If you teleport to eat tripe right now where would it be?
Isfahan to try and track down some sirabi and marvel at the Safavid-era architecture.
What was your first time?
I don't remember but it was badly prepared and I did not like it.
Favourite recipe?
Tkalia - Moroccan lamb tripe dish heady with olives, preserved lemon and cumin.
Who and where has cooked the one you’ve enjoyed the most (if more than one stands out please feel free to elaborate)
Arriving in Istanbul after midnight one November, famished and depleted from the flight, wandering the streets of Beyoglu in search of something tasty. I found it at 29 Ekim Işkembe Salonu, a 24 hour soup canteen specialising in offal. A bowl of creamy and opaque tripe soup was placed in front of me with a basket of crusty bread and vials of fermented garlic and chilli vinegar. A panacea. It cured all my ills, jolted me back to life, set me up for an incredible week relaxing in one of my favourite places on earth.
Bad experiences?
Beyond that first time, mostly good actually as I've only ordered tripe from places I trust or have a good instinct about.
Three places you would recommend (anywhere in the world)?
Le Garet in Lyon,
29 Ekim Işkembe Salonu in Istanbul,
anywhere you (Gareth) are cooking.
Which tripe would you choose to eat if there wasn’t beef?
Lamb.
A rough guess at how many skeptics you have converted ?
Three.
A sentance or paragraph on tripe and onions:
The two go hand-in-hand, and you’ll find compelling examples through pretty much all global cuisines that consume livestock if you seek them out.
Nick Bramham is a cook and food writer based in London. He is head chef at Quality Wines in Farringdon, where his weekly changing menus have been celebrating the diverse traditions of Mediterranean cuisine for the past seven years. He is a regular Vittles Magazine contributor, and his recipes have been featured in The FT Weekend. You can find him on Instagram: @nick_bramham