You can find chitterlings and hog maws at your local grocery store. They are usually found with the frozen foods and come in 5 or 10 pound buckets or plastic. It will take several hours to thaw out your frozen chitlins. The hog maws come in packages and are also usually frozen. The hog maws are very tough, so it’s a good idea to cook them while you’re cleaning your chitlins.
To prepare the hog maws for cooking rinse them in water and trim away excessive fat. Place your hog maws into a 6 quart cooking pot. Fill the pot with water to the half way point. Bring the water to boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 1 hour. Don’t let the water cook out, add additionally water if necessary. When the meat is fully cooked, using a cutting board cut your hog maws into 2 inch thick pieces. The chitlins will be added to the hog maws later.
How to Clean and Cook Chitlins
If you want your recipe to turn out right wash your chitlins thoroughly…let me reemphasize, this is very important. Once your chitlins have thawed it’s time for a good cleaning. Using one side of your sink, soak your chitlins in cold water. Examine each chitlins thoroughly removing by hand all foreign matter. The best way to do this is under running water.
Under running water you need to repeatedly pick clean each chitlin. While picking clean the chitlins you should remove extra fat and any specks that you see.
A good technique is to work out of both sides of your sink. Soak your chitlins in one side and clean and rinse in the other side of your sink. Once you have cleaned a chitlin place it in the container that it came out of.
After all chitlins are cleaned they must be run through several changes of cold water. Just fill your sink with enough water to cover the chitlins. The chitlins should be washed until the water is nearly clear when they are removed.
Now that wasn’t so hard was it? Okay now that the chitlins are cleaned and the hog maws have cooked a little. It’s time to finish up this tasty recipe.
Place your chitlins into the pot with the hog maws and fill with water. Bring to full boil, and then add chopped onion, salt, red pepper and vinegar. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 hours until meat is tender to your liking. Add more water if necessary.
Once the chitlins and hog maws have tendered remove from heat. Using a cutting board and knife, cut the chitlins and hog maws into 1 inch thick pieces. Serve on a bed of rice or with spaghetti.
ENJOY!!
