“Offal dishes are from the hungry years, when people were poor and had nothing else to eat,” explained Jordi Asin of the Boqueria’s iconic Bar Pinotxo. “When the country started getting wealthier people stopped eating menudos. But now people are feeling nostalgic for the old recipes. Also, dishes like callos (tripe) and cap i pota (head and foot stew) are tasty, succulent, really comforting dishes. Not for every day, maybe, and not for the summer, but comforting and delicious.”
Jordi, along with chefs at some of Barcelona’s best restaurants such as Casa Leopoldo and Ca l’Isidre, gets his offal from the 106-year old stand, Menuts Rosa, in the Boqueria market. Maria Francisca Gabalda is the third generation of her family to run this stall. She is dedicated to her work and has an intimate knowledge of both her products and her customers, many of whom are immigrants from South America and Africa. She knows just how her Peruvian customers will prepare their hearts, and what the Argentines like to do with sweetbreads. She knows her African customers like tough meat (carne fuerte), because it reminds them of the older animals they eat back home.
I asked Gabalda to talk me through her wares to help demystify these often maligned and misunderstood products. (Note: names are in Catalan/Castilian/English):
Tripa/Callos/Tripe
Calf's stomach is sold in large sheets with a kind of honeycombed textured surface. When cooked, it's soft and glutinous with a mild flavour that soaks up whatever seasoning is added to it. There are two types: blanca (white) and morena (brown). The white has been ‘bleached’ by sitting in hydrogen peroxide for five days. As well as turning it white, this also has the effect of inflating the tripe with water, so it looks fatter—but when you cook it the water comes out and it shrinks. Maria Francisca would never buy white tripe herself, but stocks it because her customers like its colour and the price—it’s cheaper than the brown. Tripe is used, of course, in callos—a stew of tripe in a sofregit of tomato and onion and, according to regional variation, potatoes, chorizo, and/or chili pepper.
Latest Comments