As the weather turns colder and soupy things become my default, I remember that one of my favorite toppings for noodle soup is, in fact, intestines. They are not the small intestines from which chitlins are made but part of the large intestines. At Asian markets you'll find this part of the large intestines labeled as bung. Its taste is meaty and porky and, because sometimes I am at a loss to describe that ineffably "gamey" or animalistic flavor of innards, let me just say that intestines taste "offal-y." More

Our Nasty Bits columnist is on a road trip down south! Today she checks in with us with thoughts on a Southern offal delicacy. [Photograph: Chichi Wang] "I'll take a plate of your chit-ter-lings, please," I told my waitress. "What was tha', sugar?" she replied. I paused, then thought better. "I mean, your chit-linz," I said. "Oh, the chiltlins!" she said in a moment of recognition. "Sure thing, hon." Chitterlings, or chitlins, are pork intestines in Southern soul food cookery. And that conversation? Just took place in the South. Atlanta, Georgia, to be exact. I'm on a quest for the most barbeque-lickin', pie-dishin', offal-lovin' joints across the grand old American south. I've dived into plates of deep-fried chicken livers, gnawed... More