French · Normandy · main

Tripes à la Mode de Caen

Tripes à la Mode de Caen reads umami 4.0, salinity 4.0 and allium 3.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Normandy main, about 12 hr 3 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 4.5 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 4.1 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 1.6 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.9 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 3.8 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.6 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 4.0 · Salinity 4.0 · Allium 3.8 · Warm Spice 3.7 · Richness 3.7 · Sweetness 3.3 · Herbaceous 2.6 · Floral 2.6 · Fruity 2.6 · Earthy 1.7 · Sourness 1.4 · Bitterness 1.2 · Heat 0.8 · Citrus 0.8

What's in it (19)

• mixed dressed beef tripe — 2000 g
• calf's foot — 700 g
• beef kidney fat — 200 g
• onions — 600 g
• cloves — 400 g
• carrots — 300 g
• leeks — 250 g
• garlic — 60 g
• thyme — 2 g
• bay leaf — 2 g
• parsley — 480 g
• celery — 60 g
• dry norman cider — 1000 g
• calvados — 150 g
• water — 500 g
• salt — 15 g
• black peppercorns — 5 g
• all-purpose flour — 250 g
• water — 150 g

Time & effort: about 12 hr 3 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 40.4 kcal, 1.2 g protein, 0.9 g fat, 9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

1. Buy the tripe already scalded and bleached from a butcher who sells it in quantity, and buy all three stomachs if you can — they cook to different textures and the mixture is the dish. Wash it in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear, then blanch it in boiling water for 15 minutes and refresh it under the tap. Skipping the blanch leaves a barnyard smell that fourteen hours in the oven will not remove.
2. Cut it into squares roughly the size of a matchbox. Scatter the beef kidney fat over the base of a deep earthenware tripière or casserole — the fat both stops the bottom layer catching and gives the finished sauce its unctuous body.
3. Build in layers: half the onions, carrots, leeks and garlic, then all the tripe with the split calf's foot pushed down into the middle, then the rest of the vegetables and the bouquet garni on top. Season with the salt and peppercorns.
4. Pour in the cider, the Calvados and enough water or stock just to cover. Cider and Calvados are not decorative here; the apple acid is what breaks tripe down, and Normandy has no wine. A gently sweet cidre bouché works as well as a bone-dry one.
5. Roll the flour and water into a stiff paste, press it round the rim as a rope and clamp the lid down onto it. Sealed like this, nothing evaporates over fourteen hours and the pot self-bastes.
6. Cook at 110°C (230°F) for 10 to 12 hours, or overnight. There is no shortcut: below about 8 hours the collagen has not converted and the tripe is rubbery, and there is no visible sign of progress until it suddenly gives.
7. Break the seal, lift out the calf's foot, strip any meat from it back into the pot and discard the bones. Skim the fat from the surface — there will be a great deal — and taste for salt. The liquid should be sticky enough to feel tacky between finger and thumb; if it is not, boil it down for 15 minutes without the tripe.
8. Serve very hot in deep bowls with steamed potatoes, cider to drink and a small glass of Calvados afterwards. In Caen it is a midday dish, and traditionally a Sunday one.
9. Substitutions: light beef stock can stand in for the water.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Chicken Jalfrezi with Peppers and Onions — Indian
• Beef Picadillo with Rice — Mexican
• Pilau ya Nyama ya Mbuzi (Swahili Goat Pilau) — Swahili Coast
• Githeri (Maize and Bean Stew) — Kenyan
• Japanese Chicken Curry — Japanese

Keep reading: what umami, salinity, 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.