BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 190: Eat chitterlings

My partially-consumed sample of chitterlings.

Simply put, chitterlings (or as it's often pronounced “chittlins”) are the cooked small intestines of a pig, and if you’ve never eaten any, don’t knock them until you’ve tried them. Considered a delicacy among Southern folks who like “soul food,” chitterlings can be eaten in a variety of ways. They can be boiled, baked or even fried depending on the tastes of the cook.

I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what “chittlins” were, and during the years that I worked in a meat market I handled my fair share of chitterlings. More often than not, the chitterlings I handled came in large, plastic buckets, and I never really had to put my hands on them. I’d always been curious about how they tasted, and that's why I added them to my “bucket list” several years ago.

When it comes to chitterlings, most people either love or hate the idea of eating them. The most common complaint has to do with how they smell while cooking. Most folks who don't like the idea of eating chitterlings also have a hard time of getting over the image of a living pig’s waste products moving through the intestines on its way to the floor of the hog pen. For this reason, to help the taste and smell, chitterlings are often served with ketchup or hot sauce.

A month or so ago, my colleague at the Evergreen radio station, Mallory Riley, promised to bring me some chitterlings to try during the holidays. She came through for me on Friday morning with a special serving of chitterlings, and I actually ate them live for breakfast on the radio. (I really appreciate Mallory helping me scratch this item off my bucket list.)

After heating the chitterlings in the microwave for a few minutes, I dug in with a plastic fork. The chitterlings tasted and smelled unlike anything I’d ever eaten before. That’s not to say that it was bad, just different. I’m sure chitterlings, like a lot of things, are an acquired taste, somewhat like the taste of beer to someone who’s never had a sip.

Mallory explained that the serving of chitterlings she brought me had first been boiled then baked. Earlier, she told me that some members of her family enjoy eating them with Cole slaw. Another friend of mine, Quentin Simpson, once posted a picture on Facebook of a chitterling meal he was eating, and he had all sorts of stuff mixed in with his.

I have to admit that chitterlings are one of the more unusual things I’ve ever eaten, and I can say without a doubt that they taste better than pickled pig’s feet. Next time, I eat chitterlings I plan to dose them up with a healthy helping of either ketchup or hot sauce. The thought never crossed my mind on Friday morning, but I suspect ketchup or hot sauce would improve the taste.

In the end, how many of you have eaten chitterlings? What did you think about them? Did you like them or not? What other unusual foods would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.