Chitterlings

In most of France pigs’ intestines are used to make andouillettes. In Bordeaux and its immediate surrounds they are called tricandilles, a near homophone of chitterling, and are fried or grilled. Culinary localism (and incuriosity) in provincial France is so entrenched that only 50km from the city they are unknown.

When I described them to a village butcher in the Charente he somewhat bemusedly agreed to try to get me some. He succeeded. What he obtained were intestines that had not