By Garland Pollard
It is time for food for the New Year. One such staple of the holidays in the South are chitterlings, or chitlins.
Growing up, of the animal parts, I would eat souse and scrapple, though never chitterlings. Souse is, of course, a head cheese made of the brains of a pig. It is eaten as a cold cut, and is in a sort of jelly, from the natural gelatin in the meat, I think, though I am sure they had to add more. I believe that some of the packaged sandwich meat brands sold souse as part of their product line. It is now totally out of fashion and I wonder if any brands still sell it. As I child, I could stomach it but that was about it. Scrapple (pork brains), however, is a different story. Prepared well, it can be tasty, though the idea of it will kill the taste for most.
In the South, chitterlings (or chitlins) were eaten by the servants, as they were given all the offal. With the new awareness of soul food, suddenly these brands are becoming favored regional traditions, sort of a delicacy. Chitterlings (pronounced chitlins) are still popular, though do not appear on many restaurant menus. Nevertheless, there are strong brands, each having a following in different parts of the U.S. Note: they must be cleaned and officials recommend that they be boiled, so as to prevent dangerous bacterial contamination. They are, after all, a pig’s intestine.
Here, our survey of America’s top chitterling brands.
- Uncle Lou’s Super-Clean Chitlins are from Cincinnati, Ohio. The brand dates from 1887, and come from a non-Southern perspective. Says the website, “As chitlin users know, preparing chitlins has always been a very long and tedious process. Typical chitlins take a very long time to clean and end up with very little usable product. “Uncle Lou” created a chitlin that takes very little time to prepare and cook.”
- Chicago’s Moo & Oink sells chitterlings, all hand cleaned, which seems to be a new culinary standard. They sell them in pails, including five and ten pounders. A 4.5 pounder has all fat and membrane removed. Their they say that “Everybody has a favorite chitlin recipe. Some like them boiled, others fried — but everyone likes chitlins from Moo & Oink.”
- Shauna’s is a true African-American brand of Chitterlings. Her Shauna’s Hand Cleaned Chitterlings are sold nationwide, but based in Maryland.
- Smithfield’s food service division still sells chitterlings. We seem to remember that Armour and Gwaltney used to sell them in white pails, but have not seen them lately.
- Queenella: We found them recently at Sav-a-Lot on Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota.
Tomorrow: The history of Rapa Scrapple of Delaware.
Below, Kings, found on Amazon.
35 responses so far ↓
1 Shayla // Dec 31, 2009 at 7:58 am
Thanks for posting this! For the past few days I’ve been trying to find which precleaned chitterlings are best, cause this will be my 1st time cooking them for the family. Glad I found this!
2 Garland // Jul 19, 2010 at 3:54 pm
lot of folks are having a hard time finding these brands….suggest calling up your local grocery store manager
3 Esther Sawyer // Nov 1, 2010 at 10:40 am
I started buying Aunt Bessie’s Chitterlings (frozen in bag) when I lived in South Carolina. They are ABSOLUTELY clean and not bleached! All you do is rinse well and cook. It looks like the whole intestine is left intact in about 6-10 inch pieces. You need to rinse under running water and then turn inside out and do the same. I have never had to do anymore than that. The problem is you can usually only find them at IGAs in the south and some KMART Superstores (if you can find one) in the North.
Queenella brand is bleached and therefore flavorless, once you thrown away a good portion of them. Uncle Lou’s also have to be cleaned and both of these brands are torn up in pieces.
Any suggestions as to how I go about convincing the meat counter managers at IGA stores, here in Ohio, to order Aunt Bessie’s? I am certain that once anyone that loves chitterlings, but hates to clean them, will never buy anything else. I would like to stop having to take 2 coolers to South Carolina with me, when I go.
4 Van // Nov 9, 2010 at 6:38 pm
I bought some queenella pork chitterlings,and they were’nt not clean at all. It look like chitterlings in the pail.
5 love // Nov 23, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I brought your Queenella chitterlings (lot 0091)they are suppose to be premium triple cleaned,Ready to cook,they were not even clean and I spend all that money for them .I could had just brought a pail of chitterling.
6 Garland Pollard // Dec 1, 2010 at 11:39 am
a reader is looking for chitterlings in Rockford, Illinois, and in particular longer ones. Any help a reader could provide would be great.
7 Joette Wells // Dec 5, 2010 at 12:03 am
Gueenella chitterlings are the worse things on the market today. To promote those chitterlings as clean is just too disgusting for words. I will never buy any thing else from that company.
8 lorraine adams // Dec 15, 2010 at 9:56 am
I was very disappointed with the chitterlings i purchase, they were very dirty.
9 Sondra // Dec 19, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Queenella chitterlings were the dirtiest I have ever seen. If some one threw them into a pot and cooked them they would probably have food posion. I am reporting them to the board of health. How dare they say they are clean!
10 lorraine adams // Dec 20, 2010 at 8:12 am
queenella are very dirty .
