Who knew fried tripe tasted like pig skins?
December 16th, 2007 • chatter, food
We at dinner at Tacos Al Carbon in Lake Worth tonight and I was feeling adventurous so I ordered up a taco de tripa (beef tripe). For those of you don’t know, tripe is some fancy word for ‘stomach’ and it looks disgusting. White, slimy, honey-combed shaped, overall unappetizing. But I made the dive. At first look I thought I got an order of fried intestines since I expected a glob of white reticulum on my taco. At second look, I still thought I’d botched up my order and some how gotten a tortilla full of upper intestinal tract, deep fried for my delight. I was reluctant to even eat it, much more than I was when I sampled beef tongue, but I plunked down $2 for this and I was damned sure I was going to eat it. To my delight (and confusion!) it tasted just like pork rinds, then I thought I’d somehow ordered a taco de chicarron (pork skin). The lime and pepper sauce couldn’t detract from the strong pork taste. Had I gotten a chitlin taco instead? I had no idea so I finished the rather tasty treat and finished off my other tacos.
While Jess noshed on her tamales, I was befuddled by the fact that the gross white tripe I see in Publix tasted this good. Just to make sure I got tripe, I went and ordered another taco. Bam! Same thing. I had no idea that something so unappealing from a cow was going to taste like the deep fried skin of a pig. Boy, I’m glad I made the jump because it was quite good. Now I’ve only got one taco left on their menu that I haven’t eaten so I’ll get that next time.
I’ve very reluctant to try their burrito la combinada simply because their English translation is “other meat”. Are they trying to pawn off a Spam burrito on me?