Last night, the 5th of May, millions of people commemorated the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla (1862) with volleys of shots — of tequila — bravura barrages of beer, and murderous margaritas. Unsurprisingly, this morning finds heads held hostage and stomachs seared from nacho napalm. Today’s Spanish vocabulary lesson: crudo means ” hangover.”
If you celebrated Cinco de Mayo with cerveza, celebrate Seis de Mayo this morning with el desayuno de los campeones, the Breakfast of Champions. The traditional Mexican hangover cure is menudo — tripe soup or stew.
Emergency hangover instructions issued by the Department of Homeland Security suggest a stockpile of canned menudo — Juanita’s, Pico Pica, La Preferida, La Costeña, — but if you prefer fresh relief, have an ambulance deliver a few pounds of white honeycomb beef tripe (culin or pancita), posole (white hominy), dried or fresh chili peppers (ancho, poblano), onion, garlic, maybe a nice calf’s foot (veal knuckle) … sure beats corn flakes.
Recipes from:
San Marcos Texas Menudo Cook-Off
Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here and a related one (Pablo’s Hangover, after Picasso) here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length. Yes, we know Picasso was Spanish and not Mexican, but we like the picture.
Tags: cooking, drinking, food, Healthcare, humor
NotionsCapital 
May 6, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Thanks for the comment on my article. I love yours: “Department of Homeland Security” cracked me up. More power to you for being brave enough to go this route! :o)
Michele writes about holidays for the Denver Examiner. – ml