While many places boast hiking trails, paddling trails, nature trails, or ghost trails, Lafayette Parish has a unique trail all it’s own. So we sent our own Daniel Phillips out on his favorite trail, “The Boudin Trail.”
On the surface, it may seem like this Cajun delicacy is made of three simple ingredients: pork, rice, and seasoning. But in Cajun Country those things transform into more than food. Boudin is a part of history.
“It’s a family recipe. It goes back about 30 years,” says Alicia Page of Menard’s Grocery.
It could also be considered part art form.
“Depending on what type of seasoning you use you can mess up boudin,” says The Best Stop General Manager Dana Cormier. “It depends on the rice, too, because you can mess up boudin easily.”
Each link has the right mixture of meat and rice to create the perfect bite of boudin. Customers can guarantee, there’s no “mush” here.
As NuNu’s boudin maker David Choate explains, “It’s proportions. It’s all about what you put in it.”
Simply put, it’s a way of life. Whether you like it spicy or smoky, put in a wrap, egg roll, or fried in a ball. One can always find a unique take on this Cajun classic.
“We also make the cauliflower boudin,” says Choate. “Everyone is on that keto diet.”
While it may be a far cry from diet food, it’s hard to deny that Lafayette Parish makes some of the world’s best boudin.
Served all over from grocery stores to small meat markets, and with such a variety it’s hard to pick a favorite store or even a favorite type
Summed up, Choate says, “I like it all, whatever I make, I like it all.”
