İşkembe çorbası is a traditional Turkish soup made from beef tripe. It has a typical creamy consistency, white color, and a distinct garlic flavor. The surface is often garnished with red swirls of melted butter with hot paprika.
İşkembe serves as a proven “hangover cure” after long evenings spent over glasses of anise-flavored rakı. In Istanbul and other cities, there are specialized establishments called işkembeci, which open late in the afternoon and close only in the early morning hours to feed tired revelers returning home. Historically, it was a typical working-class dish and a way to utilize the whole animal without waste; however, during the Ottoman Empire era, sultans also found their way to tripe, albeit in more refined preparations.
Today, it is a meal where taxi drivers, students, and businessmen meet at four in the morning (and I had it last time at two in the morning as well; only in my case, it was due to a late arrival 😇).
The soup comes to the table piping hot, often in stainless steel bowls or deep plates. Next to it, the waiter automatically places a bowl of crushed garlic pickled in vinegar, and often another small bottle of pure vinegar or lemon juice. It is up to you how much you “spice up” the soup. It is almost mandatory to drizzle the surface with melted butter in which dried hot paprika called pul biber has been briefly frothed. This red oil creates beautiful marbling on the white surface and adds a spicy, smoky tone. Fresh white bread is eaten with the soup, dipped into the sauce.
If you like Czech tripe soup or Polish flaki, işkembe will be a bit of a shock for you. Central European versions are built on marjoram, caraway seeds, and especially ground sweet paprika, which gives them a red color. İşkembe, on the other hand, is “white”, sour, and very distinctly garlicky. It is much closer to Romanian ciorbă de burta or the Greek soup patsa, which share the same Ottoman foundation and are also served with vinegar and garlic.
I tasted işkembe in a soup shop in the city of Konya when, after a late arrival, I was waiting for a night bus to take me to the center of Cappadocia, the town of Göreme. The soup was delicate, the tripe literally melted on the tongue, and after adding three spoonfuls of garlic vinegar (yes, I like garlic!), it got the right kick. One portion cost 180 TRY (4.20 EUR).
Bon appétit!
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