All About Chitterlings: The Staple Of Soul Food
- stedmon2
- May 1, 2022
- 4 min read
Soul food
Soul Food is the evolution of southern food from the great migration where it was used to bring African American communities together to bond and honor their southern roots. Soul food contains different type of main course dishes such as oxtail, fried chicken, pig feet and pig tail. But the most notable Soul food that many African American’s consider the staple of soul food is chitterlings.
Chitterlings: The Core of Soul Food
Chitterlings is a combination of organs and which organs that are used depends on the culture. For African Americans in the deep south, Chitterlings are pig intestines and are considered a southern delicacy. Chitterlings are typically bought and eaten during the holidays in African American households that look to have a traditional Soul Food dinner.
Origin of Chitterlings
Chitterlings were the scraps given from the slave masters after they took the more sought for pieces of meat such as the ribs, back and legs. The Tradition of cooking this dish was passed down orally since the enslaved did not have the educational background to read or write. Overtime the tradition of sharing soul food recipes were typically kept mostly due to the long cooking process that many of the dishes need.
How or where should I Get Them?
People usually buy their chitterlings from a trusted supermarket or butchery. Because the intestines are exposed to pig feces it is important to be familiar with the quality of chitterlings that is being purchased, thus it is best if bought from a local butcher. Even if the pre-cleaned ones are bought it is still important to clean them by taking off the hanging pieces of fat and washing them thoroughly.
What’s so good About chitterlings!?
Cooking this cultural delicacy during holidays brings the food life of the old south to your doorstep. The work that goes into making the dish along with the smell, fills the atmosphere of cooking in the deep south reminding us of the work that it took for African American to survive during slavery. The taste of chitterlings is unique since it heavily depends on which seasoning that are used. Chitterlings textures are like squid but more tender. When eating the dish you could also recognize a gamey flavor which brings you closer to the animal, providing you a natural experience.
Enjoy!
Chitterlings are best enjoyed topped off with hot sauce and a side of southern style candy yams, collard greens and butter milk biscuits. My traditional family recipe is shared below.
Southern style chitterlings Recipe
Ingredients
5 lb. Chitterlings
1 Onion
A bottle of Apple cider or Vinegar
4 strips of celery
Pepper to taste
Seasoning salt to taste
1 clove of minced garlic to taste
Hot Sauce to taste
Directions
1.Prepare Two Large bowls and take the chitterlings out of the package and place it in one of them
(Note: This next part should preferably be done near the sink)
2. Start cleaning the chitterlings by washing them thoroughly and taking off any hanging Pisces of fat while putting the cleaned ones in the new bowl.
3. Fill the Bow of chitterlings with Apple cider or vinegar, just enough to cover them.
4.After filling wait for about 20 to 30 minutes
5.Wash off the apple cider or vinegar and place them in a large boiling pot.
6. Fill the boiling pot with water, enough to cover the chitterlings and some more
7. Place in 1 cut onion and 3 celery sticks.
8. Set the stove to about 270 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and boil for 4 hours.
(Note: the boiling process is very important for disinfecting the chitterlings)
9.Place chitterlings in bowl and add seasoning salt, garlic, pepper, and or hot sauce to taste!
A video is posted below to help guide as a visual component to better understand the prep and cooking process
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Reflection:
For this version of the project I was split between doing a pod cast or a recipe blog. I chose the recipe blog because this would give me the flexibility to bring out the unexplored topic that people could be interested in learning more about . I picked chitterlings because it is widely known in the African American community for being the center of what soul food represents which is struggle and perseverance. At first I was confused on how I should tackle writing a recipe blog, but after observing my peers work and other examples of blogs I began to have a better understanding on how to develop my writing blog and make it engaging and informative. As an example a technique that I have observed was adding sub heading to the blog makes the writing easier to follow, along with presenting the content in a conversational manner. At the beginning of the recipe blog I am explaining the history of soul food and chitterlings which sets the stage to fill any back round information needed to understand what will be discussed. At the end I look to persuade my reader to eat chitterlings by showing how unique and important it is to experience . I was unable to get a video or picture of chitterlings that I personally made, thus I thought the best course of action was to get a video that would best represent the process and a picture that best fits the final dish.
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