Pancita Capitalina (Menudo Blanco CDMX)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Largest stockpot you own, at least 8 quarts (an olla de peltre or heavy stainless pot)
• •Fine-mesh skimmer for the foam
• •Slotted spoon
• •Sharp boning knife for breaking down the pata if your butcher did not

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the panza

   Even tripe sold as 'cleaned' needs another wash. Cut the panza into 2-inch squares. Put it in a large bowl with the vinegar, the 1/4 cup of salt, and the cut limes. Scrub the pieces against each other with your hands for five minutes. Rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear and the smell is gone. Repeat the scrub one more time. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo. Skip this step and your caldo will taste of barn.

   Pregunta a tu carnicero for honeycomb tripe specifically, panza de panal. The flat smooth tripe is from a different stomach and cooks differently. The honeycomb holds the broth in its pockets and that is the whole point.
2. 2

   Blanch and discard

   Put the cleaned tripe and the pata pieces in your largest stockpot. Cover with cold water by three inches. Bring to a hard boil over high heat. Boil for ten minutes. You will see gray foam and a slick of impurities rise. Drain the pot completely in a colander and rinse the tripe and pata under cold water. This blanch is what gives you a caldo blanco, a clean white broth, instead of a cloudy gray one. No me vengas con atajos. The blanch is the recipe.

3. 3

   Build the caldo

   Return the rinsed tripe and pata to the clean pot. Cover with fresh cold water by three inches, about four to five quarts. Add the halved onion, the halved head of garlic, the bay leaves, the peppercorns, and the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim any foam that rises in the first twenty minutes. Cold water draws the flavor out slowly. A rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the tripe.

4. 4

   Simmer low for hours

   Reduce the heat until you see lazy bubbles breaking the surface every few seconds. Partially cover the pot. Cook for three to three and a half hours, until the tripe is fully tender but still has a clean bite. Tripe that is undercooked is rubber. Tripe that is overcooked turns to mush. You want it to yield to the tooth without resistance, the way a well-cooked tendon does. Check at three hours by lifting one piece out and biting into it. That is the only way to know.

   If you live above 6,000 feet, like Ciudad de Mexico does, add an extra thirty to forty minutes. The capital sits at 2,240 meters and water boils cooler. The senoras at La Merced know this in their bones. You should too.
5. 5

   Add the epazote and the garlic

   When the tripe is almost tender, fish out the spent onion and the halved garlic head with a slotted spoon and discard them. Add the peeled garlic cloves and the four sprigs of epazote. Epazote is not optional. It is the herb that defines this dish in the central highlands. Its smell is sharp, almost medicinal, and it cuts through the richness of the tripe in a way no other herb does. If your market does not carry it fresh, the dried is a poor substitute. Find the fresh.

   Epazote also has a practical role: it eases the gases that come from long-simmered tripe and pata. Mexican grandmothers did not put it in for decoration. Tradition is usually wisdom in disguise.
6. 6

   Add the rice

   Stir in the rinsed rice. Simmer for another twenty to twenty-five minutes, partially covered, until the rice is fully cooked and has loosened a little of its starch into the broth. The caldo will thicken slightly. This is what distinguishes the capitalina version from the menudos of the north and the west, the rice is the body. Taste for salt now and adjust. Tripe absorbs salt slowly, so the broth needs to be assertive.

7. 7

   Lift the pata and shred

   Remove the pata pieces with a slotted spoon. When they are cool enough to handle, pull the meat and the gelatinous connective tissue off the bones and chop them roughly. Discard the bones. Return the chopped meat to the pot. The pata is what gives the broth its body. Without it, you have soup. With it, you have caldo.

8. 8

   Serve at the table

   Ladle the pancita into deep clay bowls. Set the diced raw onion, chile piquin, dried oregano, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and warm tortillas in small platitos around the table. Each person builds their own bowl. A squeeze of lime, a pinch of piquin, a scatter of onion and oregano. That ritual is part of the dish. In Ciudad de Mexico on a Sunday morning, you eat this slowly, with bolillos on the side if there are no tortillas, and you do not check your phone. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •The panza must be honeycomb tripe, panza de panal. The other stomachs (libro, callos lisos) cook differently and will not give you the right texture. Ask your carnicero by name. If the butcher does not know the difference, find a butcher who does. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The pata is non-negotiable for the broth. Without the cow's foot, the caldo is thin and lifeless. The gelatin from the foot is what gives capitalina pancita its silky weight. If your butcher does not carry pata, ask for it in advance. They can almost always order it.
• •Fresh epazote is essential and dried is a compromise, not an upgrade. Mexican grocers and Latino markets in the United States carry it fresh during warm months. If you have a yard, plant it. It grows like a weed and once you have it, you will use it in beans, quesadillas, and every olla of tripe you ever make.
• •Pancita is better the second day. Make it Saturday night, eat it Sunday morning. The epazote and the broth marry overnight and the tripe absorbs the salt fully. The rice will thicken the caldo further as it sits. Just thin with a little water when you reheat.

Advance Preparation

• •Pancita can be made one full day ahead and the flavor only deepens. Refrigerate the pot, then skim the layer of fat that solidifies on top before reheating gently on the stove. Add a splash of water if the rice has thickened the broth too much.
• •The initial cleaning of the tripe can be done the night before. Scrub, rinse, and store in the refrigerator covered with cold water and a few lime halves.
• •Pancita keeps refrigerated for four days. It does not freeze well, the tripe texture suffers and the rice turns gummy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)