Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)
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Tripe Soup – a traditional Romanian sour soup made with beef tripe, garlic, sour cream and vinegar.
I know over the years I’ve brought you some pretty strange recipes, but none as strange as this tripe soup. I hope you stick around and at least read this post about this recipe and hopefully I can convince you to maybe some day give it a try.
But I know how you feel. I felt the same way about tripe soup, if anyone ever mentioned it to me, I’d get all grossed out. I don’t think I’m helping here, am I?
OK, wow 20 years ago, my first trip back to Romania, after the communism had ended, is when I had the pleasure of trying this soup. My sister and I were young and crazy and we wanted a trip to Europe. We had the time of our lives. We spent 3 wonderful weeks with family, old friends, we partied and we ate tripe soup. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?
So what is tripe? Tripe, my dear friends, is the stomach of a cow and the picture below shows you what it looks like. I wash it really well when I get it from the store until it’s nice and white and clean.
Tripe soup is a very popular soup in Romania and they serve it at restaurants everywhere. My cousin had convinced us that we simply just had to try this delicacy and he promised us we’d love it. Even back then when I was young and naive I was still willing to try all kinds of foods at least once and if I didn’t like it I’d never eat it again. I don’t know what I expected this soup to taste like, I really don’t. I just remember tasting it and loving it from the start. I kept waiting for some weird flavor but it just wasn’t there. It’s a delicious creamy soup from the sour cream, very garlicky because lots of garlic goes in it, and sour from the vinegar. The tripe is cooked for a long time, so it’s not rubbery, but it can be a bit chewy. Obviously it has a beef flavor, but it doesn’t really smell strong. The flavor of the soup is amazing and truly delicious.
It’s something I believe one must try, especially one that calls himself or herself a foodie. Needless to say after we’d had this soup the first time we were at that restaurant, we kept going back every night for more. Since then I married a Romanian, go figure, and of course as any other Romanian, loves this tripe soup.
Although I’d like to take credit for making this, my husband is the one that usually makes it, he’s the pro, so I must give credit where credit is due.
If you’re wondering what gives the soup this wonderful yellow color it’s from the carrots.
If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
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Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)
Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 3 hrs
Total: 3 hrs 30 mins
Serves: 8
Tripe Soup - a traditional Romanian sour soup made with beef tripe, garlic, sour cream and vinegar.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs beef tripe
- 10 cups water
- 1 piece beef bone
- 2 carrots
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 1 celery root
- 1 large onion
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1/3 cup vinegar
- 3 eggs
- 1 parsnip
- salt and pepper to taste
- parsley
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- You can find tripe and beef bone pretty much in any grocery store. First thing you have to do is wash the tripe really well, when it's clean it should be white.The purpose of the beef bone and all the vegetables, excluding the garlic, is to flavor the soup, so we will take them all out later.
- In a big pot add the tripe, bone, carrots, celery root, onion, parsnip and boil for 2 to 3 hours. One thing worth mentioning is do not chop the vegetables, leave them whole, so we can easily strain them.
- Take out the tripe and the bone and strain the rest of the vegetables, leaving the broth nice and clear. Cut the tripe into really small pieces, about 1 cm wide by 2 cm long. Add it back to the broth.
- Shred the boiled carrots and in a small pan add a tbsp olive and saute the carrots for 2 to 3 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix the sour cream and the eggs together really well and add to the soup. Add sauteed carrots, the minced garlic and the vinegar to the soup as well. Add salt and pepper to taste and let it come to a boil again. Make sure you taste it and if you require more vinegar feel free to add more.
- Garnish with parsley and serve hot. Serve with additional sour cream or vinegar if preferred.
