P
Mexican
Menudo (Mexican tripe and hominy soup)
Menudo is Mexico's most celebrated restorative soup — a long-simmered broth of cleaned beef tripe (honeycomb and book tripe) with hominy, dried red chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla), dried oregano, and lime. Made primarily on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays), it is considered the canonical hangover cure and is eaten by families at weekend breakfast. The broth must be gelatinous from the tripe collagen and deeply red from the chile base. The tripe cooking time is 3–4 hours minimum.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1.2 kg
honeycomb tripe
cleaned — see method
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
600 g
book tripe
cleaned — see method
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
coarse salt
coarse salt
for scrubbing
Your own market
2
limes
halved, for scrubbing; more to serve
Your own market
1
white onion
halved and charred directly over flame
Your own market
For the chile base
3
ancho chiles
stems and seeds removed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
guajillo chiles
stems and seeds removed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
pasilla chiles
stems and seeds removed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
800 g
canned hominy (maíz pozolero)
drained and rinsed thoroughly
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 tsp
dried oregano
Mexican, plus extra to serve
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Garnish (set on the table)
1
white onion
finely chopped
Your own market
4
limes
cut into wedges
Your own market
2 tsp
dried chile powder
e.g. chile de árbol powder
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 tsp
dried oregano
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Clean the tripe: scrub both cuts thoroughly with coarse salt and the cut face of the limes, working the salt into all folds and pockets. Rinse under cold running water three times. Place in a large pot, cover with cold water, bring to a hard boil, and par-boil for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the water entirely. Repeat the scrubbing and par-boiling sequence once more. The tripe is sufficiently cleaned when it carries no ammonia or barnyard odour.
2
Cut the cleaned tripe into strips or squares of roughly 4 cm. Place in a large, heavy pot with the charred onion halves. Cover with cold water by at least 5 cm. Bring to a boil, reduce to a steady simmer, and cook uncovered for 3 to 4 hours. The tripe is ready when it yields completely to a fork — it should be tender throughout, with no resistance at the centre.
3
This is where the dish lives or dies. Once the tripe is nearly tender — at the 3-hour mark — prepare the dried chile base. Toast the anchos, guajillos, and pasillas in a dry skillet over medium heat, pressing each flat, until fragrant and pliable — 30 seconds per side. Do not allow them to blacken or the base will be bitter. Submerge the toasted chiles in boiling water and soak for 20 minutes until fully soft. Transfer to a blender with 250 ml of their soaking liquid and blend until completely smooth. Pass through a fine sieve, pressing firmly. Stir the strained chile purée into the simmering tripe broth. The broth must turn a deep, even red; a pale or orange broth indicates insufficient chile or a poorly blended base.
4
Add the drained and rinsed hominy to the pot. Simmer for a further 30 minutes — sufficient for the hominy to heat through and absorb the flavour of the broth without dissolving. Taste and add salt. Stir in the oregano.
5
Ladle into deep bowls, ensuring each portion receives both tripe and hominy. Set the garnish table: chopped white onion, dried oregano, lime wedges, and dried chile powder. Each diner seasons at the table. The broth at rest should be thick enough to coat the spoon lightly — a consequence of the collagen released during the long simmer.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Honeycomb and book tripe sourced from a single-breed animal, butchered to order; dried chiles from a specialist importer (Oaxacan pasilla negro, Zacatecan ancho); dried Mexican oregano from a herbalist; hominy nixtamalised in-house from dried maíz cacahuazintle.
02
Estate — Tripe from a known butcher with reliable cleaning standards; dried chiles purchased whole from a Latin American grocer; quality dried Mexican oregano; good-quality canned hominy, drained and rinsed.
03
Market — Supermarket honeycomb tripe (the more common cut, book tripe substituted or omitted); dried ancho and guajillo only; standard dried oregano; canned hominy drained and rinsed.
04
House — Pre-cleaned packaged tripe; ground ancho or a blended red chile powder in place of whole dried chiles; any dried oregano; canned hominy used directly once drained — the broth will be thinner and less complex but the structure of the dish is preserved.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Smell. After both rounds of scrubbing and par-boiling, the tripe must carry no ammonia or barnyard note; any remaining off-smell means the cleaning sequence must be repeated.
◇Touch. At 3 to 4 hours, a fork pressed into the thickest piece of tripe meets no resistance; the cut yields cleanly rather than springing back.
◇Sight. Once the chile base is incorporated, the broth turns a deep, uniform red — not orange, not pale pink; a weak colour indicates the base was under-extracted or the chiles were under-toasted.
◇Sight. The finished broth at rest coats a spoon with a light, gelatinous body — the visual sign that sufficient collagen has been released from the tripe over the long simmer.
◇Where it lives or dies. The chile base — toasted, soaked, blended, strained, and added only once the tripe is nearly tender — determines the colour, depth, and identity of the broth; added too early it scorches, added too late it remains raw, and if it is not strained the texture is irreparable.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Agave spirit
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