Mondongo Veracruzano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the tripe

   Put the tripe in a large bowl with the vinegar and 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Rub it hard with your hands for 2 minutes, then rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. Smell it. It should smell clean and faintly mineral, not sour or barnyard. Laziness has a smell. Do this properly.

2. 2

   Start the broth

   Place the cleaned tripe, beef foot or shank bones, halved garlic head, half of the large onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 1 tablespoon kosher salt in a heavy stockpot. Cover with cold water by 3 inches. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and skim the foam during the first 20 minutes. Do not boil hard. Tripe gets tender through time, not violence.

3. 3

   Simmer until tender

   Lower the heat until the pot gives slow, steady bubbles. Cover partially and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the tripe is tender but still has a pleasant chew. Remove the onion, garlic, bay leaves, and bones. Keep the tripe and broth together. If using beef foot, pull off any tender meat and return it to the pot.

4. 4

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo and chile ancho separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until the skins puff and the color deepens. Do not blacken them. Burned guajillo turns sharp and bitter, and no amount of ham will save the pot.

   Chile guajillo gives Veracruz mondongo its clean red color and gentle fruit. Chile ancho gives body and a darker sweetness. Use both.
5. 5

   Soak and blend

   Place the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water, not boiling water. Let them soften for 20 minutes. Drain, then blend with the roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic cloves, the remaining half onion, and 1 cup of the tripe broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. A Veracruz stew should be rich, not gritty.

6. 6

   Fry the base

   In a wide cazuela or Dutch oven, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the chorizo and cook until it releases its red fat, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the ham and chopped onion and cook until the onion softens. Pour in the strained chile-tomato sauce. It will sputter. Stir and fry it for 8 to 10 minutes, until the sauce darkens, thickens, and the fat begins to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor.

7. 7

   Build the stew

   Add the tripe and enough of its broth to make a generous stew, about 7 to 8 cups. Stir in the potatoes, garbanzos, dried Mexican oregano, and epazote. Simmer uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the broth has body. The surface should show small red pools of chorizo fat and chile, not a thin watery soup.

8. 8

   Finish Veracruz style

   Stir in the olives, capers, and pickled jalapeno brine if using. Simmer 10 minutes more. Taste for salt only after the ham, olives, and capers have had time to speak. The final flavor should be savory, red with guajillo, lightly sweet from the tomato and ham, and a little briny at the end.

9. 9

   Serve the pot

   Ladle the mondongo into deep clay bowls or bring the cazuela to the table. Set out lime wedges, diced white onion, chopped cilantro, and warm corn tortillas. Flour tortillas belong to the north. Here you eat this with corn tortillas and the broth staining the rim of the bowl red. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy honeycomb tripe from a butcher who sells it fresh and clean, but still clean it again at home. If the butcher looks offended, let him be offended. You are the one eating it.
• •Do not replace the chile guajillo with generic chili powder. Chile powder is a cabinet shortcut, not a Veracruz broth. If you cannot find guajillo, look in a Mexican mercado, a Latin grocery, or ask the chile vendor online before you compromise.
• •Garbanzos matter here. They carry the Spanish and port-city side of Veracruz cooking. Hominy would push the dish toward menudo, and that is not what we are making.
• •The olives and capers are optional only if your family never used them. In the port, that briny edge makes sense. Veracruz has always cooked with one eye on the Gulf.
• •Make this one day ahead if you can. Tripe stew improves overnight because the chile, cured meats, and broth settle into each other.

Advance Preparation

• •The tripe can be cleaned and simmered one day ahead. Refrigerate it in its broth, then skim any hardened fat before continuing.
• •The chile-tomato sauce can be toasted, blended, strained, and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead.
• •Finished mondongo keeps refrigerated for 4 days and tastes better on the second day. Reheat gently so the tripe stays tender.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 600g)