Chitterlings (/ˈtʃɪtərlɪŋz/ or /ˈtʃɪtlɪnz/; sometimes spelled/pronounced chitlins or chittlins) are a prepared food usually made from the small intestines of a pig, although the intestines of cattle and other animals are sometimes used.
Chitterling is first documented in Middle English by the Oxford English Dictionary, in the form cheterling, c1400. Various other spellings and dialect forms were used. The primary form and derivation are uncertain.
A 1743 English cookery book The Lady's Companion: or, An Infallible Guide to the Fair Sex contained a recipe for "Calf's Chitterlings" which was essentially a bacon and offal sausage in a calf's intestine casing. The recipe explained the use of calf's, rather than the more usual pig's, intestines with the comment that "[these] sort of ... puddings must be made in summer, when hogs are seldom killed". This recipe was repeated by the English cookery writer Hannah Glasse in her 1784 cookery book Art of Cookery.
As pigs are a common source of meat in many parts of the world, the dish known as chitterlings can be found in most pork-eating cultures. Chitterlings made from pig intestines are popular in many parts of Europe, and are still eaten in the southern U.S.