What Is Tripe?

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Tripe is one of those strange foods that we have all heard of, but very few can actually describe it. Tripe is very rarely found on Western restaurant menus and is not even that easy to find in local supermarkets. Considered a food of the past, tripe has definitely suffered from some bad press over the years. That looks set to change, however, with nutritional experts now questioning whether it has the potential to be a superfood.

So, what is tripe, and how can you cook it? Let’s find out.

What Exactly Is Tripe?

Tripe is the edible muscle lining from the stomach of farm animals, such as cows, pigs, and sheep. While it might not sound like the most appetizing part of the animal, tripe is one of the healthiest ways to eat meat. Tripe is extremely low in calories when compared to other cuts of beef and pork, with a 150-gram serving containing only 135 calories on average. Tripe is also a great vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and protein source.

Despite its lack of popularity, most countries have their own traditional way of cooking tripe, ranging from tripe stews in China to Haggis, the well-known but often avoided Scottish dish. Tripe is an acquired taste, with its chewy texture and a rather bland flavor.

Kinds of Tripe

Beef tripe is slightly special in that there are four different varieties, each coming from a different stomach chamber within the cow.

• Blanket tripe comes from the first stomach chamber and is generally considered to be the worst type of tripe. It is rarely used for human consumption and is commonly used in dog food.

• Honeycomb tripe is taken from the second chamber and has a much meatier flavor, making it the most commonly used beef tripe in human recipes.
• Omasum tripe offers a balance between the previous two types of tripe and is perfect for making sausages and other recipes where texture is not so important.
• The tripe found in the fourth chamber, abomasums tripe, is the most flavorful, making it ideal for dishes where tripe is one of the main ingredients.