Cork's oldest working-class food tradition, pairing cow's stomach lining (tripe) with drisheen, a Cork blood pudding made from sheep's blood and cream, set in a casing.
A 19th-century working-class staple from Cork's North Main Street butcher quarter, drisheen is a blood pudding made from a base of sheep's or cow's blood thickened with milk and oatmeal, sliced and pan-fried alongside boiled tripe. The dish was once sold from carts outside Cork's pubs and at the English Market; rural Munster cottages served it for breakfast. Katherine Fulvio and Darina Allen have championed its survival in print, and O'Reilly's stall at the English Market is now the principal preserver of the tradition, the last full-time drisheen counter in Ireland and producing several dozen kilograms a week.
2 editor picks for Tripe and Drisheen in Cork, ranked by editorial score. All Cork signature dishes · Tripe and Drisheen across every city.
Farmgate Cafe ★ 4.5
English Market Quarter · English Market, Princes Street, Cork
Perched above the English Market on its own gallery, the Farmgate Cafe serves Cork's most traditional dishes with produce bought from the stalls directly.
O'Reilly's Tripe and Drisheen ★ 4.4
English Market Quarter · The English Market, Grand Parade, Cork
The last remaining retailer of tripe and drisheen in Ireland, trading in the English Market. Drisheen is a blood sausage unique to Cork - a peppery, crumbly.