The origins of this dish take us back to the Middle Ages, in the 11th century, at the time of William the Conqueror. Legend credits its cook, the monk Cidoine Benoît, with the invention of the recipe in the Abbaye aux Hommes, in Calvados.
The recipe of the time, however, is a little different from that of today. In the original version, it involves cooking the stomach of the beef to which the trotters, herbs and kidney fat are added. William the Conqueror accompanied it with Norman apple juice. From the 13th century, brotherhoods appeared which celebrated tripe.
The current recipe is owed to a certain Marie Bernard, born in Caen in the middle of the 19th century. It quickly became the symbol of Norman cuisine. In Paris, we owe the dish’s reputation to a restaurateur, Christian Pharamond, who opened a restaurant in the Halles district. His speciality ? Caen-style tripe that Oscar Wilde, Ernest Emingway or Georges Clémenceau came to taste and that you can always eat in a timeless atmosphere, at Petit Bouillon Pharamond.
The tripe is made up of the 4 parts of the beef stomach: the abomasum, the pansy, the leaflet and the cap.
The recipe for tripe à la mode de Caen
Ingredients :
- 1 kg blanched tripe
- 1 beef trotter (for texture)
- 4 carrots
- 2 onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- Thyme, bay leaf, 1 clove, salt, pepper
- 75 cl of raw cider
- 5 cl of calvados
- Cut the tripe into 4/5 cm strips
- Cut carrots and onions into rings
- Sweat the carrots and onions in a large casserole dish
- Add tripe and foot
- Deglaze with cider and calvados
- Add the thyme, bay leaf, cloves, salt and pepper
- Close the cocotte and bake for 4 hours at 180°C
