Day Trips: Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail
Sampling savory sausages along the boudin highway
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., July 7, 2023
The Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail leads to some of the best meat counters in the Lake Charles area.
Boudin is the national food of Southwest Louisiana. Nearly every meat market and grocery store, as well as many convenience stores, have a version of the Cajun sausage.
It is such an iconic food that the Lake Charles Visitors Bureau published a map highlighting purveyors of the meal-in-a-tube. Boudin (pronounced "boo-dan") has so grown in popularity that every region of the Bayou State has their version.
Like most sausages, you probably don't want to know what body parts were used. Suffice to say it's a blend of pork cooked with seasonings and rice stuffed into sausage casing. From there, every chef is free to tweak the recipe.
The origin of boudin goes back centuries, but the casserole-in-a-pipe was brought to Louisiana by the French Acadians.
Of the 27 stops on the trail map along I-10 between Vinton and Iowa, La., I tried three. All were spicy with the taste of chili powder and had a chicken flavor and a creamy consistency, unlike the coarse-ground version found at Billy's Boudin in Scott, La.
Market Basket No. 41 in Sulphur is a local favorite, and several locations of the grocery store chain made the map. Hot boudin is served from the Smokehouse counter in the back of the store. Frozen links come in packages of five.
Roy's Meat Market in Iowa is the real deal. The Black-owned market sells the links hot or cold. You can even get a boudin burger and enjoy it in the small dining room.
Famous Foods in Lake Charles was the People's Choice winner in 2011's Southwest Louisiana Boudin Wars. The fast-food joint has hot or frozen links along with cracklins.
Considering how many purveyors lie along the interstate, I-10 could be called "the Boudin Highway."
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