Chitterlings

Etymology and early usage

Chitterling is first documented in Middle English by the Oxford English Dictionary, in the form cheterling, c1400. Various other spellings and dialect forms were used. The primary form and derivation are uncertain.

A 1743 English cookery book The Lady's Companion: or, An Infallible Guide to the Fair Sex contained a recipe for "Calf's Chitterlings" which was essentially a bacon and offal sausage in a calf's intestine casing. The recipe explained the use of calf's, rather than the more usual pig's, intestines with the comment that "[these] sort of ... puddings must be made in summer, when hogs are seldom killed". This recipe was repeated by the English cookery writer Hannah Glasse in her 1784 cookery book Art of Cookery.

Distribution, different traditions

As pigs are a common source of meat in many parts of the world, the dish known as chitterlings can be found in most pork-eating cultures. Chitterlings made from pig intestines are popular in many parts of Europe, and are still eaten in the southern U.S.

UK

Chitterlings were common peasant food in medieval England, and remained a staple of the diet of low-income families right up until the late 19th century. Thomas Hardy wrote of chitterlings in his novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, when the father of a poor family, John Durbeyfield, talks of what he would like to eat:

Tell 'em at home that I should like for supper, – well, lamb's fry if they can get it; and if they can't, black-pot; and if they can't get that, well, chitterlings will do.

it illustrates that chitterlings were the poorest choice of poor food.

George Sturt, writing in 1919 details the food eaten by his farming family in Farnborough when he was a child (probably around 1830):

During the winter they had chance to weary of almost every form and kind of pig-meat: hog's puddings, gammons, chitterlings, souse, salted spareribs -they knew all the varieties and welcomed any change. Mutton they almost never tasted:but sometimes they had a calf's head; sometimes even, though less often, a joint of veal.

Chitterlings are the subject of a song by 1970s Scrumpy and Western comedy folk band, The Wurzels, who come from the southwest of England.

Chitterlings are rarely eaten in the UK in the present day.

The Balkans, Greece, and Turkey

Kokoretsi, kukurec, or kokoreç, are usually prepared and stuffed, then grilled on a spit. In several countries such as Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, lamb intestines are widely used. In Turkish cuisine, the intestines are often chopped and cooked with oregano, peppers, and other spices.

Spain

Gallinejas are a traditional dish in Madrid. The dish consists of sheep's small intestines, spleen, and pancreas, fried in their own fat in such a manner that they form small spirals. The dish is served hot, often with French fries. Few establishments today serve gallinejas, as this is considered to be more of a speciality than a common dish. It is most commonly served during festivals.

Zarajo: A traditional dish from Cuenca is zarajo, braided sheep's intestines rolled on a vine branch and usually broiled, but also sometimes fried, and sometimes smoked, usually served hot as an appetizer or tapa. A similar dish from La Rioja is embuchados, and from the province of Aragon, madejas, all made with sheep's intestines and served as tapas.

France

Tricandilles are a traditional dish in Gironde. They are made of pig's small intestines, boiled in bouillon, then grilled on a fire of grapevine cane. This is considered an expensive delicacy.

Andouillette is a type of sausage, found especially in Troyes, which is made predominantly of pig chitterlings.

Andouille is another kind of French chitterlings sausage found especially in Brittany and Normandy.

Latin America

People in the Caribbean and Latin America eat chitterlings. Chinchulín (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) or chunchule (in Chile) (from the Quechua ch'unchul, meaning "intestine") is the cow's small intestine used as a foodstuff. Other name variations from country to country are caldo avá (Paraguay), choncholi (Peru), chunchullo, chinchurria or chunchurria (Colombia), chinchurria (Venezuela), tripa mishqui (Ecuador) and tripa (Mexico).

See also

Asia

Chitterlings are also eaten as a dish in many East Asian cuisines.

China

Both large and small intestine (typically pig) is eaten throughout China. Large intestine is called feichang, literally "fat intestine" because it is fatty. Small intestine is called zhufenchang, literally "pig powder intestine" because it contains a white, pasty or powdery substance. The character "zhu" or "pig" is added at the beginning to disambiguate. This is because, in Cantonese cuisine, there is a dish called chang fen which uses intestine-shaped noodles.

Large intestine is typically chopped into rings and has a stronger odor than small intestine. It is added to stir-fry dishes and soups. It is also slow-cooked or boiled and served as a standalone dish. It releases oil that may be visible in the dish. Small intestine is normally chopped into tubes and may be simply boiled and served with a dipping sauce. Preparation techniques and serving presentations for both small and large intestine vary greatly within the country.

Japan

In Okinawa and Japan, they are considered a delicacy and are called "nakami" and are often sold on street vendor push carts, on skewers and consumed with a bottle of sweet sloe gin. Well informed cooks disperse the potent aroma with white bread or a slice of potato on the rim of the cooking pot to keep their neighbors from just dropping in for a meal.

Korea

In Korea, chitterlings (Gop-Chang) are grilled or used for stews (Jun-Gol) in Korea. When they are grilled, they are often accompanied by various seasonings and lettuce leaves (to wrap). Stew is cooked with various vegetables and seasonings.

Philippines

In the Philippines, pig intestines (Filipino: bituka ng baboy) are used in dishes such as dinuguan (pig blood stew). Grilled intestines are known as isaw and eaten as street food. Chicken intestines (isaw ng manok, compared to isaw ng baboy) are also used. Pig intestines are also prepared in a similar manner to pork rinds, known locally as chicharon. Two distinct types of these are called chicharon bituka and chicharon bulaklak, differing in the part of the intestine used.

United States

In the United States, chitterlings are part of the African American and Southern culinary tradition commonly called "soul food."

Chitterlings are carefully cleaned and rinsed several times before they are boiled or stewed for several hours. A common practice is to place a halved onion in the pot to mitigate what many regard as a very unpleasant odor that can be particularly strong when the chitterlings begin to cook. Chitterlings sometimes are battered and fried after the stewing process and commonly are served with apple cider vinegar and hot sauce as condiments.

In colonial times, hogs were slaughtered in December. When slavery was practiced in America, slave owners commonly fed their slaves as cheaply as possible. At hog butchering time, the best cuts of meat were kept for the master's household and the remainder, such as fatback, snouts, ears, neck bones, feet, and intestines, were given to the slaves.

In 2003, the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture accepted the papers of Shauna Anderson and her business, The Chitlin Market, as part of its emerging collection of materials about African American celebrations, foods and foodways.

In 1991, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble released a song, "Chitlins Con Carne", a cover of a song by Kenny Burrell, on The Sky Is Crying.

Safety

Disease can be spread by chitterlings not cleaned properly and undercooked. Pathogens include E. coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, and Salmonella. Chitterlings are often soaked and rinsed thoroughly in several different cycles of cool water, and repeatedly picked clean by hand, removing extra fat, undigested food, and specks of feces. They may then be turned inside out, cleaned and boiled, sometimes in baking soda and/or salt, and the water discarded.