Buseca

Ingredients

• Beef tripe — cleaned1 kg
• White beans — soaked overnight300 g
• Chorizo250 g
• Pancetta150 g
• Onions2
• Carrots3
• Celery3
• Potatoes400 g
• Tomatoes400 g
• Vinegar100 ml
• Bay leaves3
• Paprika1 tbsp
• Olive oil60 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rinse the tripe several times, rub it with salt and rinse it again until completely clean.

   20 min

2. 2

   Boil the tripe in water with half the vinegar for ten minutes and throw away that first water.

   15 min

3. 3

   Cover it with fresh water and the bay and simmer three hours, until completely tender.

   190 min

4. 4

   Boil the beans separately until soft, an hour and a quarter, and set them aside with their liquid.

   80 min

5. 5

   Fry the pancetta and the sliced chorizo, add the onion, carrot and celery and sweat them ten minutes.

   15 min

6. 6

   Stir in the paprika and tomatoes, add the sliced tripe with some of its broth and the potato.

   12 min

7. 7

   Cook twenty-five minutes, stir in the beans with their liquid, season and warm it ten more.

   38 min

About the dish

The tripe simmers three hours with bay and vinegar. Less and it stays rubbery; the vinegar both tenderises it and removes its particular smell.

The beans are cooked separately and added ready. In the soup's acidic environment they never soften, however long they are held on the heat.

Buseca came with Italian immigrants from Lombard busecca. In Uruguay chorizo and beans were added, and the dish became thicker and more filling than the original.

Worth knowing

• — The first water must be thrown away. It carries the whole of the smell, and without that step the soup is unpleasant.
• — Slice the tripe into fine strips after cooking rather than before. Raw it is slippery and cuts badly.
• — Buseca is better on the second day. It thickens, and Uruguayans make a large pot of it for the weekend.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

44 g

Fat

30 g

Carbs

42 g

More from Uruguay

• Chivito — A sandwich of thin steak, ham, bacon, cheese and a fried egg. Uruguay's national dish.
• Milanesa a la napolitana — A breaded cutlet under tomato sauce, ham and melted cheese.
• Torta frita — Flat rounds made on rendered fat and deep-fried, which Uruguayans make when it rains.