Bill Torrez's Red Menudo

“Menudo is always good. There is good menudo and there is better menudo.”

This statement was from Arnold Jimenez, Coachella chief of police and a judge in the 1982 California State Championship Menudo Cookoff held in Indio.

Menudo cooks are bearers of tradition, adding a pinch of this or that the way their mothers and grandmothers did. Thus, skill in cooking, rather than innovation was the key to winning the cookoff.

The basics of menudo are tripe, a pig or beef food and hominy. Some cooks make red menudo, coloring the soup with chili powder and/or sauce. Others prefer to leave it white. Seasonings may include onion, garlic and oregano. Garnishes might be oregano, cilantro, lemon wedges, chopped onion and, on occasion, crushed or fresh chiles or a hot salsa.

This recipe comes from Bill Torrez of San Diego. He competed in the championship division of the 1982 cookoff.

This recipe was featured in a pre-internet article by the late Times Food staff writer Barbara Hansen titled “Tradition Spices Contest in Indio: Mexican Americans Take Menudo Seriously,” published on Dec. 9, 1982.