A word about Uncle Pasquino. He’s a ranter. You can see his broadsides all over Rome. Especially in Piazza Bramante, but also in via Babuino. He’s 100% Romanaccio. A bit scary. What Pasquino loves about this trippa is that it brings together all of the favorite flavors of Roman cooking: offal being the quinto quarto (the fifth quarter), lots of celery, a bit of pepperoncino, and a bit of mint combined with grated cheese at the end. What we miss is the Roman nepitella, a mint which is closest to pennyroyal if you can grow that yourself. But substitute whatever mint you might have at hand. But by the way, Evan Kleiman, the Alice Waters of Los Angeles has been persuading the folks at Coleman Family Farms to produce things like nepitella for her restaurants and the public at large. There is a God. <br />This dish is straight out of the Testaccio district of Rome, slightly off the tourist border, it really is Rome’s kitchen. I mean it. This is the old slaughterhouse district where workers might have been paid in part with the quinto quarto. <br />You must begin with good honeycomb tripe, the honeycomb is the second stomach of your favorite ruminant. - pierino <br />

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