->Menudo 01 <-

Serves 6-8 2 pounds tripe

1 calf's foot

1 pound frozen posole

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

Dried mild red chile

1/2 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the tripe into bite-sized pieces. Soften the chile in hot

water. Remove the stem and seeds (if desired) and mince. Throw

everything into the crock pot and cook all day.

Note: The calf's foot is to add additional richness to the broth.

The calves' feet I buy are big so I use only one. You can also

use pig's feet or a marrow bone. Since all of these ingredients

will not fit into my crock pot I make this in two days. On the

first day I cook the bone/feet in water to cover. This makes the

broth. I remove the bone/feet and strain the broth. You could

easily throw a carrot and a few stalks of celery in for more flavor but this is not commonly done.

The second day I make the menudo. I like the tripe cut up into tiny pieces (real men like big chunks.) Often tripe is pre-cooked

to some amount of doneness before you purchase it. It helps if

you know how long it was cooked. If you don't know, cook it all

day on the low setting. You can use canned hominy if you wish.

I use a mild red chile and use a lot of it. It gives a nice color.

Since my husband does't like seeds I must be carful about picking

them out. But many cooks just snap off the stem of the dried chile

and grind the pod in a mortar.

Some people add coriander. Many people add some green chile.