Recipe Notes
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 384kcal (19%)Carbohydrates: 17g (6%)Protein: 35g (70%)Fat: 19g (29%)Saturated Fat: 8g (50%)Cholesterol: 227mg (76%)Sodium: 298mg (13%)Potassium: 944mg (27%)Fiber: 3g (13%)Sugar: 5g (6%)Vitamin A: 3148IU (63%)Vitamin C: 14mg (17%)Calcium: 164mg (16%)Iron: 3mg (17%)
Nutrition Facts
Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 384
Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 8g50%
Cholesterol 227mg76%
Sodium 298mg13%
Potassium 944mg27%
Carbohydrates 17g6%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 35g70%
Vitamin A 3148IU63%
Vitamin C 14mg17%
Calcium 164mg16%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Marianne says
My son recently traveled to Romania and fell in love with ciorba de burta; today I’m gonna try your recipe. Wish me luck! 🙂
Joanna Cismaru says
Good luck, you’ll love it!
Marian says
Delicious
May says
I am am a filipina and my bf is a Romanian we’re been together for 6years and believed me the first time i made it our house stink so I lit 5 candles just to get rid of the smell.but you know what the soup is amazing….😍😍😍😍my boyfriend loves it and called hes mom to tell the news that I made a very yummy ciorba de burta..guys try this recipe by the way i forgot to buy beef bone so what I replaced instead is beef cube stock
Joanna Cismaru says
I’m so happy you guys liked this soup! 🙂
Sarah says
Do you add the garlic in step 2 or wait until step 5? It doesn’t specifi.
Nicole Beaulieu says
The recipe says add the garlic in step 5!
Yvonne Zulu says
hi can i use greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Joanna Cismaru says
We’ve never tried this with yogurt, always used sour cream, but that’s because in Romanian cuisine sour cream is used more in cooking, not yogurt. However, I don’t see why you couldn’t use it.
anna says
this was recommended by our tour guide. we tried it and fell in love with it. I want to make this at home and hoping it’d almost as good as the ones in bucharest and be able to serve it to my friends
Joanna Cismaru says
Do let me know how it turns out for you. 🙂
Nicola Cismaru says
Love your receipe!! It’s the best one out there. This is my favorite Ciorba of all time, I can eat it all day everyday!!
Joanna Cismaru says
One of my favorites too! Ha! We have the same last name. 🙂
Audri says
Hi there!
I was curious what TYPE of Vinegar is used for your recipe?
There was a Romanian Deli a block from my old apartment when I was going to school in Orange County, California. I’m not of Romanian decent (I’m Mexican and German) but I am adventurous with my food 🙂 My family would make Menudo (the Mexican tripe soup) every Sunday as was tradition, so when I read “Romanian Tripe Soup” on the menu, I was excited to taste a different version of a favorite dish. Fell in love my first bite! I can NOT wait to try this recipe! I’ve moved too far from the Romanian Deli so finding this recipe makes me SO happy! Thank you!!
jo says
Hi Audri!
It’s just regular white vinegar. It’s so nice to hear other people loving tripe, it’s definitely an acquired taste, but so good if it’s cooked right. 🙂
patricia d johnson craus says
i also love tripe soup my husband is also romanian and i cook it sometimes for him
Elvira Nadin says
It’s better to use lemons or limes. If you can find it, use sorrel soup (I think Manischewitz still makes it; or find it at a store that sells East European/Russian foods). Romanians NEVER use vinegar for this. I know, I lived there this soup was my favorite.
Crina says
I am Romanian, and ALL times in this soup we use white vinegar.Is a very old recipe,believe me!
Roxi says
Lemon is better, or balsamic vinaigre
Alina says
Believing or not, I found the cow belly in Sunny Market in Toronto, but the label says “Honey Comb”. Hahaha….it is pre-washed and cooked and I was sooo happy to find it.
Thank you Jo for your excellent presentation and recipes! I’m romanian too. Multam fain!
jo says
Cu placere! 🙂
gabi says
Jo, you may consider reducing cooking time to something over 1 hour. The tripe sold here has already been ‘pre cooked’. I mentioned all this to a Hungarian friend who mentions this being the case.
