Boudin Balls

Boudin (boo'-dan) is our beloved south Louisiana rice, pork, and liver sausage that we eat whenever we get a chance.  There is as many recipes for boudin as there are makers of the sausage, and the debate runs wild over who makes the best boudin.  Every little grocery store or meat market in south Louisiana makes boudin.  The epicures in a given area can often taste the boudin and tell you which store it came from.  "That's Fontenot's boudin" or "This tastes like Guillory's boudin".

Normally, around the old-time stores in south Louisiana, you could buy a couple of links of boudin and a roll of crackers, go out to a picnic table under a big tree and eat your lunch.  PawPaw has eaten many yards of boudin at the tables under those trees all over the state.

Boudin is ubiquitous to south Louisiana, and very personal.  Emeril Lagasse has as good a basic recipe as anyone.  Normally eaten in a sausage casing, ahout four or five years ago, I started noticing boudin balls in the local stores.

Basically, the un-cased mixture, rolled into a ball about the size of a racquet ball, then rolled in egg and breadcrumbs, or cornmeal (again, it varies) then deep-fried, it makes a tasty little snack, inexpensive and filling.  They look just exactly like this.

That's three boudin balls in a Styrofoam clamshell.  I broke one open so that you could see the rice/meat mixture.  Three boudin balls for $5.00.  A glass of iced tea and that was lunch today.

Just so y'all know what you're missing.