Mexican Menudo Soup (Pressure Cooker)

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tallbm

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This is a traditional Mexican soup that is a very authentic and great soup. It is fairly unusual/unique in the realm of soups so it may not be everybody's cup of tea. It is also known as a remedy for hangovers. That point was even mentioned as so as a Jeopardy question once!

Menudo is made with Beef tripe, hominy, and often uncooked pig's feet are added. This is why I am posting the recipe in the Beef section. Enjoy!

Menudo Pressure Cooker Recipe

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Makes approximately 4qts of soup.

Things to Know:

  • There may not seem like much liquid or soup to the dish when you initially add all ingredients but don't let that fool you. Tripe and pigs feet will release plenty of liquid and you will wind up with more liquid/soup than you initially see.
  • Basically any cleaned Beef tripe will work, it doesn't only need to be scalded beef tripe for this recipe, honeycomb will work as well.
  • Why not make more? This was the amount that fit in the electric pressure cooker I and my mother have and is good for 3 - 4 people to gorge on and have a little left over.
  • We used the electric Instant Pot pressure cooker to make this and the High setting is = 10lbs pressure (psi).
  • On the Instant Pot we used the "Meat & Stew" button and added time to get to 45 min for the first part of the cooking and used "Poultry" button for the 15min 2nd part of cooking.
  • This information should help if you have an electric Instant Pot pressure cooker and should also be well described for a traditional stove top pressure cooker so either approach can make this dish :)
  • Using a pressure cooker DRASTICALLY cuts down the cooking time of this dish. Usually people boil tripe for hours or over night to get it soft and ready for eating. Using the pressure cooker eliminates that need.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5lbs Pigs Feet split vertically (rinse these)
  • 3.25 to 3.5 pounds Scalded Beef Tripe cut/cubed up (you can use honeycomb tripe or a combo of the two)
  • 43 oz Hominy drained ( white, gold, or combination, I like gold) you can get 43 oz by using one 28oz can and one 15oz can
  • 5 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
  • 3 Tablespoons Onion Powder
  • 7 Tablespoons Chili Powder (use a good one or you may need more)
  • 1 + 1/4 teaspoons Oregano (any kind, Mexican/Marjoram/etc.)
  • 1 + 1/3 Tablespoons Ground Cumin
  • 1 slightly overfilled Tablespoon Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 5 cups Water

Cooking Directions:

  • Add all meat, water, and seasonings to pot
  • Set pressure cooker to 10 pounds pressure and heat up until pressure is met (10 pounds on Instant Pot is "High" setting)
  • Once pressure is met cook for 45 minutes (or set for 45 min on Instant pot and once pressure is met it will start)
  • Remove pressure cooker from heat and follow procedure for safe quick/normal depressurizing
  • Once safe to open add Hominy to pot and reseal pressure cooker
  • Set pressure cooker to 10 pounds of pressure and heat up until pressure is met
  • Once pressure is met cook for 15 minutes (Instant Pot will handle all of this with 15min on High setting)
  • Remove from heat and follow procedure for save quick/nomral depressurizing (Instant Pot will turn heat off on it's own)
  • Let set for at least 30 minutes before serving to let flavors meld together (It's even better like an hour later and the longer it sets)
  • Serve with diced jalapeno, diced onion, chipped cilantro (also known as coriander), and lime wedges
And now a picture of the bowl I ate when we made this! I add diced onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. No lime for me in this soup.

full.jpg
 
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It is interesting how many different kinds of Menudo 

Thanks for sharing I am going to try a Tripe Menudo one of these days

Richie
 
Nice write up!

As good as it looks I was ruined on menudo many years ago. Had a batch that tasted like wet gym socks. Haven't been able to stomach tripe since.
 
 
It is interesting how many different kinds of Menudo 

Thanks for sharing I am going to try a Tripe Menudo one of these days

Richie
I only know of this kind. I do know of Posole which is just exchanging tripe for pork shoulder meat (country style ribs are great) but other than that is made exactly the same.  I have an aunt that makes great Posole.  She only does Posole because she does not like dealing with tripe.
 
That looks absolutely delicious!

Point!

Al
Thanks Al, it was!
Nice write up!

As good as it looks I was ruined on menudo many years ago. Had a batch that tasted like wet gym socks. Haven't been able to stomach tripe since.
I understand that.  If people buy the kind where you gotta do all the work in cleaning and prepping then it can easily be messed up leading to a horrible soup like you experienced.  Even when buying the good pre-cleaned tripe it takes work to prep/boil, that is why the pressure cooker takes all the hassle out of making this dish.  No extra work on boiling/fighting with the tripe. 

As I mention above, you could always go the Posole route and just switch out the tripe for some pork shoulder meat and you get almost the exact same soup, no tripe, and hopefully it can be enjoyable again :)
 
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I understand that.  If people buy the kind where you gotta do all the work in cleaning and prepping then it can easily be messed up leading to a horrible soup like you experienced.  Even when buying the good pre-cleaned tripe it takes work to prep/boil, that is why the pressure cooker takes all the hassle out of making this dish.  No extra work on boiling/fighting with the tripe. 

As I mention above, you could always go the Posole route and just switch out the tripe for some pork shoulder meat and you get almost the exact same soup, no tripe, and hopefully it can be enjoyable again :)
We make posole, pozole, pazole all the time. Can't even eat tripe in PHO anymore, which I used to all the time.
 
 
We make posole, pozole, pazole all the time. Can't even eat tripe in PHO anymore, which I used to all the time.
Ahh then you are not missing out too much if you eat posole.

As for the PHO I never get mine with tripe BUT I do always get it with some tendon.  That soft, buttery, flavorful stuff is amazing in Pho.
 
How much do I increase the recipe items if I want to increase the number of servings

Hi there and welcome!

What size pressure cooker are you using?
I think the recipe will easily scale 1 to 1 if you want to double or triple it.

This recipe makes 4 quarts/liters so if you need 8 quarts/liters just double the items. If you need 6 quarts/liters just multiply each item's measurement by 1.5 and that would give you what you need.

Hearty men and boys will easily take down 24oz-32oz (1qt/liter) of this soup stuffing themselves.

If you need to feed 8 Texan men then I would double the recipe. Let me know if this info helps :)
 
Hi there and welcome!

What size pressure cooker are you using?
I think the recipe will easily scale 1 to 1 if you want to double or triple it.

This recipe makes 4 quarts/liters so if you need 8 quarts/liters just double the items. If you need 6 quarts/liters just multiply each item's measurement by 1.5 and that would give you what you need.

Hearty men and boys will easily take down 24oz-32oz (1qt/liter) of this soup stuffing themselves.

If you need to feed 8 Texan men then I would double the recipe. Let me know if this info helps :)
Thank you very much for the quick response. I'm using a Power XL Pressure Cooker, 10 quarts. I'll double the recipe.
 
Thank you for the quick reply. I'm using a Power XL Pressure Cooker, 10 quarts. I'll double the recipe.
 
A cold front coming next week. Suppose to get out of the 100's!!! I going to try to do this next week. Hoping La Michoacana Meat Market is going to have the pigs feet. Really dont want to drive to Fiesta Mart.

I about at the breaking point with this heat wave!!!!! I been getting to river some time shortly after 9 and leaving by 1. Just to much without being able to swim now. I tried pouring water over my head today which is good for about 15 minutes. You can see that green crap that goes past the pylons. That stuff is very nasty! The lake turns over than the crap from the botton of lake comes through the dam. Yuke!

20230906_124701.jpg
 
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