Shkembe Chorba (Bulgarian traditional tripe soup)

Shkembe chorba is a tripe soup that is made of calf (cattle) stomach. The tripe is the thick lining of the stomach of cattle. It is cleaned well and cooked with milk, garlic, vinegar, hot chili peppers, and other spices. This soup is very delicious and quite common across Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Due to the combination of water, fats, salt, and vinegar used in the preparation, which are known to reduce gastrointestinal discomfort associated with hangovers, this soup is very well known as a hangover remedy.

Ingredients:

- 1 lb tripe (calf belly)

- 1 cup (sunflower) oil

- 2 cups fresh milk

- 1 teaspoon paprika

- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper

- 1 tablespoon salt

- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly diced

- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar

- dried hot chili pepper mix

Directions:

Boil the tripe for about 30 mins, add oil, milk, black pepper and paprika and boil for another 30 mins occasionally topping up the water. The more you cook it, the better it will taste.

Combine some salt, garlic and vinegar in a separate cup, let it soak for about an hour.

Serve hot, garnish with the garlic and vinegar mixture and the hot chili peppers.

Suggestion:

best with (or after a lot of) rakia or beer.