From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
The edible stomach lining of a ruminant, a hoofed animal that digests its food in several stages, most often taken from cows but sometimes also from goats, oxen and sheep. Ruminants have three- or four-chambered stomachs: the first, called the rumen, provides plain (or smooth) tripe, also known as double tripe or gras-double in French; the second, called the reticulum, provides honeycomb or pocket tripe, generally tender and considered the best; the third is bible or book tripe, taken from the omasum, or third stomach; tripe from the fourth stomach or abomasum is rarely used because of its granular tissue. Although not to everyone's taste, epicureans throughout the ages have been known to appreciate tripe. It was famously loved by William the Conqueror, Rabelais and Homer. Pepper pot soup is a well-known recipe using tripe.
