There are a very small number of people who would not like meat, but offal is often simply ignored. But in fact, if you know how to clean beef tripe, then in the end you can cook a dish that in taste will be a real masterpiece. Now a well-prepared ingredient can already be found in a good butcher's shop, and therefore you do not need to spend time and effort on its preparation. But if you really are a true connoisseur of offal, it is best to buy the tripe in its original form, and then clean it yourself. This article will talk about how to clean beef tripe at home, while receiving excellent results in a minimum of time.
Tripe - what is it?
Before you begin to figure out how to clean beef tripe at home, you need to understand what it is. Tripe is the guts of the animal, such as the stomach, intestines, etc. The stomach is also known as the scar. Now in Russian culinary dishes dishes from it are not as common as from other offal - like liver and kidneys, but when cooked properly in taste, it far surpasses them. However, in a number of European countries, this ingredient is quite widespread and appreciated even higher than the highest quality meat.
It is worth noting that all recipes that use tripe as the main component are easy to use, but at the same time the dishes are very useful. They should be especially taken into account by athletes, as well as people who lead a very active lifestyle, since it has many useful vitamins, minerals and protein that are useful to them. In addition, the scar has a low calorie content and is well absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract.
The most difficult step in preparing tripe is the proper cleaning and boiling of the workpiece, which will require a lot of time. In total, it can take up to about 6 hours, although its preparation does not require constant attention.
The nutritional value
The scar is part of the cow’s stomach, and therefore almost completely consists of muscle fibers. They make it filled with pure protein, which is so beneficial for the body. In addition, this part of the animal contains many B vitamins, as well as H and PP. Of the minerals that are found in large quantities, we can mention potassium, iodine, zinc, phosphorus, selenium, copper and iron, which are necessary for a person to have a normal life.
But at the same time, as mentioned earlier, this product has very few calories - only 97 per 100 grams of product. It has virtually no fat and no carbohydrates at all, so it will be an excellent component for anyone who adheres to proper nutrition.
But in order to cook it correctly, you have to look for recipes from various national cuisines. Among the most famous dishes that use tripe as the main ingredient, mention may be made of haggis, as well as flac, which are common in Poland.
Scar selection
The question of how to clean the tripe properly is very important, but it is equally important to know how to choose the right product so that the dish then turns out to be of high quality. Therefore, when buying, you should pay attention to the following things:
- The color of the fresh scar should be cream or light gray with a beautiful shiny surface.
- See that there are no shiny diamonds on the surface of the entrails. Their presence means that the piece was cut off from the lower part of the stomach, which is very difficult to prepare deliciously.
- By smell, the scar should resemble ordinary meat, so if there is a sharp or unpleasant aroma, then it is best to refrain from buying.
- Also, there should be no mucus or other signs of decay in the entrails, because even if these places are cut off, the dish will still be tasteless.
Preparation for cleaning
After the correct piece of scar has been selected, you can begin to familiarize yourself with how to clean the tripe. First of all, before the start of processing, it is necessary to rinse it several times with boiling water, as this will help rid the ingredient of various bacteria, as well as make the cleaning process easier.
Prerequisites and Tools
All those who are interested in how to clean the tripe on their own should know that doing this at home is not recommended. It is best to carry out cleaning on the street, but if this is not possible, then you must first open all the windows in the house. This is done due to the fact that the cleaning process is accompanied by a disgusting smell.
In addition to this, it is also important to prepare in advance all the necessary tools that will help the hostess to make the scar clean. You will definitely need both hot and cold water, as well as table vinegar, coarse salt, ammonia, potassium permanganate and a deep basin, in which it will be easy to clean the entrails.
Scar cleansing methods
First of all, people who want to know how to clean tripe at home should cut the purchased piece into several parts. In this way, working with the ingredient can be much easier. After this, the following sequence of actions must be observed:
- After scalding the workpiece with boiling water, it is required to remove the upper layer of the skin from the scar, and also wash it in cold water in order to get rid of all dirt and any residual fat.
- Now you can directly go on to how to clean the tripe correctly. The first step is to use the most gentle methods. To do this, you need to prepare a saline solution consisting of a liter of water and two tablespoons of salt. It will take about 3 hours to withstand tripe in such a liquid, but at the same time, the solution itself should be monitored so that it constantly changes as it darkens.
- If after that it was not possible to achieve the desired result and the unpleasant odor persists, then you need to proceed to the next stage of processing. For this, the same saline solution is again prepared, but vinegar in the eye is additionally added to it. The resulting mixture should have a sour taste, but not disgusting. The scar should again be in it for 3 hours, but changing the mixture is not required.
- If all these measures have not led to a result, then a solution of potassium permanganate should be used. It should be slightly pink. The entrails are immersed in it for 3 hours, and then it is taken out and rubbed with salt. The ingredient is soaked in salt for 3 hours.
- In the most extreme case, a solution is prepared consisting of 1 liter of water and 5 ml of ammonia with 5 ml of vinegar. The scar should also remain in this fluid for 3 hours, after which it must be washed well.
To properly clean the scar, you need a lot of time and effort, and you also need to use a fairly large number of chemicals. Therefore, it is very important after each stage of processing to thoroughly rinse the scar under cold running water to wash them off.
Boiling step
Now that it has been clarified how to clean the entrails, it is necessary to observe one more step before starting cooking, namely boiling. It is mandatory in any case, regardless of what the cook decided to cook from the ingredient in the future. On average, the cooking process takes about 5 hours, although in some cases it may take a longer amount of time.
By the way, it is worth noting that even if the cleaning was carried out correctly, in spite of this, during heat treatment, the entrails can quite emit an unpleasant odor, so you need to do this with the windows open.
Conclusion
At first glance, it might seem that knowing how to clean tripe at home is completely unnecessary, because this ingredient is practically not used in Russia. However, it is worth expanding your gastronomic horizons and at least once trying to cook dishes from the rumen. With the right preparation of the ingredient and a good recipe, you can try a real culinary delight that will definitely not leave anyone indifferent who ate it.