Menudo Rojo

Menudo is the great restorative soup of Mexico — a long-simmered broth of beef tripe and nixtamalized hominy, deeply red with dried chiles, that has fed hungry workers and revived the over-celebratory for centuries. In northern and central Mexico, pots of menudo begin cooking on Friday night for Saturday morning consumption. It is quintessential communal food: built slowly, eaten joyfully, and best shared with a crowd.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) beef honeycomb tripe, cut into 4 cm (1.5 in) pieces
• 500 g (1.1 lb) beef trotters or beef foot, split (for collagen and body)
• 800 g (28 oz) canned hominy (pozole corn), drained and rinsed
• 1 large white onion, halved, plus extra finely chopped for serving
• 8 garlic cloves, whole
• 1 tsp (4 g) dried Mexican oregano

Chile paste:

• 4 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 3 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 2 dried pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp (4 g) cumin seeds, toasted

To serve:

• Dried oregano, crushed
• Fresh lime wedges
• Finely chopped white onion
• Dried red chile flakes
• Tostadas or fresh tortillas

Instructions

1. Rinse tripe and trotters under cold running water. Place in a large stockpot with onion halves, whole garlic, and enough cold water to cover by 5 cm (2 in).
2. Bring to a boil. Skim foam aggressively for the first 10 minutes, then reduce heat to a steady simmer.
3. Simmer 3–3.5 hours until tripe is tender but still has a pleasant texture — it should yield to pressure without being mushy.
4. While tripe cooks, toast dried chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat 30 seconds per side until fragrant. Soak in hot water 20 minutes until pliable. Blend with garlic, cumin seeds, and 120 ml (0.5 cup) of the soaking water until very smooth. Pass through a fine sieve.
5. Remove beef trotters. Strip any meat from the trotters and return it to the broth. Discard bones.
6. Stir chile paste into the broth. Add hominy and oregano. Simmer together 30 minutes for flavours to marry.
7. Serve in deep bowls, ladling plenty of tripe, hominy, and broth. Pass condiments at the table.

Cook's Notes: Menudo is always better the second day after the flavours have deepened. Some cooks add a calf's foot for extra body. The tripe should be cleaned — pre-cleaned honeycomb from a Latin butcher is ideal. A thorough initial boil and skim is non-negotiable for a clean-tasting broth.