Bulgarian Tripe Soup - Shkembe Chorba

People on the Balkans like this spicy soup, which is served broadly over the Peninsula. 

As the name suggests, it has Turkish origin, but over the years it was adapted in the cuisines of the different coutries. Even though the names of the soup are local and there are some variations concerning the included ingredients (with or without milk, onion, veal knuckles etc.), the recipe is nearly the same. It is not a sophisticated dish, but it is very tasty and it has the reputation of one of the best hangover cures. 

A man healing tool probably. I can't imagine a woman, feeling giddy and suffering from head-aches, who sips tripe soup in the morning, but who knows?

But bear in mind: tripe makes the soup gelatinous and its surface tends to become solid very fast. So the soup should be eaten really hot, which makes some slurping inevitable. This fact and also the strong taste and the garlic garnish make the soup not very proper part of the menu if you inted to invite the President for dinner. Otherwise it is a very tasty soup for an evening with the beloved ones matching perfectly with a glass of ice-cold beer. 

Ingredients for the tripe soup:

• 1 kg beef tripe
• 6 cups of water
• 125 g unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 2 tsp ground red paprika
• 1 cup milk
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Ingredients for the garlic sauce:

• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Preparation:

Wash tripe thoroughly and place in a pot. Cover with cold water and let boil. 5 minutes after the beginning of the boiling remove the water, drain the tripe, rinse well again under running cold water and put in a pressure cooker. Cover with the 6 cups of water and simmer on medium heat for 3 hours until it gets fork-tender. Take out the tripe and cut it in thin stripes. Return to the broth.

Heat the butter in a skillet on medium heat until it gets light brown, add the flour and stir well. The flour should get brownish. Stir in the red paprika, mix well and add to the tripe. Pour some of the broth into the skillet to take all the butter, remained on the bottom and add to the soup. Add the milk and let simmer for additional 15 minutes. 

Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste and serve hot. 

It's good to have some dried hot peppers around.

Prepare the garlic sauce:

Mash garlic in a mortar, add the vinegar and some salt and garnish the soup with one tablespoon of the mixture.