Giving tripe a second chance in a nice big bowl of pho.

I am always going on and on about how our palates evolve, and I’ll forever cheer you on to revisit foods you swore you hated as a kid. Not because I don’t believe you didn’t like them then, you probably didn’t, but because trying them now, after living a little and collecting actual food experiences, might change everything. Your taste buds may have shifted, your preferred cooking methods may have expanded, and maybe, just maybe, you finally had excellently sourced, properly cooked, expertly seasoned (aka actually GOOD) salmon for the first time. Suddenly, you’re faced with the annoying but necessary task of removing yourself from the salmon-hater box and filing yourself neatly into the salmon-lover box. I apologize for the extra admin, but I promise it’s worth it. And congratulations on your palate evolution 🥇.

Today, I will be my own cheerleader and revisit something that I was pretty sure I wasn't a fan of in my early twenties.

Let me set the scene.

I was working at a summer camp in upstate New York. It was hot, humid, and a hell of a good time. I was a counselor with a slew of other young people who came from all over the world. It was the perfect excuse to have an adventure, spend the summer working in New York, and then travel until your money or time ran out.

Working at a sleepaway camp for kids was, to say the least, grueling. Although there were some fun times had with the kids, mostly we just played by the rules during our work time, 5 days on 2 days off, and when the clock struck 5 pm (the start of our off days), WE WENT WILD! It was full on debachary. I think we earned it, deserved it, and how else are we going to blow off steam after 5 days of 24-hour child care? Let me just say we made the most of it. I made some very dear friends and so many memories during that 3-month camp, and eating a bowl of pho with tripe was one of them. (Maybe one of the most tame😳.)

It was a hot and sticky night, and we were packed to the brim in a car full of our crew of girls. We had snacks and road sodas and were headed north. An aggressive destination for our short turnaround of 36 hours. Cruising through the trees with the windows down, blasting relevant rap for the time, and singing our hearts out. We hit the traffic and slowed down to almost a crawl. The boys were a few lanes over, so the car to car beachary was in full force. We were in line to cross the border into Canada! Our destination was Montreal, none of us had been and it seemed like an ‘easy’ trip, not accounting for the mass influx into Canada on that Friday night (almost 15 years ago).

We made it through with no issues and went straight to the bars, and well, continued to unwind. Always on a shoestring budget, we shared a double bed with three girls. Three girls in a bed, and we were happy as can be. Fast forward to a trip I am planning now, and I adamantly voiced my low key demeand that I would not be sharing a bed with anyone, room, sure, bed, no. Oh, how time can turn us into downright divas.

The next day, we slowly and groggily meandered around the city and found ourselves at a Pho place for our affordable lunch. I had never had Pho before, so everything was new to me, but I like soup, noodles, and condiments, so what is not to like?

Pho menus are usually long and have lots of options, and if you don’t see the option you want, you can make your own option. For whatever reason, I can’t tell you why I ordered a bowl of pho that had tripe in it.

Tripe is the stomach lining of a cow, sheep, or goat. It is mild and absorbs flavor really well, which makes it an excellent addition to a flavorful soup like pho. The texture can be soft and tender or slightly crunchy, depending on the cut. High in protein and all the other good stuff, it is very popular in Vietnamese cuisine.

There are three kinds of tripe.

Blanket Tripe:
From the first stomach, it’s the smoothest, flattest, and most common, often used in soups and stews. This is what I had in my pho.
Honeycomb Tripe:
From the second stomach, known for its distinctive, sauce-holding honeycomb pattern.
Book Tripe:
From the third stomach, it has thin, layered folds resembling pages.

I had no idea what I was ordering; there was no Google back then. I must have just thought, when in Rome, and ordered something exciting.

The bowl came, and I took one bite of my tripe and felt like I had been emotionally hit by a freight train. No no no no. Texture was all wrong, and I was immediately regretting not getting the one with steak or brisket, two words I knew good and well what they meant. I remember trying to send it back, and the little old lady was like ummm no, ma’am. Rightfully so. That was an ignorant order to say the least. I must have eaten the noodles and the broth, can’t imagine I would have wasted it, but I honestly know that the tripe haunted me for many years.

So, now, almost 15 years later, I am going to try it again. (Trying to practice what I preach.) Tripe, I am looking at you, old friend. I have lived a lot of life between then and now, and maybe my palate is ready for it? I also know exactly what I will be ordering, and my expectations of biting into a tender piece of steak are not going to be misprojected onto this humble piece of tripe.

The order

#1 steak, flank, brisket, tendon, tripe

In a pork broth (obviously).

The fixings

I will be adding as much hoisin sauce as I possibly can, lime, all of the basil, and all of the bean sprouts. (Sadly, leaving out all the fun spicy stuff until my health issue resolves itself. RIP sriracha.) The kind of pho I am concocting is a sweet and salty situation.

The bowl

If I can recommend something, it is to go have a nice, large bowl of pho by yourself in the middle of the day. Almost all the tables had just one person, and it was the perfect place to get lost in thoughts and in soup.

The question you have all been dying to know!

Do I like tripe???

The answer is yes. I liked it. The texture was pleasant. It was soft with just a bit of crunch and melted on my tongue; there was no aggressive chewing or tearing with my teeth. It tasted like my pho broth, which was sweet from the gallon of hoisin sauce I added, herby from the basil and cilantro, a tinge of onion, salty, and an overall very comforting dose of umami. I ate every piece with zero issues. I don’t think tripe is something I will crave and really go out of my way for, but I have definitely softened up to the whole idea of it and would not hesitate to try it in another form. Chopped up and deep fried, maybe served with some aioli…now we are talking!

The tendon was also just fine. Thicker in size, I was worried that when I bit into it, it might be similar to biting into a finger (without the bone), and I was more hesitant. Alas, it was totally fine. It was a bit more gelatinous than the tripe but not unpleasant by any means. I ate them all. The taste was again the same flavor as my pho broth.

I am wondering if I actually did order tripe back in Montreal with my camp friends? It just wasn’t the experience I was expecting 15 years later. Everything was fine. Maybe I should pat myself on the back for how far I have come in the offal department? Or maybe I got another kind of tripe in my soup back then? So many questions about that traumatic bowl of pho, I guess we will never know.

My final thoughts on tripe, I think you should try it. Go in with an open mind. What is the worst that could happen, except 15 years of tripe trauma?

I have another organ endeavour lined up for you next week! It’s fun for me, I hope you are enjoying it even if you are not following along in my footsteps. I wasn’t raised eating organs, so this adventure is coming from my own free will. I think that is worth noting. Just remember, we will be back to the more approachable things soon enough. I just had an organ itch I really needed to scratch.

Cheers,

Nicole | Butter Cult

Salmon Haters, Summer Camp, and Sinewy Situations