No. 1471

Tripe a la Mode de Caen

Gras-double a la Mode de Caen

In order to be successful with this recipe, it will be necessary to have a large earthen pot and a brick oven with hermetically closed cast iron doors; it will take for a pot containing thirty-five pounds, from twelve to fourteen hours; beside the tripe as ordinarily used, include also the "franchmule" the fourth stomach properly called the reed (Abomasum) and "feuillet" the third stomach properly called the manyplies (Omasum) and two boned ox feet. The tripe must be raw, well cleansed, and extremely fresh. Divide it into pieces two inches square; cover the bottom of the pot with slices of pork, lay the tripe on top and season with salt, mignonette, five onions, one of them having five cloves in it, a boned ox foot, a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme and bay leaf, a clove of garlic, and some quartered carrots, and above this set another layer of tripe, and ox foot, seasoned with salt and mignonette, and so on until the pot is full, besides adding a quart of water. The last layer must be the "feuillet." When the tripe is taken from the oven, remove the "feuillet" and skim off all the fat, take out the vegetables and parsley, then serve very hot.

← No. 1470 Beef Tongue, Macedoine Beef No. 1472 Tripe a la Poulette with Mushrooms →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes this for a hotel kitchen with a bread oven and a thirty-five pound crock. The method scales down to a domestic oven without much loss, provided the pot is heavy and genuinely sealed.

Scale it downRanhofer sizes this to a pot holding thirty-five pounds, a restaurant batch. A 6-8 qt heavy casserole holds roughly 4-5 lb of tripe with one split calf's or ox foot, which serves six to eight as a main course.
Oven and timeThe recipe calls for a brick oven with tightly closed cast iron doors and gives no temperature; the nearest modern equivalent is a low oven, in the region of 250-275F. A scaled-down pot will need considerably less than the twelve to fourteen hours specified -- reckon on 6-8 hours, and judge by the tripe, which should be soft enough to cut with the side of a spoon.
Sealing the potRanhofer's hermetic seal is on the oven doors rather than the pot, but a close cover matters over so long a bake. Luting the lid on with a flour-and-water paste is traditional for this dish; a tight-fitting lid over a sheet of foil, or a flour-and-water rope pressed round the rim, does the same work.
MignonetteCoarsely cracked black peppercorns, sometimes with a little white pepper. Not the shallot-vinegar sauce for oysters that carries the name today.
The stomachs"Franchmule" is the abomasum, "feuillet" the omasum or bible tripe, as the recipe itself glosses them. Many butchers stock only honeycomb (reticulum); an Asian, Caribbean or halal butcher will often have the leaf tripe as well. The feuillet layer is laid on top and discarded before serving; if you cannot get it, a sheet of pork fat or caul can stand in as the covering layer.
Tripe as sold nowMost tripe reaching the counter is already scalded and bleached, so "raw, well cleansed" is largely done for you. Rinse it, blanch it ten minutes if it smells strongly, and cut into two-inch squares as directed.
The ox feetBoned feet supply the gelatin that makes the finished liquid set to a jelly when cold. Ask for calf's or ox feet split lengthwise; a pig's trotter or two is an acceptable substitute for the same reason.
CiderRanhofer moistens with a quart of water only. Most Norman versions use dry cider, often with a glass of calvados, and the acidity helps tenderise. Adding cider in place of the water is a departure from this text but not from the dish.
ServingSkim hard: an all-day bake on pork fat and feet throws a great deal of grease. Serve in deep bowls with boiled potatoes and plenty of bread, very hot, as the fat congeals quickly.

A Little History

Tripes a la mode de Caen belongs to Normandy, where cattle, cider and butter converge, and where tripe was cooked in a bulging earthenware tripiere pushed into the baker's oven as it cooled after the bread came out - an all-night, no-attention method that suited a cut needing many hours to soften. The dish is traditionally credited to a medieval monk of the Abbaye aux Hommes at Caen named Sidoine Benoit, though the attribution is folklore rather than record; what is documented is that by the nineteenth century the preparation was a regional specialty firmly enough established to travel under the town's name. Ranhofer, cooking at Delmonico's in New York, includes it in the beef chapter alongside tongue and tripe a la poulette because a serious French kitchen was expected to handle the whole animal, and he is careful to name the abomasum and the omasum specifically, otherwise referring to "the tripe as ordinarily used," and to name the ox feet - the details that separate the Caen version from ordinary stewed tripe. His omission of cider is notable.