Menudo ( soup ) For the Puerto Rican boy band , see Menudo ( band ) . Menudo , the soup The soup menudo is a traditional Mexican dish ; a spicy soup made with tripe . It is often thought of a cure for a hangover , and is traditionally served on special occasions or with family . Menudo is an ethnic dish that has its roots firmly planted in peasant food heritage and poverty . In pre-revolution Mexico , poverty amongst the campesinos was chronic and little if anything that might be prepared as food was left to waste . Usually , the best cuts of meat would go to the hacienda owners while the offal went to the peons . These leftovers consisted of organ meats , brains , head , tails , hooves , etc . Inventive peasant cooks created a soup that made good use of one of the major leftovers : -- the stomach . As cattle and sheep are ruminants that require lengthy intestinal tracts to digest their diet of grasses and raw seeds , the stomach is one of the largest pieces of offal available from these animals . Classic menudo is basically a slowly cooked stew of tripe infused with several varieties of chile peppers and spices . It is presented as a soup and typically is served with corn tortillas or white bread rolls ( bolillos ) . Typical condiments added to menudo are dried oregano , ground chile flakes , lime juice , and chopped onion . Due to the length of time needed to cook tripe to be tender enough to be edible , menudo is generally cooked in large batches and sold as a special menu item in Mexican restaurants , rather than prepared at home . In some areas menudo is sold as a weekend-only specialty in regular restaurants ( typically announced by signs reading Menudo fin de semana ) , in other areas , menudo is made daily , but mostly sold in restaurants and market stalls ( fondas ) that specialize in the dish . There are a number of regional variations on menudo . In northern Mexico , typically hominy ( creation of hominy is one step in the production of tortilla dough ) is added . Adding patas ( beef or pigs feet ) to the stew is popular but not universal . In some areas of central Mexico , `` menudo '' refers to stew of sheep stomach , `` pancitas `` stew of beef stomach . Other variations have clear or green broth rather than the reddish colored type usually seen . A similar stew made with more easily cooked meat is pozole . The popularity of menudo in Mexico is such that Mexico is a major export market for stomach tripe from US and Canadian beef producers . Large frozen blocks of imported menudo meat can frequently be seen in Mexican meat markets . The word `` menudo '' in Mexico can mean the raw stomach meat as well as the stew . The word tripas normally refers to the small intestines rather than the stomach . Tripas are also eaten , but normally in tacos rather than stews . In the last season of the 1970s television series Sanford and Son , Fred Sanford made a reference to menudo in almost every episode . It was thought to be his favorite dish . Menudo also refers to an entirely different dish made in the Philippines . This dish , in contrast , is made of garlic , onions , diced pork chops , pork liver , diced potato and tomato sauce , and seasoned with salt and pepper while it is cooked . Menudo is eaten for breakfast and is known as the `` Breakfast of Champions '' in New Mexico and Texas . See also Wikibooks : Cookbook : Menudo One man 's experience :  This article about Mexican cuisine is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : Mexican cuisine stubs | Mexican soups | Soups | Peasant foods | Mexican cuisine | Filipino cuisine | Beef | Offal In other languages : Español | Svenska For the Puerto Rican boy band , see Menudo ( band ) . 