10
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2013
Shake
‘
Ya Boudin
by
Sara Roahen +
photo by
Denny Culbert
T
o call boudin a soft, heavily seasoned, Cajun pork
and rice sausage — as I have done many times since
first encountering it — is like characterizing gumbo by
calling it a soup thickened with okra, filé, and/or a roux.
Both definitions are technically true and acceptable for
the sake of brevity, but neither begins to capture the
essence of the iconic dishes. And by “essence” I mean the
history, tradition, ceremony, elbow grease, and mystery
of flavors imbued in each that cause Louisianans to
continue eating them with fervor.
Boudin is a specialty at Rouses, where butchers have
been making it since 1960.
While I had tasted the
sausage in New Orleans, I fell for it while gathering
stories in Acadiana for the Southern Foodways Alliance’s
Southern Boudin Trail oral history project (www.
southernboudintrail.com). I marveled at how something
so outwardly simple could exist in so many variations (at
least as many as there are country stores and gas stations,
where boudin flourishes). I loved how versatile it was: a
breakfast standard, an afternoon snack, and a requisite
at Cajun weddings. And I stood by in awe as, day after
day, hardworking Cajuns rose before the sun to force rice
dressing into natural casings, twist the filled casings into
links, and gently simmer the links so they could nestle in
rice cookers or Nesco warmers or chaffing dishes for the
early-morning sausage rush.
