Stuffed Tripe

[ChefCrash]

I haven't had this dish in over thirty years. It's traditionally made with Lamb tripe and is not readily available here in the States. This week however, we found some frozen.

My grand mother used to stuff the tripe with a rice mixture (Hashweh), and boil them with Lamb's feet. We couldn't find any of those so we used pigs' feet.

Filling:

2 c rice

1 c chic peas soaked overnight

1 lb minced lamb shoulder meat

2 small onions roughly chopped

1 stick butter

1 tsp Lebanese 7 spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 T salt

For the boil:

4 pigs' feet

reserved bones from Lamb shoulder

one onion cut in half

5 cloves

10 whole pepper corns

2 bay leaves

3 sticks of cinnamon

salt

water to cover.

The tripe was very clean but soaking it in some vinegar and water for a few minutes, got rid of all odors of Zankha.

This tripe resembled two or three braziers with D sized cups, connected together. It was easy to divide the individual "cups" and sew each to form pouches. They're sewn inside out leaving an opening for the stuffing.

The stuffing before mixing. Fill the pouches 2/3 full to allow for expansion and sew them shut. Poke all the pouches with a fork to allow broth to penetrate the inside.

Line the bottom of a 20Qt pot with the bones and feet. Top with the pouches and cover with water. Bring to a boil, skim off the scum then add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and simmer for ~ 3 hours or until the pouches are fork tender.

Everything turned out delicious. Just the way I remember it.

The broth was served on the side as well as garlic/lemon/oil sauce to dip the meats in.

Next time I'd use black string to sew the pouches. Much easier to find and pull out before eating.

[Nicolai]

WoW.

Very hearty food but a tad on the heavy side.

You may wish to add to your stuffing some cardamon and bay leaf.

The chickpeas are a nice addition but I think most recipes do not have them.

You can substitute the lamb/pigs feet with a lamb leg/shoulder cut with the bone or simply lamb ribs. This will help keep the taste integrity of the dish.

Happy eating and thanks for the pics.

[Domestic Goddess]

Very nice pictorial tutorial. I would very much like to sample that if I find a Lebanese restaurant.

[markemorse]

I'm still trying to recover from having seen "tripe" and "D-cup" in the same sentence....

Great photos....

Can you elaborate on what 7 spices are in Lebanese 7 spice?

mark

Edited March 19, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[FoodMan]

Great stuff Chef. I only have this dish along with the stuffed intestines when I'm in Lebanon made by my grandmother. I doubt I'll even try it on my own! She also adds chickpeas to her mixture and lots of onions. I am pretty sure her version does not include lamb or goat's feet though. These are usually served along with the boiled head.

Thanks for sharing the pics and the recipe.

[sazji]

Probably the scariest meal I ever had was a Kurdish version of that dish...the tripe was *not* white but still rather honey-brown, and I know empirically that they did nothing to take care of the "zankha," which was so "zankhy" that I almost lost it. Inside was rice, nothing else, no spices, nothing. There were also intestines. It was boiled with lamb feet and the entire head as well (which were just fine). Yours sounds quite edible actually; despite a history of bad tripe experiences, I'd definitely try it!