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Tripas à Moda do Porto
Tripas à Moda do Porto reads umami 6.6, richness 6.1 and allium 4.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Portuguese main, about 4 hr 11 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.
The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10
- Umami & Savory — 7.1 / 10
- Sweet & Fruity — 3.6 / 10
- Sour & Bright — 1.1 / 10
- Bitter & Earthy — 2.8 / 10
- Rich & Fat — 6.5 / 10
- Aromatic & Spice — 4.5 / 10
The measured notes (of 18)
Umami 6.6 · Richness 6.1 · Allium 4.0 · Salinity 3.9 · Sweetness 3.3 · Earthy 2.3 · Herbaceous 2.1 · Heat 1.9 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Funk & Ferment 1.5 · Smoke 1.5 · Bitterness 1.3 · Nutty 1.2 · Sourness 1.0 · Fruity 1.0 · Floral 0.8
What's in it (17)
- tripe — 1000 g
- veal foot — 600 g
- beans — 300 g
- chorizo — 200 g
- presunto — 150 g
- chicken thighs — 400 g
- onions — 350 g
- carrots — 180 g
- garlic — 16 g
- sweet paprika — 3 g
- bay leaf — 1 g
- cumin — 2 g
- olive oil — 74 g
- water — 2000 g
- flat-leaf parsley — 20 g
- salt — 12 g
- white rice — 400 g
Time & effort: about 4 hr 11 min (4 hr 10 min active) · effort: involved
Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 76.4 kcal, 5.4 g protein, 1.6 g fat, 10.1 g carbs
Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.
How it's cooked (8 steps)
- The people of Porto are called tripeiros, tripe-eaters, after the siege story in which the city gave its meat to the fleet sailing for Ceuta in 1415 and kept only the offal. Whether or not that is history, it is identity, and this dish is the city's own. It takes most of a day and is much better the next.
- Rinse the tripe under cold running water, rubbing it, then blanch it in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain. Put it with the split veal foot and the 2 litres of water in a large pot and simmer 90 minutes, skimming the first ten. The foot supplies the gelatin that makes the finished stew sticky on the lips; leave it out and the dish is thin.
- Cook the drained beans separately in unsalted water for about 60 minutes until tender but whole. Keep their liquid.
- In a wide heavy pot, sweat the onion and carrot in the olive oil over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the garlic for 2 minutes, then the chouriço and presunto, and let them render for 8 minutes until their orange fat colours the oil.
- Off the heat, stir in the pimentão-doce, the bay and the cumin. Cumin in a northern Portuguese stew surprises people; it is a genuine survival and the dish tastes wrong without it.
- Add the chicken thighs and a ladle of the tripe broth and simmer 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Lift it out, pull the meat from the bones in large pieces, and return it.
- Add the drained tripe, the boned meat from the veal foot, the beans with a cup of their liquid, and enough tripe broth to just cover. Stew gently, uncovered, for 45 minutes until everything is soft and the liquid has thickened to a loose gravy. Season with salt, stir through the parsley and coriander, and serve with plain white rice — never bread.
- Substitutions: smoked pork belly can stand in for the presunto.
Dishes with a similar flavor shape
- Sausage, Kale, and White Bean Pasta — Italian-American
- Alheira — Portuguese
- Spicy Sausage and Tortellini Soup — Italian-American
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole — Tex-Mex
- Baeckeoffe — French · Alsace
Keep reading: what umami, richness, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.
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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.