One of our friends in the Drive-Away business is a self professed “Desert Rat” growing up in Arizona. During his military stint he was stationed near Slidell, Louisiana where he met the love of his life. A true “Southern” girl.
Ron and Judy lived in Louisiana for quite a bit of their 37 year marriage. Now they live in Tucson, Arizona where Ron grew up.
Our knowledge of food in Louisiana comes from Ron and Judy. we have not actually eaten the food, we have been told about it. Ron highly recommended a place along our route back to Opelousas known as Billies in Krotz Springs.
The house specialty is Boudin Balls and Cracklin.
Billies also make and sell the regular Boudin.
Joe, being the braver of the two of us and more willing to take gastronomic adventures decided to give Boudin a try.
One bite was all Joe could handle. The ball was not only heat hot it was Cajun spice hot. It was so hot Joe could not quench the burn on his tongue nor down his throat fast enough.
A message was left on Ron’s voicemail by Joe stating he (Joe) had no idea what he had done to Ron to piss him (Ron) off. Joe went on to exclaim the distress he was in from the Boudin and that he (Joe) would get even with him (Ron).
Ron called an hour later and both of them had a good laugh at the situation. Joe has declared that he has “done it once and won’t be doing it again” 🙂
Cracklin is consumed in this part of the world like…..well I don’t know what.
Cracklin is the skin and layers of fat on pork that is cut into chunks, rolled in a Cajun spice mixture then fried until all the fat has melted out leaving a crispy side where the fat was and a chewy side where the skin is.
Nearly every restaurant, dive, and convenience store advertise they have Louisiana’s best Boudin or Cracklin. There is more than enough to go around anytime out here.
We are nearly finished. One final load of two trucks in Opelousas going to Tunica. Both of us are tired and our differences show up in these times.
Joe has tunnel vision and his focus is getting the work done and on the road. I am being extra diligent because my routine is all messed up. Joe is getting ahead of himself in his haste to finish while I am trying to keep up then back tracking to do something that was missed or finish something that got started and left half done. We leave Walmart with me knowing something was forgotten.
You know what I mean? Leaving the house for a weekend or a vacation and you wonder if the stove was turned off or something equally bad.
We hope to be home Sunday. We will be there for a few days, maybe three, before we get back out to finish October.
I’m getting melancholy and want to be home. Joe is getting a bit anxious knowing my time is short and he is trying to cram as much in the last few weeks as he can.
I must apologize for my previous post and my whining. Every job has its share of drudgery and not all aspects are fun and enjoyable. We all get through the jobs one day at a time. No drama to heighten these past days and I fall apart.
So please forgive me.
Leslie
Foolishness and Mayhem 
October 14th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
So you weren’t brave enough to try them Leslie? I wouldn’t have been either and I don’t like having my throat burnt out anyway 🙂 How can anyone enjoy (or even taste) food that is so damn spicy hot?
Now cracklings or, as we call them scratchings, are different and over here they are cooked differently too and they are scrummy but very, very bad for you and if your teeth are a bit dodgy not good in that department either LOL
Scratchings were originally made from the ‘leaf’, this is a membrane found in a pig which has loads fat on it and this was gently rendered down to produce pure white lard; once used for cooking before we all went over to oils. The rendered lard would have been poured off into a bowl an it was done gently to get that fine white lard so would be rendered in an oven what was left made the scratchings which were crispy and crunchy. Scratchings now are made from strips of cut up pig skin and cooked in the oven as if you were roasting a join of pork until the skin is crispy and crunchy with a cooked strip of crispy fat under the crackling.
Rod’s father was the local pig killer and so MIL taught me how to make faggots – slightly spicy meat balls; brawn- this is made from the meat from the head and any other parts that had a little meat.
The cheeks were once sold by butchers under the name of ‘chaps’. FIL said the only part of a pig you couldn’t eat was its squeal LOL
Love and hugs
Lynn xx
October 14th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Meant to add that hope you do get home for a time even if it is only a brief time.
And please don’t apologise for your so called ‘whining’ – we all do it and now I have made you feel very guilty and so let us both stop beating ourselves up over it 🙂
Love you my firend
Lynn xx