Callos a la madrileña

Ingredients

Tripe

• 1 kghoneycomb tripe
• 500 gbeef or veal trotter and shin
• 2lemons
• 3 tbspvinegar
• 2 tbspcoarse salt

Aromatics

• 1onion, whole
• 1carrot
• 1leek
• 1bay leaf
• 6peppercorns

Sofrito

• 2onions, chopped
• 6 clovesgarlic
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 2 tbspsweet pimentón
• 1 tsphot pimentón
• 3tomatoes, grated
• 4 tbspolive oil

Also

• 2chorizo
• 1morcilla
• 150 gjamón serrano, in cubes
• 400 gcooked chickpeas
• 2dried ñora peppers, soaked
• salt

To serve

• in earthenware cazuelas, with bread and red wine

Directions

1. Rinse it repeatedly under cold running water, rubbing every fold with your fingers. Now rub it with cut lemon and vinegar and leave it twenty minutes. Rinse thoroughly afterwards, since lingering vinegar sours the stew. Repeat the salt and lemon treatment if the tripe smells strong.
2. Bring it to a boil in fresh water and boil hard for fifteen minutes. Drain, rinse each piece, and wash out the pot before starting again. Cut the tripe into squares of about three centimetres.
3. Cut it before the long simmer, since cooked tripe is slippery and awkward. Simmer the tripe and the trotter with the whole aromatics for three to four hours. This is the single most important thing: callos needs genuinely long cooking and there is no shortcut.
4. Skim the surface as scum rises in the first half hour. A pressure cooker reduces this to about an hour and a quarter. Strain it and keep it, since it is full of gelatine from the trotter. It should set to a jelly when cooled, which tells you it is right.
5. Pick the meat from the trotter and add it back. Fry the chopped onion in olive oil for fifteen minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic, then stir in the flour and cook it for two minutes. Now the pimentón, and the rule about it.
6. Take the pan off the heat before the pimentón goes in. Pimentón burns within seconds in hot fat and turns bitter, which is the standard way to ruin this dish. Stir it in off the heat and add liquid almost immediately. Add the grated tomato and cook it down, then whisk in the reserved cooking liquid. Add the tripe, the chorizo, the morcilla and the jamón.
7. Add the morcilla whole or in thick slices and handle it gently. Morcilla disintegrates if stirred hard, which muddies the whole stew. Simmer everything gently for a further hour so the flavours combine and the sauce thickens. Add the chickpeas for the last twenty minutes. Now the consistency it should reach. Taste before adding salt, since chorizo and jamón bring a great deal.

Technique

• The gelatine from a trotter is what gives the proper unctuous texture.
• The tripe needs three to four hours and there is no shortcut.
• It is genuinely better the day after it is made.

Substitutions

• A pressure cooker to soften the tripe far faster.
• Tinned chickpeas, added at the end.

Variations

• Made without morcilla, which some prefer.
• With a little chilli, for a hotter version.
• Made with lamb tripe, which is milder.

History

Madrid tavern food built on cheap offal, thickened by the tripe’s own gelatin; the city’s casas de comidas have served it in earthenware cazuelas for generations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Callos a la madrileña?

Callos a la madrileña is a main from Spain: tripe stewed with chorizo, morcilla and chickpeas, thick and gelatinous. Madrid tavern food built on cheap offal, thickened by the tripe’s own gelatin; the city’s casas de comidas have served it in earthenware cazuelas for generations.

How long does Callos a la madrileña take to make?

Callos a la madrileña takes 45 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 4 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Callos a la madrileña?

Yes, within limits. A pressure cooker to soften the tripe far faster. Tinned chickpeas, added at the end.

What is the most important thing to get right in Callos a la madrileña?

Cut it before the long simmer, since cooked tripe is slippery and awkward. Simmer the tripe and the trotter with the whole aromatics for three to four hours. This is the single most important thing: callos needs genuinely long cooking and there is no shortcut.