Even among offal-lovers, opinions diverge when it comes to tripe. In response to my assurances that tripe can be terrific, depending on how it is cooked, I’ve had more than one person observe, “But it still tastes like tripe, right?”

Tripe is stomach. There are many ways to cook tripe, and many animals from which that tripe can come. I know what you’re thinking: Saturday morning is perhaps not the best time to think about tripe. But it is! Saturday morning is perfect for beef tripe at dim sum, for example. Each section of a cow’s stomach yields a different type of tripe: honeycomb tripe, from the second stomach, or reticulum, and leaf tripe (also called “book” or “Bible” tripe), from the third stomach, or omasum. One of the classic dim sum dishes - at least on my “greatest hits” list - is leaf tripe, sauteed in oil with a few chili flakes. Yum.

Dim sum tripe doesn’t stand a chance next to tripe soup, though. If Wikipedia is any indication, tripe makes its way into plenty of soups around the world. My favourite Cantonese restaurant soup is crab meat and fish tripe (also called fish maw) soup. In our family, my uncle Ken is well known for his version of fish tripe soup. I have often put in a special request for it on visits to Calgary. I’m going to press him for the recipe next.

Here in Toronto, I scouted out two tripe soups - beef tripe soup of the Eastern European variety - on the menus at The Prague and Cafe Polonez, and finally got around to trying them both recently. At The Prague, Czech tripe soup, dršťková polévka, was a formidable concoction. It tasted boldly of marjoram and bay (nice), but I have to admit the sheer heft and fattiness of the soup conquered me. I couldn’t finish the bowl! It also tasted like… tripe. Contender number two was Polish tripe soup, flaczki, at Cafe Polonez. Now, pitting a soup from The Prague against a soup from Cafe Polonez was probably unfair. The Prague is excellent, but Cafe Polonez is well known for its outstanding soups. And how was the tripe soup? Outstanding. It was thick but not fatty. The tripe bits were tender as can be, melting into the soup almost, and well balanced with the flavour of the soup as a whole. I would tell you more about the seasoning, but I must admit that I polished off the whole bowl lickety-split and didn’t pay careful attention! I’ll have to go back for a second round.

Prague Deli
638 Queen Street West
416-504-5787

Cafe Polonez
195 Roncesvalles Avenue
416-532-8432