Book synopsis:

Her experiences leaves you breathless as she fights City and County Governments for the right to have a Chitlin Restaurant within a Maryland community. In addition, she is raising her teenage daughter as a single mom, and managing the multi-personalities of herself and AJ. The journey continues as Shauna shares many soul food recipes given to her by her inspirational great aunts, including fried chitlins with plum sauce.

sorry y'all... this is the only soul food I can't get down with.

I wonder what the book signings will be like...???

paintedlady said:

Me neither. I told my mother in no uncertain terms at age 6 that I just couldn't hang with chitlins ... I'll eat other far out stuff though...my lord...for some Jamaican style oxtails ...Shit, I might start a bar fight if somebody got the last serving before me, and I'm not even Jamaican

Ottensen said:

is it intestines? I'm trying to tell from the picture

someone post a more appetising shot please like AFTER it's been cooked thanks

ZombieKitten said:

As far as I've heard, you have to search high, far, and beyond to find someone who can seriously cook chitlins....the smell when they're cooking is enough to discourage you....as it did with me at an ex-girlfriend's house in high school...

ZombieKitten said:

Yes they are intestines, Mamacita. Pork intestines to be exact. They take hours of strenuous cleaning by hand, smell absolutely atrocious from market to table, and unfortunately there is no such thing as an appetizing shot of cooked chitlins. They have a rather greyish cast to them when cooked that makes them look like a bowl full of boiled colored condoms that smell like someone just passed gas. Did I for get to mention that tradition dictates they should be eaten with hot chili pepper sauce?

reneGade20 said:

I've seen something similar the argentinians eat. My in-laws served it up to my parents once for dinner - the looks on their faces was priceless


chinchulines


done on the parilla (bbq)

Ottensen said:

LAWD!!! now ya talking!

reneGade20 said:

It's true. The old saying goes "you can't eat everybody's chitlins". Considering they used to hold REFUSE, the preparation is thorough and arduous. The person cooking them seriously has to know what their doing.

...and goodness, that SMELL

i grew up in a chittlin-free household (my dad can't stand them either), but whenever i went over to my grandma's house for thanksgiving, she'd always have a bucket full of the damned things. you'd go in the kitchen to get something to drink or to be nosy and see what's cooking, you look over at the sink...buncha chittlins sitting in there, chillin' and waiting to get cleaned.

a lotta folks on my mom's side love the shit (no pun intended ) outta chittlins for some reason. i remember one holiday, one of my cousins had some of them stankin'-assed things on his plate. i was like "ewww, you EAT them?" he was all like "yeah, chittlins are goooood!"

i grew up eating stuff like oxtail soup, boiled pig ears, turkey necks, fried chicken gizzards...but i cannot and will not eat chittlins. ever. EV-ERRRRR.

no no no

is she holding tapeworms?
[Edited 12/1/08 21:18pm]

baroque said:

I SWEAR I was about to say those chitlins looked like tapeworms.

KidaDynamite said:

its funny cause i was watching a show(or rather a video) on tape worms,why? because i was bored, then i saw the queen of chitlins, so i put two and two together.

baroque said:

Well, both of them look gross as hell.

Ottensen said:

-----
You will eat oxtail but not chitlins ? Anywhy chitlins are alright if you know who cooked them and your not around while they are being cooked.
Shauna's store was near my old apartment and she did sell other soul food dishes besides chitlins. That neighborhood needed all the restaurants it could get and should not have been complaining.

laurarichardson said:

I LOVE Jamaican food.


The smell for me is a complete put off with Chitlins. The same thing now that I'm in Europe, and girl, some of these cheese counters over here will KNOCK. YOU.OUT. Anything that smells like old, wet, dirty socks I can't mess with. I know I am surrounded by the fniest cheeses in the world, but I can't ven get within 6 feet of the cheese counter without hardly fainting...I just CAN'T. DO.IT!!!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely a carnivore, and have no qualms about eating pork (I have a pork roast recipe that will make you slap somebody! You need to come over!). But I just like to keep my meating eating tendencies simple: I like my meats ground, either loosely or finely (like pate or "tea wurst" vs. ground beef chicken,& turkey). OR I just want tender flesh, with or without bone. So I can handle Jamaican oxtails, or when I visit southern relatives at home, I can even enjoy neckbones once every coupla years. But I don't do organs for the most part. There are some things I let slde, like foie gras and the pates. But the taste isn't so sharp and there is little to no aroma with those. Now the tried and true soul food standby of Chitlins, nope. Not only do they not look pretty on my plate, but chile, that smell! At worst, for me an oxtail or neckbone smells like a braised short rib, depending on how you season it

Ottensen said:

You ain't never fucking lyin'. I will WRECK a plate of oxtails, But "shitlins" I can't deal with

Ya'll know what's nasty? I can almost picture what's going on under that dress

ScarletScandal said:

It should be a scratch and sniff book.

I eat them about once a year. My aunt makes them and she's the only one I trust to clean and cook them properly. I love them. It's an acquired taste for certain.

Mars23 said:

aw HELL no...as if I need anymore more help to not buy the book.

Mars23 said:

u stole my thunder mars bar

(just kidding) but as soon as i read this thread title thats what i thought

KidaDynamite said:

oh my damn.. my appetite is wrecked .. for a minute

Flowers2 said:

I was watching some show on parasites and I almost fainted from how nasty that show was.

KidaDynamite said:

I'm open-minded to eat and try any type of foods... but chitlins? .. I'm sorry, I don't care if that stuff is barbecued, with jamaican pepper.. I am not eatting that..

Ottensen said:

x a billion

JustErin said:

I imagine you've eaten worse.