Lampredotto

The fourth stomach of the cow, the abomasum, simmered for hours in a broth of tomato, onion, celery and parsley, pulled out dripping, chopped on a board and stuffed into a crusty roll with salsa verde and a spoon of the cooking liquid: lampredotto is Florence's street food, sold from the trippai carts and kiosks that have stood at the same corners of the city for generations. The name is said to come from lampreda, the lamprey eel, which the dark, ridged tripe was thought to resemble, and the dish belongs to the city's tradition of cucina povera, in which the offal the butchers could not sell to the palazzi fed the workshops. It is distinct from trippa alla fiorentina, which uses the honeycomb and blanket stomachs cooked in tomato; lampredotto is softer, darker and more strongly flavoured, and it is eaten in a sandwich, standing, usually before two in the afternoon.