Tripe is a humble yet flavorful second course from the rural tradition. Known as a dish throughout Italy and prepared in various ways, the version I present is cooked according to the Lodigiana/Lombard recipe, called in the Lombard dialect “la büseca”. A base of soffritto with onion, celery, and carrots, a little tomato (in this case I used concentrate), white Spanish beans, usually used for this dish, and thinly sliced beef tripe. Enjoyed throughout the Lodigiano, it is particularly served for the feast of Lodi’s patron saint, St. Bassiano, celebrated on January 19th. Try it alone, with toasted bread slices, with croutons, with polenta or mashed potatoes!!!
This recipe is taken from the book “La cucina di Lodi – Le ricette della tradizione” supervised by the APT of Lodigiano.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow simmer
- Cuisine: Local
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 2 qt beef broth (without vegetables or water)
- 2 lbs beef tripe (omasum, already sliced)
- 1 cup white Spanish beans (canned, drained weight)
- 1 cup potatoes
- 1 cup carrots
- 3/4 cup white onion
- 3/4 cup celery
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- A few pinches ground cloves
- to taste Grana Padano PDO
- to taste fine salt
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- Cooking scale
- Knife
- Peeler
- 2 Pots
- Wooden spoon
- Colander
- Ladle
- Lid
- Grater
Preparation
To prepare the tripe…
Peel the carrots, onion, and potato, remove the strings and ends from the celery, wash the vegetables, and cut them into pieces not too small, about 1 inch.
In a large enough pot, pour the beef broth, prepared previously without vegetables, or unsalted water. In another pot, add the just-chopped vegetables and sauté them with butter and extra virgin olive oil.
Meanwhile, while the latter are sautéing, rinse the already thinly sliced tripe and well-drained white Spanish beans. Add these two ingredients to the pot with the sautéed vegetables, cook for 15 minutes over high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Then start to wet the tripe with the broth or water, add the tomato paste, ground cloves, salt, pepper, and stir.
Finally, lower the heat and cook for about 1 hour (the vegetables and tripe should be soft), stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and adding the broth kept warm in the other pot.
Serve hot to taste, more or less dense according to preference, adding more or less broth or hot water, and a grating of Grana Padano cheese.
Notes
For a stronger flavor, add a tablespoon of meat extract to the broth.