Also she boils tripe for 30 minutes. Drains and dries it with paper towels, then breads it like weiner schitzel and serves with tartar sauce. Says it’s awesome. Have you ever tried it like this? I’ll give it a shot soon.
jo says
No I haven’t tried it, the tripe we buy here is not precooked, though it is pre-cleaned.
gabi says
The soup looks beautiful. (I have a bad habit of buying something new and different but only checking for recipes AFTER I get home…… tiresome for you to read no doubt and I wouldn’t blame you. I hate it when people chop and change an excellent recipe because they think they are making it better than the ‘chef’. In this case I’m not doing that. I’m just working with what I have at hand. So I apologize if this sounds stupid. This is the only good reason I can think of to own an iPhone with google access so when I’m in the supermarket I buy everything I need…. oh well.)
I bought some honeycomb tripe yesterday and am making the csorba but don’t have parsley root or celery root. Or a bone. I’m using chicken broth. I hope that’s okay. And a finely chopped red pepper. The rest of the ingredients will stay with your recipe.
What I want to know is can I use an immersion blender on the onion and carrot? Or is the sauteeing carrot important for some flavour reason?
(I guess I”ll find out, eh…)
I’m Hungarian and my grandmother did the cooking but we never had tripe soup. She was from Baia Mare so some of your recipes are totally familiar.
Your cabbage rolls are totally like what we had as well. My father would add smoked ribs to the cooking sauce and when he would go totally ‘all out’ he would add ground ham to the pork for the stuffing. We’d mix fresh and fermented cabbage leaves for the rolls but then it was for huge family parties. Your cabbage rolls look so dainty. Some of the ones we’d have were enormous (depending of leaf size). LOL!
Your recipes and pictures are beautiful.
jo says
Thank you so much Gabi, I love reading comments like this especially about my Romanian recipes which are dear to me. I would strongly recommend sauteeing the carrot because as you said I believe it’s important for the flavor. Same kind of goes with the parsley root or celery root, I think it develops some deep flavors. But you know what, that’s what cooking is all about and I’m glad you’re experimenting in your own kitchen with ingredients you have on hand.
gabi says
Okay, so next time when I’m more organized I’ll sautee the celery root, parsley root and carrot as well. And I’ll remember to get bones. But no body sells 1 bone! LOL!
I live in Toronto so you know what I mean about supermarkets selling lots of bones or no bones.
I bought tripe before and killed it in the pressure cooker because I didn’t realize it is already somehow prepped before selling. Does this really need such a long cooking time? It’s pretty soft already after only 1 hour. Sorry for going on here but I’m a ‘tripe virgin’.
jo says
LOL, yes I know what you mean. We find tripe in Superstore here in Calgary, but they don’t always have it. As far as bones, I’ve seen them at markets, and very rarely do they have them at Superstore, so when they do make sure you grab some. I’ve always cooked the tripe that long, so I guess if it tastes alright to you, 1 hour should be fine. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
gabi says
This has turned out very well despite missing the celery root and parsley root. I simmered it for two hours and the liquid reduced by more than half. The tripe is very soft. The 30% fat sour cream and eggs have thickened the soup nicely and the garlic is just right.
Of course, the colour is different: more orange than yellow. A nice combination of sweet and sour.
I have eaten tripe Chinese style and they don’t bother to make it soft.
I’ve bookmarked your blog and next time will make this soup exactly with the original ingredients.
Thanks for the responses to my questions. I’ll be making tripe in the future. There is also the other type of tripe, the fuzzy looking one. I don’t know if that would be a good ingredient for this soup as well.
jo says
Gabi, so glad it turned out great. The yellow color I believe comes from sauteing the carrots. Try that next time and see if it works. 🙂
Maria M says
I live in Bulgaria and this kind of soup is traditional here too but we’re making it with milk and it is slightly different.
jo says
Never tried it with milk, I’m sure it’s delicious though. Tripe soup is an acquired taste. 🙂
Mihaela says
Hi Jo, I found your website looking for a veal soup, or ciorba de vacuta 🙂 I’m so glad I found you, I like your recipes and your pictures. I’ll come back to visit you! I’m Romanian living in The United States and I have a culinary blog too 🙂
jo says
Hi Mihaela, nice to meet another fellow Romanian blogger. 🙂 Thank you, I’ll have to check out your blog too.