Menudo: a love or hate sort of thing

Menudo is traditional Mexican soup cooked almost exclusively in weekends or holidays. Despite its often cringe-inducing main ingredient, tripe (or the honey comb, noodley, inside if cow stomach), it often tastes quite delicious. Every time I've had menudo it has been prepared by a woman over the age of fifty. It has always contained the exact same ingredients no matter who prepared it. And it also was prepared in a big pot so that there was plenty to share. Menudo is a soup that is meant to be shared and serves a base of matriarchal cooking pride. 

Yesterday I made my first Menudo... I had a bowl of it first thing this warm Saturday morning. It's good.  So I think I'll bring some to my neighbors and see how they like it.

The recipe for my Menudo is ingredient type specific, but vague as for ingredient amounts. I know how good menudo tastes: savory, rich but thin broth, tender bits of tripe, sort of firm hominy, perfect balance of dry oregano, a touch spicy, and fresh-fresh garnish.
The taste of bad menudo is just as memorable: bland, rubbery tripe, too much and too firm hominy, overly or underly applied oregano, no spice, no color, and no amount of garnish makes it a satisfying dish.

This is my "trial-size" recipe. It made me about 12 cups of soup.

Ingredients:
Large white onion
1.5 lbs. chopped tripe
6 dried chilis de arbol and 6 chilis de japone (in the dried Mexican spice section of grocery store)
Dried Mexican oregano
Three small bones from a beef foot.
Four chopped cloves fresh garlic
25 oz can of white hominy
Water
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Cilantro
Fine chopped white onion
Lime wedge
Pinch of dried oregano

Fill Dutch oven half way with water. Throw in tripe, beef feet, and half the white onion cut up into medium pieces. Cover and boil for two hours.
Lower heat and add in the other half of the onion, can of hominy (drained), about a tablespoon dry oregano, and both types of dried chilis.
Cover and low boil for another hour or two.
During the last ten minutes of boiling add in the fresh minced garlic.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ideally it should be served many hours or the following day after it is made. It just tastes better that way. Sprinkle the garnish over each bowl, squeezing in lime or lemon and leaving the rind in the served bowl.