11 J. Wyatt // Dec 21, 2010 at 8:13 pm
I was never so disappointed in the preclean Queenella Chitterlings. They are not by no means ready to rinse and cook. I bought 5 bags and they were no different from the regular ones. One bag I believe was mixed up with the throw away, because most of the bag was the testicles and waste. In this one bag I found ONE usable chitterling. However all of the other bags had plenty testicles in them. I am very disappointed.
12 LaVann Adams // Dec 25, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I was so disappointed in my preclean Chittterling.There was no way I could have wash and cooked them.I will never buy Queenella Chitterling again.
13 brownie // Dec 30, 2010 at 9:02 am
aunt bessie’s the best ever
14 Esther Sawyer // Dec 30, 2010 at 2:28 pm
You can now purchase Aunt Bessie’s Chitterlings in Dayton OH at Food for Less on East Third St. Is anyone aware of another place in Dayton that has Aunt Bessie’s?
15 kym choice // Feb 1, 2011 at 11:26 am
all chitterlings have to be clean either way so there’s nothing going to stop me from eating queenella chiterlings as long as i have water. the only chitterlings i refuse to eat ,are the ones that’s already cooked,those are the ones that’s not clean that’s nasty
16 kym choice // Feb 1, 2011 at 11:30 am
the frozen chitterlings that’s sold in the little buckets heat and serve. Now that’s who need to be sued. they did not clean any of that bucket of mess
17 AUNT JAMIAMA // Nov 10, 2011 at 9:02 am
QUEENELLA CHITTLINS ARE VERY CLEAN, I BOUT SOME AND LOVED THEM! STOP HATIN ON ELLA
18 Sallie // Nov 15, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Sorry Aunt Jamiama but I just bought Queenella’s chittlins and they are nasty , will not ever buy them again . Just try Aunt Bessie’s and see which ones are cleaner. I am not a hater.
19 Betty R // Nov 21, 2011 at 7:48 am
Queenella chittlins are the WORST. Triple cleaned, just rinse and cook! BULL. They were nastier than the ones in the bucket. Once I cleaned them properly, I had a mouthful left. DO NOT buy this product. It is a waste of good money.
20 annomous // Nov 22, 2011 at 8:38 pm
WORST CITTERLINGS EVER
21 Ruth // Nov 23, 2011 at 10:59 am
I purchased four bags of your Queenella Tripple Clean Chitterlings. Three of the four bags were not clean and of the three, I had to clean two bags as if they came out of the diy buckets. Each bag had LOT 0016 on it.
I paid $6.99 each plus tax and I think it is unfair that the product was not representative of it’s label.
Please see that this message gets to management.
You Need to Know This,
22 Food Critic 1 // Nov 23, 2011 at 11:30 am
I contacted the corporate office today. I am a consumer of Queenella brand chitterlings. I purchased 6 packs yesterday from Walmart in Atlanta, GA. The packaging is blatantly and falsely advertising rinse, cook and eat in a 5lb bag. However, I have several issues with those statements: – The chitterlings are not cook and eat ready. Had I just rinsed, cooked and ate like the packing states my entire family would have been rushed to the emergency room. These chitterlings are filthy, with all types of waste in the packaging. – The package also states 5lbs which is also blatantly and falsely advertised. The contents of the package weighed in at little under 3.25lbs and another package was just under 3lbs
Moo & Oink clean chitterlings like I would they contain no waste, hair, fat, membranes or anything but clean chitterlings. They are just expensive. But it’s worth it. Too bad they are not in Atlanta.
23 Darlene // Dec 10, 2011 at 2:33 pm
The best pre-clean chitterlings you can purchase is Uncle Lou’s. They have the cleaniest chitterlings, but you still have to go over them,but it does not take long.
24 MSB58 // Dec 12, 2011 at 5:57 pm
I PURCHASED IBP BRAND CHITTERLINGS IN THE RED BUCKET FROM SAVE A LOT. HORRIBLE I MEAN HORRIBLE. JUST NASTY. SO NASTY THAT I HAD TO THROW THEM OUT. I GUESS I’LL GO BACK TO QUEENELLA.
25 Vaddas Rosella D Meadows // Dec 13, 2011 at 3:01 pm
I bought a 10 LB bucket of Smithfields from Kroger there was more waste than usable meat.
The bucket says 10LBS by the time you unthaw you have a bucket full of water and about 7LBS of product then once you clean them you might get 3 to 4LBS This is not worth the price. I got them on sale for $8:00 I should have bought a different brand at regular price.
26 Bronzeville Sugar // Dec 18, 2011 at 10:40 pm
I bought the Aunt Bessie Chitterlings and still had to clean them. They don’t take the membrane off of them. I didn’t mind doing it though but it did result in less chitterlings.
I have also purchased the Moo & Oink chitterlings and look forward to seeing how they look.
I’ve also heard that the Uncle Lou’s are not that clean as well.
Thanks for the heads up on the Queenella chitterlings.
The Moo & Oink Chitterlings were on sale for the 4.5 lb. pail. They’re thawing so I’ll report back.
