It is not less strange than true, that this excellent preparation
cannot be procured in perfection except in London, Oxford, Birmingham,
and Coventry, the first of which is supplied principally from
Birmingham. The more independent and established of the preparers
of this delicacy refuse to communicate the secret of the process to
strangers, and my own curiosity cost me a guinea some few years ago,
besides my expenses from Lancashire and back again. As will be seen,
however, plenty of cold and of boiling water, with an adequate amount
of diligence, are the main requisites, which I liked the better,
since in the whole of my practice I have eschewed the use of drugs
and chemicals, as tending to rob what is estimable by nature of its
purity and flavour. The butchers in this case leave nearly all the fat
attached, and which is absolutely necessary to the richness of the
tripe when cooked. It is forbidden to interfere with the bellies, as
they are termed, until the day they are wanted, and they are therefore
hung up in an outer-house. The cleansing commences with scraping off
the rough dirt with a dull edged knife, and, proceeding in this way,
scraping until you come to the most troublesome and tedious part,
viz. the “honeycomb,” and every one of those little cells of which it
is composed is to be attacked with a dull pointed knife, until, by
assiduity and great patience, the work is completed. The process is
forwarded by occasionally dipping the flesh into the boiling water,
which is always close at hand. And beautifully sweet are these parts
of the beast made by these means, without a grain of lime or salt, or
any chemicals. The part when cleaned is washed in two or three fresh
waters, then cut into large pieces, and put into a tin jar made on
purpose, nearly covering the meat with soft water, and sent off to the
common bakehouse to be left in――after the bread is withdrawn――for five
or six hours. When it is brought home, a teacupful of _new_ milk is put
into the liquor or gravy, in the tin, stirred about for a minute or so,
and the business is completed.