Busecca Ticinese (Tripe Soup with Garlic Bread) Ticino
Submitted by ANTERO
A traditional Swiss-Italian tripe soup from Ticino with borlotti beans, carrots, leeks, celery, and Parmesan, served alongside broiled Gruyere garlic bread. Hearty, rustic, and warming.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
3 hrsREADY
1 daysBusecca is the signature soup of Ticino, the Italian-speaking corner of Switzerland where the cooking leans heavily toward rustic, no-nonsense comfort.
Honeycomb tripe gets boiled until tender, then sauteed with carrots, leeks, celery, garlic, and tomato paste before simmering in bouillon with caraway and thyme.
Borlotti beans add creaminess and substance. A generous shower of grated Parmesan finishes each bowl.
The garlic bread that comes alongside is no afterthought: sliced French bread gets spread with a Gruyere-garlic-parsley butter and broiled until golden and bubbling. Dunk it straight into the soup.
Chef Tips
- Soak the borlotti beans overnight and cook them separately before adding to the soup. This keeps their texture intact and prevents them from clouding the broth.
- Cut the tripe into thin, uniform strips. Uneven pieces cook at different rates and give you a mix of chewy and tender in the same bowl.
- The 2.5-hour boil for the tripe is not optional. Underdone tripe is rubbery and unpleasant. It should be completely tender before it hits the saute pan.
- Spread the garlic butter on the bread generously and broil until just golden. The Gruyere should be melted and lightly browned, not burnt.
Ingredients
Directions
Soak beans overnight. Drain beans. Cook in lightly salted water until tender.
Drain. Set aside.
Clean, trim and wash the vegetables (carrots, leek, celery).
Slice the carrots finely, slice the leek diagonally, slice the celery finely and cut into squares.
Cut the tripe into strips 4 cm ( 1 9/16 in) long and 2 mm (1/16 in) wide.
Fill a kettle with water, add salt, bring to the boil. Add tripe and cook for 2½ hours. Drain.
In a saucepan heat butter.
Sauté vegetables briefly. Add tripe, garlic and tomato paste.
Sauté briefly. Moisten with bouillon, simmer for 20 minutes.
Season with caraway, thyme, salt and pepper. Add Borlotti beans and heat.
Serve in soup plates, sprinkle with cheese (Parmesan) or serve separately. Garnish with parsley.
Garlic bread: cut bread into slices, toast in oven.
Beat butter until creamy, chop parsley finely, blend butter with garlic, cheese (Gruyere) and parsley.
Season with salt and pepper. Spread bread with butter mixture, gratinate under broiler until golden brown. Serve with soup.
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