Eat like a local in France: tripes en brochette de La Ferté-Macé

“There aren't any carrots in ours. It doesn’t have the same taste.”

So says Hugues Lebert, head of the Confrérie de la Tripière Fertoise in La Ferté-Macé (Orne), on the main difference between his town’s tripe and that found elsewhere in the region, in Calvados.

Served en brochette (on a wooden skewer), it is a big part of La Ferté-Macé’s identity.

La Maison de la Tripe is the only remaining boucherie-charcuterie in town. The esteem in which it is held is obvious by its location sandwiched between the church and the war memorial – two of the most important landmarks in any French town.

It dates back at least three generations, said Gérard Chatel, an honorary member of the brotherhood, retired butcher and an expert on this delicacy.

He points to its mention in a collection of verse by local poet Wilfrid Challemel, published in 1903: “On les aime à La Ferté, en gentils paquets roulés, affublés d'une billette au côté” (“We love it at La Ferté, in nice rolled bundles, affixed on a stick”).

According to the confrérie’s website, a group of woodcutters sought refuge in La Ferté-Macé having been chased by wolves. They were welcomed by two butchers, Césarine and Zidor, who offered them tripe.

Over the years the recipe grew more sophisticated and well-loved. The wooden skewer was added to divide portions more equally. Tripes en brochettes à la mode de La Ferté-Macé was born.

The story is absolutely true, said Mr Lebert. 

“It is romanticised,” said Mr Chatel.

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Tripe was big business

Mr Chatel owned the Établissements Chatel – at the time, one of the 22 boucheries and charcuteries in town – at 29, rue Saint-Denis. Back then, tripe was big business in La Ferté-Macé. In its heyday, it was the official supplier of gourmet food company Fauchon.

“Children stepped into the shop and would marvel at our 120 trophies. ‘You must be good at football, Mr Chatel,’ they would say. 'Well, these are all the tripe competitions we won,' I would answer,’” said his wife, Jeannine.

Today, the building is the headquarters of the Confrérie de la Tripière Fertoise, which was founded in 1981 to defend the heritage of a specialty that was slowly dying out.

It supervises the ‘Concours de la meilleure tripe’ each March and an annual event in May where they parade in town.Franck Quinton, Michelin-starred chef of the local Manoir du Lys and Franck Langlois, chef at local restaurant O’ Gayot, often take part in the competition. They were forced to make do with silver and bronze medals at the 2025 edition – beaten by Guillaume Delignou, owner of La Maison de la Tripe.

The establishment sells seven different recipes of tripe in jars. Even the bravest of our readers would baulk at eating them as they did in the old days: for breakfast.

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Ingredients

If you have the guts to cook them, you will need all four parts of the cow’s stomach; the rumen, the reticulum, the feuillet and the rennet-bag.

You can either smear the rumen with onion purée or keep it plain.

Wrap all four parts together and squeeze them as tight as possible before inserting a skewer – what butchers call a billette – from either a hazel or beech tree. These trees are favoured because the wood does not discolour or leave an aftertaste after cooking. Cut any excess from both ends of your log-like tripe.

In a large pot, add butter, a bouquet garni, carrots, onions stuffed with clove, white wine or cider, old calvados, a cow’s foot cut in half, and water. Let it simmer between 12 and 14 hours. Serve hot with boiled potatoes and a glass of white wine or cider.

Wait a second… Do ‘tripes en brochette’ have carrots in after all?

“It is cooked with carrots, but they are removed before eating,” said Jean-Yves Tallois, the secretary of the confrérie.