Cattle tripe | Picture: iStock
It is officially the festive season so you are not only going to be hosting guests and cooking for large groups but you may also have more downtime on your hands that may be spent cooking.
Due to the fact that you might not be rushing anywhere, you may find yourself wanting to cook dishes like tripe (mogodu) which requires quite a bit of cooking time.
Not only does it take a while to cook, but the tripe also needs to be thoroughly cleaned before it is ready to cook.
Two main questions remain; how do you clean the tripe and how do you know it’s ready to be cooked? Read on for some advice.
In an insert on SABC3’s Expresso Show Hope Malau, chef turned deputy food editor for TASTE Magazine, advised scraping the “dirt” off the tripe with the sharp side of a knife or a hard brush and cutting the visible parts of fat off of the meat.
Malau advised cutting the fat off to avoid the congealed fat that forms once the tripe gets cold as that is what most people find off-putting about eating the dish beside the smell that comes from the dish when it is cooking.
He further advised soaking the tripe in water mixed with a bit of vinegar for about 15 minutes before washing it under running water until you are satisfied that it is clean.
“If it is store-bought, par-boil it for about ten minutes, drain it, wash it and boil it again until is thoroughly cooked.”
Others advise either soaking the tripe in water with a little salt before washing it or boiling it in a mixture of water with a bit of salt before washing.
How do you know that your tripe is clean?
Well, there is no universal way of knowing as different people clean it to their liking, however, checking how “clean” the rinsing water is, would be a good indicator.
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Compiled by Kaunda Selisho
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