Re: REF: Chitlins

[Audrey Glick <glick@IWAYNET.NET>]

The Jewish version of chitlins is "kishke" which is also Yiddish for "guts"
or "breadbasket" as in "I got kicked in the kishkes and got the wind knocked
out of me."  Kishke is prepared from beef intestines.  I don't remember
Grandma preparing them, but she must have since she served them.  The lady
was a scratch cook!  I know the casing was carefully cleaned.  She stuffed
them with bread crumbs and seasonings and I'm sure plenty of schmaltz
(chicken fat).  The resulting sausage-like product was roasted along with
chicken or brisket.  I don't believe there was any boiling.  I have eaten
this dish many times and it tastes great.  The casing is crispy/chewie, like
hot dogs with natural casings. I know it available prepared and frozen at a
kosher market.  A similar dish made by my other grandma was chelzle
(strictly guessing on that spelling).  That "ch" is pronounced with the
throaty sound of Hebrew, a sound not in English phonetics.  Chelzle is the
skin of a chicken neck stuffed with the same stuff in the kishke.

I understand chitlins have a bad odor when they are cooking.  Not so with
kishke.  I have made many ethnic Jewish foods.  Most of them would make a
cardiologist smile all the way to the bank.




>        Okay, I remember my grandma slaughtering a pig, taking its
>intestines out and washing them (in cold water) so we could have
>chittlings.  The intestines are soaked (for several days) in cold water
>which is periodically changed.  When Granny thought they were clean
>(immaculate, empty, almost clear when held up to the sun) they were
>prepared.
>
>        Preparation was varied.  She would dry some on the line (really!)
>and then chop them up and deep fry them.  (These were days days before
>cholesterol.)  Some were stuffed with spicy breadcrumbs and then (forgive
>me) deep fried.  There was never a recipe.  It was a handful of this and
>a pinch of that.
>
>        As a child I adored the "treat."  Now, I am a bit wary of store
>bought products and conscious of health.  You must remember that the
>entrails must be scrupulously clean to start.
>
>        Come on down and we'll take you to a good ole place for
>chitterlings.
>
>        Hey, what do you folks eat up north?  Bet you have something
>yummy to share with us.
>
>Debby Sue
>
>Dr. Debby Sue Vandevender   3076 Silver Maple Drive  Virginia Beach, VA
>23452-6772
>e-mail:  debbysue@juno.com
>phone/fax:  (757) 431-1017
>Love is patient and kind...
>
>
>On Wed, 13 Nov 1996 10:15:28 -0600 Dee Crawshaw
><dcrawshaw@STARBASE1.HTLS.LIB.IL.US> writes:
>>One of my second grade teachers is using the Scott Foresman reading
>>series
>>and is presenting the poem "Charlie's Chickens" by Babs Bell
>>Hajdusiewicz.
>>A line from the poem reads "Charlie Chip serves chitlins with chilled
>>chunks
>>of cheddar cheese".   What are chitlins and how are they prepared and
>>usually served?  I looked up the world chitlins in the dictionary and
>>found
>>that they are the intestine of a swine but that is all I could find.
>>Thanks.
>>Dee Crawshaw
>>dcrawshaw@starbase1.htls.lib.us
>>Marseilles Elementary School
>>Marseilles, IL  61341
>>
>
>
  Audrey Glick
    Worthington, Ohio
      glick@iwaynet.net