Tripe soup

A bowl of Greek Patsás (πατσάς) (with skordostoubi and hot pepper flakes)

İşkembe çorbası is a tripe soup in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire. It is often seasoned with vinegar or lemon juice. In the South Slavic languages, this soup is called Shkembe chorba (Cyrillic: Шкембе чорба). The name is from Persian language, shikambeh (stomach/tripe) and shorba (thick soup, from shir+ba, "milk+broth"). It entered into the Slavic languages via Ottoman Turkish.

In Bulgaria a whole pork, beef or lamb tripe is boiled for few hours, chopped in small pieces, and returned to the broth. The soup is spiced with ground red paprica which is briefly fried (запръжка), and often small quantity of milk is added. In some areas it is thickened by adding flour to the paprica during frying. Traditionally the soup is served with mashed garlic in vinegar and hot red pepper. There is a variant of the soup with intestines instead of tripe.

The soup was very popular with the working classes until late 1980s, and there were many restaurants serving only shkembe chorba (шкембеджийница, "shkembe-restaurant"). Later they got replaced by fast food restaurants but the soup is still highly regarded, and is part of the menu in any cheap to moderately-priced restaurant. Office workers avoid eating shkembe chorba at lunch, or eat it without adding garlic.

In Serbia, this soup is made of fresh tripe cooked with onions, garlic and ground red paprika. It is usually seasoned with fried bacon and more garlic, sometimes thickened with flour (запршка). Some versions of shkembe chorba are made with milk; garlic, vinegar, and chili peppers are often added as seasoning.

The Greek version is usually called patsás (πατσάς < from Persian pacheh 'shank', (pa+cheh, 'foot/leg+lower'), and sometimes skembés (σκεμπές). It may be seasoned with red wine vinegar and garlic (skordostoubi), or thickened with avgolemono. The Greek version sometimes uses calf feet instead of tripe.

The Romanian name is ciorbă de burtă, having as a variant ciorbă de ciocănele (soup from chicken legs), similar in preparation and serving. "Ciorba de burta" is often seasoned with vinegar and sauce of crushed garlic mixed with a little bit of oil, called "mujdei". In Romania to make the soup sour (chorba) one generally adds a home-made juice called bors (borsh).

Other tripe soups include the Czech dršťková polévka and the Slovak drskova polievka.

Shkembe chorba

Hangover remedy

Shkembe chorba is widely believed to be a hangover remedy.

See also

• Menudo