Cajun Country Food: Boudin, Boucherie and Mardi Gras

Cajun country food is the cooking of Acadiana, in south Louisiana, built by Acadian families exiled from Canada's Maritimes in the 1750s and 1760s. Its rural traditions include the boucherie, a shared hog butchering, boudin, a rice and pork sausage, and the courir de Mardi Gras, a costumed run that ends in a communal gumbo.

How did Cajun country food begin?

Cajun food starts with a forced journey. The British deported Acadians from what is now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island between 1755 and 1763 in the Great Upheaval, and Canadian heritage officials say about 10,000 were deported. Roughly three-quarters of the Acadian population was removed, and many were sent to England, France and the area that became Louisiana. Canada marks July 28 as a day of commemoration, and Louisiana is now home to more than 450,000 Acadian descendants, according to a 2005 congressional record.

Those settlers ended up on bayous and prairies and cooked with what the land gave them. That is the thread running through the traditions below: use the whole animal, share the work and gather around one pot.

What is the boucherie tradition?

The boucherie tradition is a communal hog butchering from south Louisiana. Lafayette's tourism office describes it as cooperative food processing rather than a feast. A handful of families took turns providing a hog, and on the appointed day each family took a station and broke the animal into products that could be preserved before refrigeration.

Those products included boudin, sausage made from legs and casings, hog's head cheese, lard rendered from the skin, a backbone stew eaten at the end of the day and smoked andouille and tasso. Boucheries faded as refrigeration arrived, and today they survive as public celebrations. One festival version in St. Martinville began during the 1970s Acadian cultural revival.

What is boudin?

If you are wondering what is boudin, it is pork, rice and seasonings ground together and stuffed into a pork casing, then steamed. Cooks often add liver, heart, peppers or onion. Boudin blanc is the pork and rice version, boudin rouge is made with pork blood, and seafood versions use crawfish or shrimp in place of pork.

Traditionally you eat it straight from the casing by squeezing the filling out, and it is also sliced, grilled or fried. In Cajun country it is sold in grocery stores, butcher shops, gas stations and convenience stores. Cracklins are fried pork skin with a layer of fat under it, which is what separates them from pork rinds, and they grew out of the same use-the-whole-hog habit. Lafayette holds a boudin and bacon cook-off each October.

What is the courir de Mardi Gras?

The courir de Mardi Gras is a rural Cajun and Creole tradition, quite different from beads and parades. Costumed, masked riders on horseback or in trucks go from farm to farm, singing and dancing to collect gumbo ingredients such as flour and rice. A leader called the capitaine organizes the run and keeps people in line, and only the capitaines go undisguised.

At the last stop, runners chase a chicken tossed onto a field. Whoever catches it adds it to the communal gumbo pot, and the community shares the meal. Louisiana tourism says roughly thirty versions exist, and each town sets its own schedule, so ask organizers before you go. The tall cone-shaped hats are called capuchons. Mamou and Eunice hold theirs on Mardi Gras day, and WWNO reports that Lafayette's historic village hosts a public run on the Saturday before.

How do you order in Acadiana with confidence?

Ask what a dish is made of, because words differ between shops. Ask whether boudin is blanc or rouge, and whether a seafood version is on the counter. Tell staff about any allergy, since pork, shellfish and gluten turn up in the cooking. Mosey can hide dishes that a place lists an allergen for, but a dish with no listing says "Allergens not listed, ask the place," so ask.

Eat boudin warm, and eat it first. A small order is a good start, because you can go back for more once you know which style you like, and you will learn quickly whether you prefer it mild or hot. Do not expect sit-down service at every counter, and bring a napkin. For the differences between Cajun and New Orleans cooking, read the Cajun and Creole connoisseur guide and the New Orleans Creole guide.

How can Mosey help you remember what you ate in Acadiana?

Mosey is a place to remember what you ate. Rate the dish, not just the place, because the boudin and the cracklins can earn different scores. Add tags such as Cajun and Creole or a cuisine tag, and use tags to narrow a search later. Ratings of different places with the Cajun and Creole tag build toward a food badge, with Sampler at five places, and a rating in Louisiana also counts toward the Explorer badge for US states.

Keep a list called Acadiana eats, add a note to each stop and share it with friends by link, even if they are not on Mosey yet. Follow friends to see where they rate and save. Mosey is free for a place to list, with no hidden fees, so a rating for a family-run counter costs the diner nothing. See the US food guides for more regional reading.

What should you remember before you go?

Check hours and days with a place, because small counters sell out and close early, and a stop that is open on a weekday may not be on a Sunday. Bring cash for small stops, and expect the best boudin to go first.

Download the Mosey app, rate the first boudin you try by the dish and start a list called Acadiana eats, so your next trip starts with your own notes.