27 Ne ne // Dec 20, 2011 at 6:01 pm
Queen. Chitterlings are the worse. I dont eat them but my great great aunt use to slaughter her own hogs. So I knpw about the water hose and everything. queen chitterlings should not false advertise that they are triple cleaned. I cleaned 2 bags for husband and his dad and when he came in he said ” why you didnt buy more than one” I tole him I did over half the chitterlings were waste.
28 BreeNee // Dec 21, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I usually buy ‘Aunt Bessie’s’ super clean’ chitterlings to clean & cook for my family around the Holiday Season. THEY ARE THE BEST!! Very, Very Little crap on them and are quite tasty, to boot.
This year, however, I took a chance and bought ‘Uncle Lou’s’ super-clean chitterling – (the store I went to didnt have “Aunt Bessie). Now, I KNOW that we (the consumer) have to go over & clean even the cleaniest of chiterlings before cooking them, just to be sure, and I expect some of them to be in need of additional cleaning. But Uncle Lou’s brand of Super Clean chitterlings (I purchased 15 lbs @ $5.99 per 5 lb pack) are THE worst I’ve EVER seen in my 45 yrs of life!!
These are ridiculous!! They are LOADED with crap on each side of every strand I pick up to inspect and clean!! Then to top it off, I recieved TWO rectums AND a penis in One of the bags (No Joke)!! I am SO disgusted right now!! UNCLE LOU’S BRAND OF CHITTERLINGS ARE NO WHERE NEAR CLEAN, LET ALONE, SUPER CLEAN!!!
I don’t normally complain on blogs or websites, but I’ve been cleaning these for FIVE hours straight, and I’m nowhere close to being finished. These are utterly atrocious!!! Needless to say, this is the LAST time I purchase ANY of ‘U.L’s’ products and I will be telling ALL of my family and friends about this experience and admantly ask them NOT to but Uncle Lou’s Super-Clean Chitterlings!! ‘ Super – Clean’ …. what a joke!!
29 Minnie Taylor // Dec 21, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I can DITTO what Betty R. and others said above about Queenella Chitterlings!!! This MESS is GOSH AWFUL, and cost more because they are SUPPOSED to be clean. “Rinse, cook, and eat” is a huge joke!!! Don’t do it folk, and whatever you do, NEVER cook chitlins frozen. The four bags that I have in my sink right now are DISGUSTING. If you want rather clean chitlins folk, DON’T BUY QUEENELLA!!! I repeat, DON’T BUY QUEENELLA!!!
30 IceCake // Dec 21, 2011 at 7:51 pm
What IDIOT put this article together???, they must have not done their research!!!! Aunt Bessie’s is the BEST and the CLEANEST brand of chitterlings that you can ever buy in a bag, and deserve to be in that #1 spot, in fact, it should be the only one talked about in this article because to others don’t even come close in comparison.
I used to clean chitterlings by the bucket, before bag chitterlings came along. Over the years, I tested different brands of bagged chitterlings, and discovered that Aunt Bessie’s are TRULY the cleanest, the company stands by what they advertise on the bag……..”Just Rinse and Cook”.
Don’t be fooled by the mis-information of this article, and to think that the article writer did NOT even give one mention of Aunt Bessie’s brand is an ABSOLUTE joke, as well as showing his/her lack of knowledge.
Try Aunt Bessie’s once, and you’ll happily never go back to those other GARBAGE brands!!!!
31 Inscent // Dec 22, 2011 at 11:16 am
I can’t believe that Aunt Bessie’s brand of chitterlings did not make this list, it should have been at the number 1 spot because they have the cleanest to ever be packaged in a bag. What they advertise is what you get, “Just Rinse and Cook”, true words indeed!!
Now, I’ve tried several brands of bagged chitterlings before, and they all fail in the area of cleanliness, the exception, however, is Aunt Bessie’s.
Try them once, and you’ll never want any of the others listed above.
32 Ruby Red // Dec 23, 2011 at 1:12 am
Uncle Lou’s chitlins are awful. I likewise just spent over five hours on three bags and they were so filthy and hard to clean. They also had a lot of scraps in them which made them very hard to clean. My hands are so chapped and I got repetitve strain on some injured fingers that I have. My neck is stiff and my feet hurt from standing so long. I could scream because I had so much to do that I didn’t get done. I won’t forget this and somehow I want everyone to know that they are awful! I was fooled by this article that said they were the best of five different brands. I should have got Aunt Bessie’s!
33 Chitterlin eater // Dec 23, 2011 at 3:22 pm
I have never purchased any of the brands listed except for moo & oink…been buying them for years, now that I no longer live in chgo, when I visit I take a couple of pails back with me. Moo and Oink is now closed, so where do we get our chitlin now!
34 mary // Dec 29, 2011 at 2:35 pm
AUNT BESSIE’S ARE THE BEST EVER THERE IS NO BETTER CHITTERLINGS!!!!!!!
35 connie // Jan 1, 2012 at 8:04 pm
I had no choice but to buy Queenella’s chitterlings new years weekend and “OMG” they are the worst. uncleaned and horrible. Talking about false advertisement. I will never ever buy them again. ( Aunt Bessie where have U been all my life)? you have the cleaniest chitterlings ever.
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