boudin noir Archives - Nola Cuisine & Culture

I did a bit of a Louisiana Charcuterie tour on my last trip to Louisiana with Boudin, Andouille and Hogshead Cheese being the primary focus. When I’m home in the Detroit area and dreaming of Louisiana, Boudin is one of the things I miss most. So I have to make my own.

From Homemade Boudin

For my latest batch of Boudin, I used the very minimally processed Cajun Grain Brown Jasmine Rice that I spoke about in an earlier article. I love the texture and real rice flavor that it adds to the finished product!

From Cajun Grain Rice – Kinder, Louisiana

I like just enough liver flavor in my Boudin, without it being over powering, be sure to only use fresh pork liver, and lots of green onions and parsley!

From Homemade Boudin

Here is the recipe:

Boudin Recipe

2 1/2 lbs Pork Butt
1/2 lb Fresh Pork liver (not frozen), rinsed
1 Medium Onion, chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
2 Bay Leaves
1 Bundle of Fresh Thyme, tied
Water to cover by 2 inches
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne, or to taste
6 Cups cooked Cajun Grain Brown Jasmine Rice
1 Cup Green Onions, thinly sliced
1 Cup Italian Parsley, finely chopped
Hog Casings (if using)

Cut the pork and liver into 2 inch pieces and place in a Dutch Oven, along with the onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.

From Homemade Boudin

Cover with cold water by 2 inches. Season the water well with salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer, skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Simmer for about 1 hour or until the meat is very tender. Remove the bay leaves, and thyme, then strain the solids from the broth, reserve some of the broth.
Run the cooked meat and vegetables (while they’re still hot) through a meat grinder or food mill, or you could chop this by hand.

From Homemade Boudin

Combine the cooked rice with the ground meat mixture, green onions, and parsley. Mix thoroughly and season to taste with Kosher salt, black pepper, and Cayenne. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid to make sure that the finished product is very moist, bearing in mind that the rice will absorb much of the liquid as it sits.

Spread the mixture on a sheet pan and place in the refrigerator to cool.

When the mixture is cool, stuff into prepared hog casings, or form into patties or balls for pan frying. Boudin also makes a great stuffing. Here is a pick of my Boudin Stuffed Barbecue Pork Chops!

From Homemade Boudin

To heat the stuffed Boudin links either poach them in water between 165-185 degrees F or brush the casings with a little oil and bake in a 400 degree oven until heated through and the skins are crispy. Boudin is also phenomenal smoked!

Makes 4 1/2 to 5 pounds.

Andouille Sausage Recipe
Tasso Recipe
Chaurice Sausage Recipe

From Cochon Butcher

Cochon Butcher
930 Tchoupitoulas
New Orleans LA 70130
504-588-PORK

Upon entering Cochon Butcher, which is right around the corner from Cochon Restaurant and in the same building on Tchoupitoulis and Andrew Higgins, the first thing that I laid eyes on was their Andouille. Nicely laid out in the deli case, deep brown from hours of smoking, and as a true Andouille should be, huge as it’s stuffed into a beef middle casing.

From Cochon Butcher

The first thing that I thought of is that New Orleans locals, thanks to Chefs Donald Link, Stephen Stryjewski, and Warren Stephens, will no longer have to make the commute out to Laplace, Louisiana (read my Jacob’s Andouille post) to get Andouille if they don’t want to, the real article is right in the city now, along with scores of other wonderful products. All of the sausages, salamis, Mortadella, confits, terrines, rillettes, pickles, Creole Mustard, EVERYTHING is made in house! This place is a Mecca for all things swine, even more so than Cochon Restaurant. Feel like making a Cassoulet? Hell, stop into Cochon Butcher, get your Duck Confit, fresh sausages, cured sausages, whatever you want to include, they will probably have it.

On a related but somewhat side note, I just read that Donald Link has a cookbook coming out next month called
Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link’s Louisiana. I already preordered mine, needless to say, that should be a keeper. (Read my review HERE!)

From Cochon Butcher

I was greeted at the deli case by Chef partner Warren Stephens holding out a sample plate of the house made Bacon Praline, which, as my friend Tim at Roux-B-Doo’s says, is like sugary crack. Seriously, it is. This isn’t the Praline Bacon at Elizabeth’s, awesome in it’s own right, rather it’s an actual Praline with chunks of the house made Kurobuta Bacon inside of it in place of the traditional Pecans. Awesome flavors.

From Cochon Butcher

After coming off of the rush of the Bacon Praline, I asked Chef Warren if it would be alright to take some pics around the store/sWine bar. He said sure and asked if I would like to go upstairs to see the curing room. I said hell yes, of course. He led me upstairs through the upstairs kitchen to the temperature controlled curing room, one of them actually, there is another one at Herbsaint, as well as the ones in the downstairs display cases.

From Cochon Butcher

Inside of the upstairs room was a treasure trove of Salamis, blood sausages, you name it, in various states of cure.

From Cochon Butcher

A new batch of Duck Pastrami was recently hung.

From Cochon Butcher

Chef Warren told me that when the cured products reach their maturity, they are Vacuum sealed to stop the curing process, and also package for sale or storage.

From Cochon Butcher

While we were upstairs he also gave me a tour of Calcasieu the also newly opened catering facility for private events (I will do a separate post on Calcascieu).

The Sandwich board:

From Cochon Butcher

The Wine board:

From Cochon Butcher

We headed back downstairs so that I could order something for lunch, looking at all of that great food was killing me. I decided to order the Muffuletta, with all house made meats no less. Any loyal reader of my site knows that I would HAVE to order the Muffuletta on my first visit knowing that I am a Muffuletta junkie, and let me tell you, this one did not disappoint.

From Cochon Butcher

Cochon Butcher’s Muffuletta has an olive salad that is very finally chopped which I didn’t know if I would care for, as I usually prefer the olives pretty much just crushed a la Central Grocery, but it actually was a perfect accent to the finely cured meats and the cheeses without being overpowering. The olive salad was on the top and bottom of the sandwich. The bread was also perfect, light and crumbly as it should be. The Muffuletta could easily feed 2, in some cases 4, and at $12, especially considering everything is made in house, it’s a steal.

From Cochon Butcher

While I was gorging myself on the above awesome Muffuletta, Chef Warren brought me over a Lagniappe to try out, his Tartiflette that he was featuring as a small plate item. It was a lovely pairing of fingerling Potatoes, housemade Kurobuta Bacon, sweet onions, and a touch of heat, baked in a Gratin with of course the wonderfully stinky Reblochon cheese. Phenomenal flavors; the smokiness of the bacon, the sweetness of the onion, tender gold and buttery fingerlings, woodsy Thyme, and the spice of the peppers all tied together with the Robust creamy flavor of the Reblochon. Awesome job.