Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
National Historical Park and Preserve has six sites that are scattered across
southern Louisiana
whose mission is to protect the natural and cultural resources
of Louisiana’s Mississippi River Delta Region.
Each is unique in its focus, and they all reflect a place
where traditions can be generations old
but the ground under your feet can change with the weather.
The park's sites share the story of a place
where change is the only constant, from the waterways
that shape the land in new patterns every day
to the never-ending balancing act
between old ways and new ideas.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy one of the many cultural stories
that helps to shape this unique environment.
(engine revving)
- [Woman] In given twos and Billy's.
How can I help you?
- Yes, ma'am can I have two pounds of boudin cut please?
- [Woman] Anything else for you?
- That's it.
- [Woman] Alright go ahead and drive around then.
- Thank you.
(Bright music)
- If you've ever driven through Southwest Louisiana
on interstate 10, you've probably noticed a lot
of billboards saying, "exit now for Boudin and Cracklins".
These specialty meat products are part
of Louisiana's unique food ways and can be found
throughout this area known as a (indistinct).
(bright music)
- [Narrator] From gas stations and drive-through windows,
to butcher shops and restaurants,
the place is serving these delicacies
that become popular destinations for locals
and tourists alike.
Boudin and Cracklins are eating throughout the day
for any meal and literally millions of pounds
of these popular Cajun foods are served locally and shipped
across the country every year.
In Acadiana, butcher shops carry
all the traditional cuts of meat,
as well as traditional boudin
and cracklins, but many offer their own specialty creations
like deep fried boudin balls and pepper, Jack cheese
boudin, egg rolls.
(gentle music)
- We ship out a lot of cracklins and a lot of boudin.
Stuffing debone chickens and turkeys,
stuffed pork chops, various sausages,
alligator meat, you name it.
We ship it.
I started in 93 in Carencro,
on the corner of highway seven 26.
We've been in business 27 years
here in the Scott and Carencro area.
We sell more boudin
in Scott, Louisiana than any other city in Louisiana.
- [Narrator] These specialty pork items
are considered traditional foods
in Cajun country.
Before refrigeration in grocery stores,
families process their own animals.
In the Cajun French language,
this is known as a Boucherie.
Families, friends and neighbors would gather
to slaughter a farm-raised pig
to preserve and distribute the meat in the form
of sausages bacon and Taso,
which is a small lean cut
of sun dried or smoked pork.
- [Kermit] The old Cajuns, they would have a good time.
We would cook, clean the pig.
They learn how to do it.
In the old days, we didn't have refrigeration and stuff.
It was hard.
It had to be cold because
if it was warmer, that meat is gonna to get,
it was gonna sour pretty quick.
- [Jourdan] A lot of these people were subsistence farmers.
They were just living off the land.
A lot of private people raising the animals.
You took and you made what you could
with your animals as best you could
you know, and as, as good as you could, obviously
but as efficiently as possible.
- [Narrator] Nothing was wasted
and the leftover parts were used to feed the people
gathered to help with the slaughter.
- [Jourdan] This became kind of a tradition
of just rotating neighbor to neighbor
and creating what you could out of these food, right?
You got all this meat
you got casing, you've got all these things.
So a lot of these items are created
just out of availability.
- [Narrator] The stomach was stuffed like a sausage
to make Panse Bourre or chaudin.
The skin was scrubbed, diced, and fried to make cracklings.
The intestines were cleaned and stuffed with rice
and ground organ meat to make boudin
and so on.
- [Jourdan] So you've got a generational change
even though that might not be
that same communal way of living.
That same necessity, creating the product.
But nonetheless, nine times out of 10, if you were going
to an event or you were going to meet people
and everybody's getting together
on Saturday morning or whatever, somebody brought boudin.
So it's nice to finally be able to go out and get it.
Not have to wait till the boucherie,
you know, next Saturday or whatever.
You can just go out and get you a link of boudin.
- Started seeing it in the storm
even in the sixties. There's not a house started in.
And then,
after we got it going real good
when everybody got on the bandwagon, yeah.
Yeah, well we had a wood-burning stove,
and they knew we were getting rich.
(dramatic laughs)
We did not always live in the dark.
(dramatic laughs)
- [Kermit] There's no dial or nothing.
It's a box with a fire in it.
Anybody know how hot that is?
Hang four 500 pounds of meat in there.
You know, you've got to know what you're doing
cause it's gonna sour, its gonna spoil.
(gentle music)
♪ Where you cause my brother to lose his mind. ♪
- [Narrator] What was once a subsistence food
made out of necessity, has become synonymous
with Cajun culture and reached worldwide fame.
Due to the high demand of these specialty meat products,
the industry has seen a shift
towards wholesaling products and large stores
even franchising store locations across the region.
However, there're still family run businesses
that prepare products in similar ways
to how they originated.
(gentle music)
♪ Oh ♪
- What was once an act of necessity,
is now a multi-million dollar business.
What was once done by families
and neighbors is now done by managers and employees.
And although the boucherie has been replaced by
the drive-through window, the traditions continue.
(gentle music)
♪ Love oh, love oh, love, divine. ♪