Mexican cuisine is one of the most recognized worldwide. It is a successor of the Aztecs, with many of their culinary traditions still alive even today.
That which has fundamentally changed is the more frequent use of meat in the diet of the locals, who, before the arrival of the Spanish fed mainly on corn, beans, chili peppers, avocado, pumpkins and more.
Today there's hardly a chef that hasn't heard of Mexican specialties such as burritos, guacamole, quesadillas and others. Dishes with beef are especially popular, made according to old Mexican techniques.
Menudo soup is one such specialty. But you don't need to travel all the way to Mexico to try authentic menudo.
This Mexican soup is not hard to prepare and you don't need exotic products and spices for it. What you will need is a bit more patience.
Here's how to make your own menudo:
Ingredients: 28 oz beef tripe, 17.5 oz deboned beef shanks, 1 onion head, 7 garlic cloves, 5 medium dried chili peppers, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 1/2 limes, 1 pinch freshly ground cumin, salt to taste, fresh oregano for decoration.
Preparation: Squeeze out the juice of 1 lime and pour it over the tripe. Leave it as is for 40-50 min, then wash it well with cold water.
Cut it and put it to boil in a suitable container for about 15 min. Once the time has elapsed, strain the liquid and put the tripe in another container.
To it add the chopped shanks, 4 garlic cloves, chopped onion and dried oregano. Boil everything for about 4 hours.
Peel the dried chili peppers that have been soaked in hot water ahead of time and mix them with the finely chopped garlic, cumin and some of the broth, then puree everything.
Strain the broth from the meat once again, put it back in the container and add the puree to the meat and other products. Leave it on low heat for about 30 min. and garnish thus prepared menudo with the fresh oregano, then arrange several slices of lime on the side and some finely chopped onions if desired.
