From 'Pat's Cordon Bleu Kitchen', a new weekly column in Her Ladyshipness Magazine:
This week, as Christmas looms on the horizon and our thoughts turn to festive entertaining, I would like to introduce my devoted readers to a great favourite of my darling Benny's: tripe, chocolate and turnip trifle.
A lot of these amateur cooks will tell you to purchase only the freshest tripe, but this is a recipe intended for relatives so it's perfectly acceptable to make do with any old stuff.
Wash the tripe several times to rid it of particles of dirt, odd pieces of grit, and stray lumps of coal. It may take ten to twenty vigorous washings (if you utilise water that has been used for washing-up no more than three or four times) before the tripe is ready to be cooked. Boil the tripe for at least four to five hours in a stock pot of dirty water. Cut the tripe into pieces and then saute the pieces in lard.
Trim the turnips, chop into small pieces, and then steam until tender. Mix the sauted turnip pieces in with the cooked tripe. Separate the tripe and turnip mixture into two equal halves and line the bottom of a trifle bowl with one half of it.
Take sixteen 1 pound bars of milk chocolate - any 10p supersaver brand will do - and break them into pieces. Place the pieces into a saucepan and heat slowly over a low heat. Add one cup of double cream and a pound of sugar. Cook until the mixture is melted sufficiently for pouring and then add one half of it on top of the tripe and turnips. Add a dollop of whipped cream; enough to cover the chocolate layer, and then spoon on the other half of the tripe and turnip mixture. Pour on the remainder of the melted chocolate, add a second layer of whipped cream, and then add raspberries for decoration (preferably not those artificial wax ones as they tend to fool the old folks).
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