My dad felt the same way about chicken. Hated it.
Out of curiosity, how much does a frozen package of chitlins cost?
Shivver making. I had a friend, once, who claimed to have eaten canned haggis. He said it tasted sort of like canned corned beef hash. But still. Canned haggis - frozen chitlins - shivver.
Aren’t pig intestines supposed to be used to make sausages?
The only way I’m eating a Chitlin, is if it’s stuffed with the meat and fat of the pig it came from (or a sutable replacement) and has some herbs & spices mixed into said pig. Grill on the BBQ for a bit until brown and drippy, and I’m eating like a king!
I guess if you consider the past 40 years of American culinary history to be a fad then, sure, we’re in the midst of a “foodie fad”.
Chitlins are a classic example of “soul food” – stuff slaves learned to eat because it was what the masters gave them, such as cornbread, greens, and the bits of pig the white people didn’t want. In many cases African-American cooks learned to make the stuff palatable, even delicious. Chitlins appear to be an exception.
Has anybody ever had tripe? How does it compare to chitlins? (I’ve never eaten either.)
The outermost layer, scraped clean, is used to make the sausage casing. Chitlins appear to include the layer of tissue inside that layer, through which the digested food is absorbed into the blood. (Ever dissect a frog? The intestines as you find them are not paper-thin and transparent, like a sausage casing.)
I’ve eaten tripe more times than I can count - I lived in South America for a couple of years, and here in the US I will eat menudo or tacos de tripa from time to time.
Tripe, properly cleaned, has very little taste of its own; it picks up the taste of the broth (menudo) or sauce (tacos) it’s cooked in. It has a texture very unlike most muscle or organ meats. It’s an almost cartilaginous crunch, but without the cartilage toughness - unlike cartilage, tripe actually breaks into swallowable pieces as you continue to chew it.
It ain’t finely marbled ribeye, but it’s very edible and can even be tasty.
I’ve had and prepared both. I definitely prefer tripe to chitterlings, but I don’t have a problem eating chitterlings. It’s just that they stink up the house much more than tripe, and their texture isn’t quite as pleasant. Tripe has a much more delicate, noodle-y texture than chitterlings. However, when tripe is prepared badly, it’s bad. Like chitterlings, tripe has to be cleaned out thoroughly before cooking. I’ve prepared it the Polish way (where they’re called flaki) and that takes several hours and several boils in order to wash out the stronger flavors. I’ve also eaten (but never made) Hungarian (pacal), Romanian, and Mexican (menudo) preparations of the dish, and they’re all somewhat similar. My favorite would probably be menudo.
I’ve had it in pho and menudo and it’s a little rubbery and chewy. If you’re unaware of what it is, you’d mistake it for really fatty pieces of beef.
Heh. Ironically (considering I’m Vietnamese), pho is the one dish I will not abide tripe in. 
Thanks for the education in unsubstantiated American racial mythology. Any real cites for this? Otherwise it’s best to disregard this as typical post Civil Rights era academic BS.
Why? Because the tradition of so-called “soul food” is paralleled exactly the world over, so there’s no reason to believe our (American) traditional rural cuisine is the result of our unique history. Haven’t you noticed the other international dishes featuring animal intestines? The countryside economics that drive people to make classic dishes out of simple fare is a cultural constant. The entire South’s population wasn’t characterized entirely by white plantation owners and their slaves. What do you think the rest of the white rural population ate?
The only reason southern American rural cuisine is associated with black people now is because they became the most visible members of the Southern diaspora when they pioneered the migration to the industrial centers in northern cities in the early 20th century (The Great Migration). The post Civil Rights era effort to invent the idea of a separate (and sacred) black culture cemented that perception by calling the tradition “soul food”.
Well, yes, 40 years isn’t that long, even for a young country like ours. We have an even older tradition of a more pathological (or at least apathetic) attitude towards food.
Various and sundry Black acquaintances I have spoken with. Perhaps they were whoosing me. 
Perhaps not…black people aren’t immune from having misconceptions about their own culture, not anymore than any other ethnic group is.
My vocabulary fails me.
I love lots of peasant food.
The French do the cassoulet thing which is very nice.
The Brazilian offering (the name of which I forget) with all the little meats on the bone immersed in beans and sauce, served in a big soup bowl.
Southern-foodwise, nothing beats cracklin’ cornbread crumbled up in a bowl with fresh (not no-fat) buttermilk poured over it. And salt-cured smoked ham is to die for. (Eat your heart out, Boar’s Head). Not to mention yellow summer squash boiled and then baked in a cast iron skillet with flour and bacon grease until the edges blacken, and served with watermelon rind pickles with cloves in 'em.
I’m no snob.
Chitlins suck. They really do.
Ok - I’m no fan. I’m just saying “poor folks food” is just the wrong way to describe it. It’s not like the government is distributing surplus hog intestines to welfare recipients, or the entire chitterlings market is held aloft by food stamps. They’re a traditional dish that’s genuinely enjoyed by people - not a last resort for people who just can’t afford muscle meats.
Edit: mustard greens are delicious. Turnip greens, and kale, also. Best cooked in the pressure cooker with a fatty chunk of fresh ham, but bacon grease will do.
Fried green tomatoes is not just the name of a movie. Slice 'em skinny, roll in corn meal, fry 'em hot.
Rutabagas <yum> .
Boiled young peanuts.
Chewing cane, when was the last time you sat down with a tub full of fresh stalks?
Chicken brains in your eggs, with some of those skinny green way-hot peppers sliced up in 'em.
Peanuts, the salted kind roasted out of the Planters or Tom’s package, do add nicely to your RC or Coke.
Pickled peaches. (Or peached pickles as my Dad insists on calling 'em).
I dearly loves me some soulfood, and I can cook it pretty decent myself.
I’m telling you, chitlins just plain old suck. People eat that only when that’s ALL they got. And they aren’t worth getting nostalgic and sentimental over. You can’t make 'em taste good. Eating chitlins is like eating a damn mudfish. Black, white or indian, you gotta be DAMN poor and way close to starving to eat that kind of stuff. It ain’t fit for human consumption.
I’m assuming you’re being tongue-in-cheek, but they were a part of the spread at the last Thanksgiving I attended (and no we’re nowhere near poor). Most people balked, but there were a couple of fans who partook despite the plenty of other more popular choices.
:rolleyes: You want a cite that soul food derives from slave food?
Stuff with a lot in common with soul food (and for similar economic reasons), but not quite the same. My Mom’s family were Florida crackers. From what she told me, they habitually ate greens, cornbread, and some stuff I couldn’t believe existed (milk and clabber?!), but never chitlins or pickled pig’s feet. (Actually, living Hillsborough County, Florida, they also ate a lot of Cuban-derived dishes.)