monty Fame in Monty's Caff, Lennox Street, Bognor Regis, drains baked beans as a matter of course so that her fine breakfasts aren't swimming in the stuff. As a bonus it makes her breakfast plates easier to clean.

I'd be curious about the taste. I've often thought of making my own baked beans from scratch, but I've never gotten a round tuit.

The sodium in canned food makes me recoil these days, though.

In message , Mack A. Damia writes

Why not give it a trial? All that's required is to leave a dollop of beans from a can in a strainer. I doubt if you'll notice any difference apart from the fact that little is drowned on your place.

zymurgy coughed up some electrons that declared:

Texture = guts

Taste = guts

Yuk either way...

OTOH, I surprised a few people in China why actively enjoying a dish they call "red tofu" - it's made with blood and soya bean curd and most people assume it's too weird for foreign jonnies. Had to get the other half to explain the delights of black pudding to them - then they understood :_0

Ah, I /do/ like offal, just not tripe. Liver, bacon and onions, or a good steak and kidney pie. I've also sampled Pagliata in Italy.

Well, I was born in Lancashire, so i'm no stranger to a good black pud .. !

Cheers,

Paul.

"Mazzarella alla Teramana: lamb entrails and curatella meat, rolled up with endive leaves and stringed with lamb bowels"

Okay, worth a try. I love a can of Bush's baked beans with a nice thick NY strip steak; they seem to go well together.

Nice one.

"Lamb intestines are slit lengthwise, washed and rinsed thoroughly (cleaning is completed by plunging them into flour and then rolling them in it at least three times). When they are pale and clean, they are washed again in water and vinegar. The pluck is then prepared, cutting it into strips the length and width of a finger, which are salted along with the intestines, then rinsed and left to drain. A bouquet of chopped fresh garlic, parsley, endive leaves and fresh onion is prepared separately. The pluck is then wrapped in the endive leaves after seasoning the lamb intestines with the onion, parsley and garlic. The parcel is now tied with the intestines and allowed to drain and the =93mazzarella=94 is ready to cook. =93Mazzarelle=94 are cooke= d in a saucepan just with oil, adding half a glass of water and white wine after the oil and juices have been absorbed and evaporated. Finally, a handful of marjoram leaves and a pinch of pepper are added. The dish is served and consumed piping hot. "

Yum, I shall look out for them :)

Paul.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember zymurgy saying something like:

Mmm... tripe and onions boiled in milk.

I've just remembered, there's a variant of Spam in Italy that's not canned, it's in the cured meat section, called Mortadella.

Ah. Not much call for spam there then, with all the other good food on offer .. !

Paul.

Unless you go to fairly expensive restaurants, you find an awful lot of beans and rice in Mexican cooking. Boring but predictable with so much poverty.

One of the Japanese fast-food chains started operating here years ago. At first it was pretty decent, but then they tailored it more to the Mexican palate - especially with the sauces and gravies which all seem to taste the same.

I've had mortadella, and it's very tasty.