This Is George Strait's Go-To Hangover Comfort Food

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If you're someone who enjoys alcohol, it can be nice to relax with a glass of wine, a couple beers, or whatever your pleasure. But, sometimes, you can find the evening getting a little bit away from you; maybe you didn't eat enough, or the alcohol interrupted your sleep and you woke up with a hangover. When it comes to getting a little relief, hangover cures from bartenders may seem like a logical path to follow, although some are a little out there. Anthony Bourdain's now-famous cure for a hangover, for example, was aspirin, Coca-Cola, some spicy Sichuan food, and a little "something extra" along the way.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, country music legend Geroge Strait was asked if he believed there to be a particularly effective antidote to alcohol excess. "Yeah," he responded. "There is one, and it's called menudo. It's tripe soup. It's very, very tasty. When I happen to have the occasional hangover, which I try not [to] do, if I can get some menudo, that's what I get." While he's certainly trying to avoid them, similar to a famously indulgent chef, a country music superstar must have had some hangovers along the way. Maybe we can trust his advice.

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Menudo is one of many common, hearty Mexican soups. It often gets confused with pozole, another hominy heavy-hitter, but menudo is quite different from pozole. Both do contain a healthy serving of hominy (large corn kernels that have been processed to soften them), but pozole usually uses a pork or chicken base while menudo is all about tripe. Tripe is the stomach lining of a cow, pig, or sheep, and cow tripe is generally used in menudo.

George Strait's hangover cure may seem strange to some, but it's a common comfort food and hangover cure in many parts of Mexico and the U.S. For the uninitiated (and fearful), it's rich and savory, with a luscious broth and varying degrees of spicy heat, depending on how heavy the cook's chile hand is. Menudo contains a number of seasonings and spices, including chiles, with the tripe cut into smaller pieces and cooked with other meats — often pork trotters or calves feet to give it more flavor. Menudo made with honeycomb tripe, so-called because it has a honeycomb pattern on one side, is often more tender, but you can still expect some chew after it stews. Menudo has a deep, unctuous, even gamey flavor that can be cut a bit with some squeezed lime or the addition of fresh chopped cilantro.

But can menudo actually cure a hangover? Well, not really, but it does have plenty of electrolytes that help your body absorb more water (which you should be drinking copiously). Plus, the carbohydrates are a good boost to your system because the booze has dropped your blood sugar. Still, George Strait's hangover cure is more psychological and nostalgic than scientific.