The Return of Mac Monday... on a Tuesday!

In Galway, Ireland 

MAC MONDAY

Kissing the Blarney Stone

I’ve been in Ireland for almost 2 months now.  I’ve tried several traditional recipes and had some traditional irish meals out at restaurants.  The lamb stew I had at the café above the English market was probably the best meal I have had at a restaurant.  I also made a true version of the Sheppard’s pie that I posted a few months ago.  But tonight I am going on a whole new adventure in the culinary world:  Irish Tripe Stew!!!  

For those of you who don’t know what tripe is you probably don’t want to know, but for the sake of honesty I will enlighten you.   Tripe is the stomach lining of an animal, and in this case I used tripe from a cow.  I do most of my grocery shopping at a place called the English Market here in Cork.  As you walk in there is a butcher that specializes in Tripe and blood sausage.  So every time I have gone to buy food I see the tripe there.  This weekend I finally got up the nerve to try it. 

MAC'S GAELIC TRIPE STEW

Ingredients:

2-2½ pounds honeycomb tripe, diced

1 quart milk

3-4 medium onions, sliced

3-4 medium potatoes, diced

Salt

Pepper 

Fresh parsley to taste, chopped 

Preparation:

- Wash the tripe and then cut it into small bite sized pieces.  

- Then place the tripe into a large pot and cover it with water.  

- Then simmer the tripe for 2 hours.  

- Tripe can be very chewy if you don’t prepare it properly.  

- Cooking it this long helps to improve the texture of the tripe. 

- After 2 hours of simmering drain the tripe of the water and return it to the pot.  

- Then add the potatoes, onions and milk.  

- Simmer again for an additional hour or until the vegetables are tender.  

- After the hour add the salt, pepper and parsley to taste.  

- Then serve and enjoy. 

I hope some of you muster the courage to try this recipe.  It is a very traditional, yet simple Irish dish.  

Remember, cook what you love, love what you eat.