Choncholí

Choncholí descends from the same Afro-Peruvian street tradition as anticuchos. After Spanish colonization, enslaved Africans on the coast cooked the discarded offal their masters would not eat — heart, tripe, intestine — over charcoal braziers, and by the 19th century these grilled skewers were a fixture of Lima's Black street vendors. Choncholí specifically uses small intestine, distinguished from the tripe-based rachi grilled at the same coal. The name is widely read as Quechua-derived. Today it remains a cart and picantería staple, ordered as a companion to anticuchos rather than on its own.

The intestine grills up in two textures at once: a blistered, near-crunchy outer casing and a soft, faintly fatty chew within. The aji panca marinade gives smoky depth and a deep brick color rather than heat; charcoal adds bitterness at the edges. It is unapologetically offal — mineral, rich, a little gamey — cut by the sharp raw onion of salsa criolla and the green aji's bite.

Intestine is mostly smooth muscle wrapped in a thin fat layer, so the work is in the cleaning: it is turned inside out, scraped and rinsed, often blanched or pre-simmered to firm it and tame the funk before grilling. The vinegar in the overnight marinade both tenderizes and cuts residual odor, while aji panca, a mild sun-dried red chili, lends color and smoke. On the coals the thin casing dehydrates and crisps fast — close to the fire, turned often, so the outside crackles before the inside dries out.