Chunks of beef tripe simmered with spices and herbs until tender are cooled, cut, skewered and basted with a sauce made with ssamjang, a spicy Korean paste.
Cook’s notes
About beef tripe
Beef tripe comes from the muscular wall of the cow’s stomach. It is not the same as cow intestines. There are three kinds of beef tripe sold for cooking. Honeycomb tripe or blanket tripe is what you need for this recipe. Book tripe is not recommended. It takes about six hours of simmering to tenderize beef tripe on the stovetop. It takes eight to ten hours in a slow cooker depending on the setting you choose. In a pressure cooker, it takes a little over two hours.How you want to tenderize the tripe is up to you
Use a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. Or just simmer on the stovetop. But I highly recommend that you add plenty of salt to the cooking liquid. And to neutralize any strong smell, a stalk of lemongrass and a few slices of ginger will help tremendously. Cool the tenderized tripe on a rack or strainer to allow excess liquid to drip off. Then cut into bite-size pieces and thread with bamboo skewers.The basting sauce is spicy, salty, sour and sweet
Sugar for sweetness, rice vinegar for sourness, soy sauce for saltiness. The heat is supplied by garlic, ginger and ssamjang. Ssamjang is a table condiment and not really meant for cooking. But we wondered how it would behave if mixed with other ingredients to make a basting sauce. We discovered it could work. The basting sauce was not too spicy but there was enough bite to please the taste buds.Grilling the skewered beef tripe
How long is the grilling time? Well, grilling time is quite short because it’s really just charring the tripe and adding the final layer of flavor. Baste and turn the skewers often to get enough charring without allowing the sauce to burn.Spicy grilled beef tripe skewers
Equipment
- 15 10-inch bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes to prevent catching fire during grilling
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram blanket or honeycomb beef tripe (2.2 pounds) cooked in salted water until tender, drained and cooled
Basting sauce
- 1 two-inch knob ginger peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and lightly pounded
- 2 to 3 tablespoons ssamjang (available in Asian groceries)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice wine
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
Instructions
- Cut the tripe into bite-size pieces.
- Thread with the bamboo skewers, about five to six pieces per stick.
- Place all the ingredients for the basting sauce in a blender or mini food processor and process to make a paste.
- Heat you grill and place the skewered tripe on the rack which should be no lower than six inches from the heat.
- Arrange the skewered beef tripe on the grill and baste generously with the sauce.
- Turn the skewered tripe over after about two minutes and baste the opposite side as well.
- Repeat the process of turning the skewered tripe and basting until the sauce caramelizes and the tripe is charred along the edges.
- Serve your grilled spicy beef tripe as a snack, an appetizer or pair with rice as a main course.
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