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

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.

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.