Lampredotto (Tripe) Crostini

“Mr Butcher, I’ll have tripe please.” And there it was. That raised eyebrow. That smirk. The look of curiosity and bewilderment that befalls me far too often.

Last week was oxtail, the week before was bone marrow, and 7 days on will be sweetbreads. Yet there is something truly satisfying in fumbling around the butcher’s out-of-sight, bottom-of-the-freezer, curiosities. It is like a lucky dip, but better… you emerge with a bizarre meat or its by-product, rather than a drumstick lolly and a consequential chipped tooth.

I digress. This week’s purchase was in fact planned. I set about recreating the ‘Lampredotto’; a peculiar gem of Florence. Cow’s stomach lining boiled up in a broth, chucked into a considerable bap, and then drenched in Salsa Verde.

The verdict? It doesn’t sound too attractive, and unfortunately, this pre-judgement also transmitted to look and taste. Tripe had the texture of a limp penis, and save the salsa, my tastebuds, nor mind, were set alight. Do this again, and I would replace the tripe with slow-cooked, fall-apart lamb.

But, for what it's worth, I produced a regional oddity on a crostino, and therefore that wins both my stomach (and the cow’s) approval.