A very pleasant surprise

[Hoot]

A week or so ago, Mrs Hoot said she was in the mood for Mexican food.
So, I went to town to our one and only Mexican restaurant to fetch some goodies home.
While I was waiting for my order, I asked the wife of the owner if they ever served menudo.
She looked at me kinda sideways, smiled, and said simply "No."
Then she asked me if I liked menudo. I replied "Yes, very much."
She said that if I would come to the restaurant on Sunday, she was going to make a batch of menudo for her family and that she would gladly sell me some.
Let me tell y'all, I have had menudo from a can, which I thought was pretty good. The menudo that she prepared was absolutely the best! It was so far removed from the canned version...I was just amazed. She said that she makes it a couple of times a month, and that anytime I wanted some to come around and ask.
You just never know what you can find, unless you ask.

 

[GotGarlic]

Pretty cool, Hoot Congrats on your great find.

 

[Andy M.]

That's a great find. I've never had menudo. I've also never cooked tripe.

 

[Hoot]

It takes a long cooking time for the tripe to get tender. The broth that she made was spicy, not too hot. It was very nicely balanced. I was somewhat surprised that she didn't use hominy, which the canned version is full of. I like it much better without the hominy.
She also included, on the side, some chopped onion, cilantro, and some lime wedges.
Holy smokes, it was good!

 

[Aunt Bea]

Tripe is almost impossible to find in my area and it tends to be shunned by most of the younger folks.

I have seen several recipes for menudo adapted to use pieces of pork steak or pork stew meat instead of the tripe.

Sounds good to me!

 

[menumaker]

Refreshing when something like that happens don't you think? The kindness of strangers I call it.

 

[Addie]

Sounds like you found a new friend. Here in my section of this city, every Italian restaurant makes tripe in a marinara sauce. Big baskets of bread are on every table to sop up every last drop of the gravy. I can totally understand your excitement with your new find. Happy eating!

 

[Kayelle]

So glad you found a new friend Hoot!

I really like Menudo and there are several little places around here you can buy it every Sunday. Apparently it's the ultimate hangover cure.

I've been known to make it myself but I boiled the tripe outside on a camp stove as the smell is unmistakably tripe, even when it's very carefully and properly cleaned. I've never heard of it without hominy however. Some chopped onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and Mexican oregano on the side is practically mandatory . Ole' !!!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Very nice Hoot! Ask and you shall receive, right? I really enjoy dealing with any business that gives that extra personal touch.

 

[LPBeier]

Way to go, Hoot!

 

[Steve Kroll]

Back in the 80s I used to work on a cruise ship out of Galveston, TX. Whenever we were in dock a group of us would drive up to Houston to eat at this little hole in the wall joint run by a nice Mexican lady like you describe. My buddy, who grew up in Houston, told me the first time we were there "You gotta try her Menudo." And so I did. It was heavenly.

I tell ya, I've had Menudo several times since, but I've never enjoyed it as much as I did at that place. I was spoiled for life.

 

[taxlady]

w00t!

 

[Dawgluver]

Sweet story, Hoot, you've been adopted!

 

[Addie]

Having spent five years living in South Texas, the one thing I learned was if you want really Mexican food, then find a hole in the wall with a real woman from Mexico doing the cooking. For those who lived in Aransas Pass, it was Mama Lupe's. There were other ones, but not as good as hers. Even I would eat her chili. I loved working for her.

 

[buckytom]

just a few weeks ago i was lucky enough to go to a restaurant that was serving tripe italian style (trippo alla romana) as a special appy. the waitress laughed when i ordered it saying that i was 1 of the only 2 customers who were brave enough to eat it since they put it on the weekly menu. they were ready to give it away.

i've never had menudo but i'll have to keep an eye peeled for it. good find, senor hoot.

 

[Addie]

just a few weeks ago i was lucky enough to go to a restaurant that was serving tripe italian style (trippo alla romana) as a special appy. the waitress laughed when i ordered it saying that i was 1 of the only 2 customers who were brave enough to eat it since they put it on the weekly menu. they were ready to give it away.

i've never had menudo but i'll have to keep an eye peeled for it. good find, senor hoot.

That is a big seller in this part of the country. Saturday is Tripe Day in this town. All the old geezers meet at their favorite restaurant and talk and eat, and talk and eat.

 

[buckytom]

lol @ geezers.

yeah, they talk too much.

 

[Addie]

lol @ geezers.

yeah, they talk too much.

Yeah. They tell the same old stories about the old country and how hard they had to work as kids. Or their war stories, same old, same old. But the restaurants don't care. Because while they are sitting there, they all are ordering a second and sometimes a third helping of tripe.

 

[chiklitmanfan]

Sounds like a great place to be a patron of, Hoot. If you're from "the great dismal swamp" you have probably heard of chiterlings, which in the south is pronounced "chitlins." Well, I have never tried Menudo or Chitlins and probably never will. It just doesn't sound appetizing. Probably won't every try haggus either for the same reasons.

 

[Hoot]

There is a service station/convenience store down the road a bit from the community college that serves chitlins every day. They are prepared very much like I remember from my youth. Just the right balance of vinegar and hot sauce.
I know they ain't everyone's idea of good eats, but I sure do like 'em!
Hope to have the opportunity someday to try haggis, 'course there is a very long list of foods I would like to try afore I shuffle off this mortal coil, as they say.