No, I’m not kidding. I’m deadly serious :) . Most people in the US don’t eat chitlins or at least most of them won’t cop to it. I think maybe it’s because chitlins usually stink, include a part of the pig’s body that is used for digesting food and passing waste, they look gross, they have a funny texture, and they are almost completely fatty.

 

Having said that I love them when they are prepared properly but for health reasons don’t recommend anyone making a staple of them. Next week I’ll get back to my high brow meals with French sauces etc.

 

These bad babies have simple ingredients but tricky preparation. You must inspect them to make sure they are cleaned properly. They must be parboiled several times to reduce a great deal of fat from them then slow cooked until they have a tender consistency (if they are chewy, they are not done). Oh yeah, and they have to taste good. Nothing like bland intestines to ruin your day.

 

Ingredients:

16 oz bottle of red wine vinegar (I use Pompeian)

2 5lb bags of cleaned and Chitterlings (they will come frozen, you need them thawed)

Salt

6 tbsp black pepper

3 tbsp of ground or crushed red pepper (I use ground. My aunt, who’s a purist, uses crushed)

1 whole onion peeled

Water… lots of water.

 

Instructions

1. Fill a clean sink with clean cool water. Dump in the chitlins and inspect them for pockets of fat or any foreign material (ew, I know, but you can do it). Yes, you will notice your hands getting a greasy.

2. Remove rinsed chitlins to a 10 quart boiler

3. Cover chitlins with water (about six quarts).

4. Drop in whole onion.

5. Sprinkle in a heavy dose of salt. I leave this open based on what you consider a healthy dose. Rule of thumb, stop only after it occurs to you that you’ve put in too much salt. We will be getting rid of much of it later.

6. Sprinkle in 2 tbsp of black pepper.

7. Sprinkle in 1 tbsp of crushed or ground red pepper.

8. Pour in 1/4 of the bottle of red wine vinegar.

9. Place on largest eye on your stove.

10. Turn heat to hi and boil intensely for thirty minutes. This is like a parboil. Granted, the whole preparation is a boil, but the first two passes are to tenderize and flavor the meat.

11. At the end of thirty minutes, drain all the liquid off of the chitlins. Note, make sure to rinse drain with clean hot water after you do this. Because you are boiling so much fat into the water, if it cools in the drain, it will be similar to bacon grease and potentially cause a clog. Also, if you’ve ever cooked Chitlin’s before, you know that when they cool, fat make collect into a skin over the top of them. If you’ve done your diligence by draining the water and re-seasoning a couple of times, you will not have this problem because you will have discarded the fat.

12.  Add another six quarts of water, then repeat steps 5 through 11.

13. By this time, you should notice the chitlin’s shrinking. You’re going to end up with about half the mass you started with.

14. After the two parboils, you can either use a slow cooker or the same container over medium to low heat and covered to simmer the chitlin’s for another one and a half to two hours depending on how tender you want them to be. This time only use enough water to cover them well and remember to season them one last time with a reduction in the salt to about two tbsp.

15. Serve hot and drained. Add salt, pepper, or vinegar to taste.

 

I think this has to be the most dangerous recipe I have!

Recipe of the Week 05/10/2008:

Chitlins (Chitterlings)