A nice tripe sandwich

[balex]

vesteddi sandwich -- boiled slices of spleen reheated in shortening, and then popped onto a roll with some fresh ricotta and a handful of caciocavallo cheese.

I think I had this in Palermo's vucciria market, but without the ricotta and caciocavallo. The vendor stood next to a large propane cylinder topped with a burner and what looked like an inverted hubcap (the Sicilian wok?). He slid a few very thin slices of some kind of meat (parlo un po, ma non siciliano) into a pool of hot fat, then scooped it onto a hard roll. A half lemon was squeezed over the meat, and I sucked it down. If my wife wasn't already wandering off toward a rack of leather goods, I would've eaten a few more.

Jim

Exactly -- this is generally called 'panino con milza' which is generally spleen and with a bit of lung sometimes. I have never heard the word 'vesteddi' used in this context (and Google only lists articles about that particular restaurant with that word.

Traditionally this is served on a sesame seed bun (the Arab influence) and Sicilians claim this is the ORIGIN OF THE SESAME SEED BUN for fast food.

You can get it all over Palermo, especially at a place called Antica foccaceria di San Francesco in front of the church of the same name. There they have it simmering in a big vat with an inch thick layer of saturated fat on the top, that they occasionally mix back into the juice. The two cheeses are quite correct as well. It's really good.

There are some pictures on this page here

[jogoode]

Whenever I try to get my friends to eat tripe and other offal, they, mostly being other 22 year olds, get grossed out. I try to be patient as I understand that they're not used to seeing organ meat offered and also, altho they might not be aware of the fact, because organ meats do degrade faster than flesh. Initial aversion to organ meats might come from an ignorance in judging quality from taste and appearance. How much faster do these meats degrade and what are some of the tell-tale signs of quality?

[Jim Dixon]

balex,

thanks for putting a name on that panino....

Jim