Chitterlings

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title: "Chitterlings" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["soul-food", "cuisine-of-the-southern-united-states", "african-american-cuisine", "peasant-foods", "intestine-dishes", "american-pork-dishes"] description: "Food made from pigs' small intestines" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitterlings" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Food made from pigs' small intestines ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/ChitlinsSmall.jpg" caption="Chitterlings in broth"] ::

Chitterlings ( ), sometimes spelled chitlins or chittlins, are a food most commonly made from the small intestines of pigs, though beef, lamb, goose and goat are also used, especially by Black American Muslims.

They may be filled with a forcemeat to make sausage.

Etymology and early usage

Chitterling is first documented in Middle English in the form cheterling, . 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 calves', rather than the more usual pigs', 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.

Linguist Paul Anthony Jones has written, "in the late 1500s a chitterling was an ornate type of neck ruff, so called because its frilled edge looked like the folds of a slaughtered animal's entrails".

Preparation

Disease can be spread by chitterlings not cleaned properly and undercooked. Pathogens include Escherichia 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. They may then be turned inside out, cleaned and boiled, sometimes in baking soda or salt, and the water discarded.

Regional 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 also eaten in the southern United States.

Europe

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, Albania, and Bulgaria, lamb intestines are widely used. In Turkish cuisine, the intestines are often chopped and cooked with oregano, peppers, and other spices.

France

Tricandilles are a traditional dish in Gironde. They are made of pigs' 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.

Saucisson is a type of sausage, which traditionally uses chitterlings both as a packaging and as an ingredient.

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.

United Kingdom

Chitterlings were common peasant food in medieval England, and remained a staple of the diet of low-income families right up until the late nineteenth century and not uncommon into the mid-twentieth 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: ::quote 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): ::quote 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.

Haggis, made with sheep intestine, is still a common traditional food in Scotland.

Latin America and the Caribbean

People in the Caribbean and in 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), tripas or mondongo (Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), mondongo (Brazil, Peru, Panama), chunchullo, chinchurria or chunchurria (Colombia), chinchurria (Venezuela), tripa mishqui (Ecuador), tripe (Jamaica), and tripa (Mexico).

Jamaica

In Jamaica, chitterlings are usually prepared in a number of ways. Usually the intestines of a goat are used as part of the ingredients of Mannish water or goat belly soup. Sometimes goat head may be included and may simply be called goat head soup, even though most of the ingredients do not constitute goat head alone. The intestines of a cow are usually prepared as a stew in one of three ways. The most popular would be curried tripe and beans where the intestines are cooked down with butter beans and curry powder. A similar stew is also made with butter beans but without the curry powder. Less common is a stew that is prepared with red kidney beans instead of butter beans and with no curry powder. In this latter case the stew has a very dark red colour and usually has a thick consistency. In most cases, chitterlings are commonly eaten with white rice, though rice and peas may be preferred.

Mexico

In Mexico, tripas are very popular served as a guisado in tacos. They are cleaned, boiled, sliced, and then fried until crispy. They are often served with a spicy, tangy tomatillo-based salsa. In Guadalajara, along with the traditional preparation for tacos, they are often prepared as a dish, served with a specialized sauce in a bowl and accompanied by a stack of tortillas, additional complementary sauces, limes, and salt.

References

References

1. "Preparing Chitterlings for the Holidays". US Dept of Health & Human Services.
2. ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 1st edition, updated March 2021, [https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31959 ''s.v.'']
3. ''The Lady's Companion: or, An Infallible Guide to the Fair Sex'' (1743). T. Read, London, Digitized by Google Books [https://books.google.com/books?id=rV4DAAAAQAAJ]
4. (January 31, 1743). "The lady's companion: or, An infallible guide to the fair sex".
5. Glasse, Hannah. (January 31, 1784). "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: Which Far Exceeds Any Thing of the Kind Yet Published, Containing ... to which are Added, One Hundred and Fifty New and Useful Receipts, and Also Fifty Receipts for Different Articles of Perfumery, with a Copious Index". W. Strahan.
6. Jones, Paul Anthony. (2018). "Around the World in 80 Words: a journey through the English language". Elliott & Thompson.
7. (28 June 2022). "Inside the 'Chitlin Circuit,' a Jim Crow-Era Safe Space for Black Performers". Atlas Obscura.
8. "Kokorec Recipe". grouprecipes.com.
9. "Zarajo and other Spanish terms". Real Academia Española.
10. Sturt G, William Smith, Potter and Farmer 1790-1858
11. (25 October 2015). "The Wurzels—Chitterling". [[YouTube]].
12. "Chinchulín, chunchules, and other Spanish terms". Real Academia Española.
13. Carlisle, John. (8 March 2019). "How a Detroit couple founded a chitlin-cleaning empire". Detroit Free Press.
14. (2007). "The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture". University of North Carolina Press.
15. Trescott.
16. The Hill Newspaper 2-28-07
17. Shepherd, Gracie. (29 November 2009). "Chitlin' Strut showcase Southern delicacy". Augusta Chronicle.

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