Chitlins

[NulloModo]

I have recently started big frozen blocks of Chitlins for sale at Safeway. This has me wondering how these things taste. I realize they are popular in hardcore soul food, but I have never had them, not seen them on a menu anywhere. I googled around a bit and read several different recipes, some stewed, some fried, some both. General consensus seems to be that they need to be boiled for several hours in a couple changes of vinegar-water to tenderize and clean them, but from there it diverges.

I am sure someone here has prepared Chitlins before, and knows the secret tips and tricks to make them the best they can be. So, if you know a wonderful method, please share. Also, if you can clue me in as to how these might taste when finished... that might be cool too.

[jackal10]

Chitlins are guts - what the French make into andouillette. I think they are delicious. A local butcher sells them cleaned and cooked (boiled).

They sell quickly when he has them, although the fatty, earthy flavour is maybe a acquired taste.

You shallow fry them until crisp and brown on the outside, then dress with pepper, salt, maybe some chopped parsley and a splash of vinegar. Or make a warm salad - fry with some bacon, deglaze with vinagrette and pour hot over baby spinach so it wilts some.

Florence White, in "Good things in England" gives an old Suffolk recipe for a chitterling turnover, with chtterlings, apples and raisins in a suet pastry case.

Of course you can always stuff them into a sausage skin and make andouillettes.

[NulloModo]

Hmm, well I like certain organ meats I have tried. I love liver and kidney meat, althtough I wasn't too wild about tripe, but that could've just been my preparation. Are Chitlins or organy or tripey?

[Adam Balic]

Texture wise they are out on their own, but flavour wise they are more similar to tripe (depending on how they are prepared).

An old word for chitlins (especially from a deer) was "umble". A variation on this was "humble", so if you wanted you could make "humble pie".

[Gastro888]

Make sure you clean them WELL before cooking. Even though the package may say "cleaned" or "dressed", scrape the inside of those chitlins clean and "wash" them with salt and water several times.

[therese]

Some recommendations re the prep of chitterlings as per the Georgia Division of Public Health. Basically, boil them for five minutes before you attempt any sort of cleaning or prep. And you will want to clean them well after the first boil as well.

Also, be aware that the smell of chitterlings cooking can be, um, pronounced. So lots of people do it outside if they can. If you live in an apartment or condo it could definitely be an issue. Of course, if you really hate your neighbors...

[NulloModo]

Hmmm, well, actually, I do live in an apartment... but I have cooked lots of potent smelling things in the past and never had a complaint, the walls are thick, no one shares ventilation systems, and I have never been able to smell anything I was cooking,or anyone else has been cooking, from outside of the door.

However, ummm, what exactly do they smell like?

[therese]

However, ummm, what exactly do they smell like?

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I've only ever smelled them cooking once, and I've never prepared them myself. The one time I smelled them I remember thinking "well, I don't see cooking these at home". As to exactly what they smelled like I guess I'd just say that they smelled like cooking intestines. By way of reference, I do like all sorts of liver and sweetbreads, but don't like kidneys because they smell like pee to me.

Chitterlings are considered an acquired taste even among people who grew up with them. Two of my college roommates, one from Norfolk, VA and one from Philadelphia, PA had both grown up around chitterlings and neither one liked them. One of them (the one whose mother prepared them the only time I tried them---they'd been deep-fried, and were reminiscent of chewy pork rinds) got positively faint at the smell of them boiling, though she did make an effort to at least taste the finished product.

[pogophiles]

However, ummm, what exactly do they smell like?

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Like the smell of cooking cabbage raised to the power of 20...

Unless you have extremely good ventilation, I would not consider cooking these in an apartment. And I would definitely encourage that you fry rather than stew them.

[Gastro888]

Interesting! Boil them for 5 minutes and then clean? Hmm. I wonder if that affects the taste of the final product. In Cantonese cuisine, a favorite dish of mine is to take the chitterlings and deep fry them after a good cleaning. (Usually about 3 days worth of work!) They're served with a side of sweet and sour sauce to dip in. My mom laughed when I asked her if there was a way to tell if chitterlings weren't cleaned well. She just said that it wasn't polite dinner conversation and that I would know if they weren't!

The smell? Well, I went to my friend's dad's house and he made soul food chitterlings and it smells like...slightly...eau de toliet? He boiled his, so maybe that's why they had more of an odor. They were boiled with hot chile and vinegar. Oh, they were good. FYI, I was informed by my friend that chittlerlings prepared and eaten that way are good for, um, "detoxing". I guess what goes around comes around! (sorry!!!)

[chefzadi]

Spicy soup. The Koreans make a spicy soup out of them. They also grill it. So now the question is what's smells stronger plain old chitlins boiling or a pungent Korean soup? :-)

[Gastro888]

Chitlins!!!!!! Hands down. Actually, I'd do a durian v. chitlins smell instead. =)

[Mayhaw Man]

Audrey Petty, a brilliant and very funny speaker, gave a great talk on the meaning of chitlins and how they were handled in her family, the transcripts are not yet available, but I will link as soon as I get one. It was one of the best talks at this years Southern Foodways Alliance Conference.

The upshot of the cooking description was dead on accurate-you can do anything, add anything, try to mask with anything, but no matter what-they are still going to smell like chitlins when you cook them.

She also had great descriptions of the cleaning and slinging process. It was really a brilliant bit of speaking.

[NulloModo]

Hmmm, chewy pork rinds sound really good, so I might try boiling these for several hours to soften them, then deep frying them. Perhaps I will pan-fry some with onions and peppers just to have a comparison.

[pogophiles]

She also had great descriptions of the cleaning and slinging process. It was really a brilliant bit of speaking.

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From an old Jerry Clower routine: "I can prepare chitlins either way: stump-whipped or creek-slung..."

[ludja]

A good friend who grew up in East Texas made these--stewed, Southern-style--over the holidays with two of her visiting aunts and saved some for me and another curious friend to try after New Years.

They are a *special* taste--but I did enjoy them especially with the sides of cornbread, sweet potatoes and collard greens. We also garnished the chitterlings with Crystal hot sauce and cider vinegar and this made them taste a bit like very savory NC bbq.

Can anyone set me straight on how or if chitterlings/chitlins differ from tripe? They tasted different than stewed tripe I had in France but that may have been due primarily to the vinegar and hot sauce and side dishes.

Did you end up giving them a try, NulloModo?

[jackal10]

Chitlins is intestine. Tripe is stomach, especially from ruminent animals like beef.

[jsolomon]

From an old Jerry Clower routine:  "I can prepare chitlins either way: stump-whipped or creek-slung..."

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Thanks, now I'm cleaning spewed coffee off of my keyboard!!!!! ROFLMHAO

[OnigiriFB]

MMmmm chitlins... I loves me sum chitlins. Nullo man you need be inviting this girl over for dinna.

I've had chitlins prepared asian style and southern style. Both are delicious. The only thing I remember about cleaning this is that the dishwasher (peon in the kitchen of a thai restaurant that made these for a special day) had to do the cleaning and he pushed a chopstick through them to make sure there were... er..no remnants. Oh and he was doing this in a sink under running water. Hope that helps.