“Boudin is one of the most essential dishes for prairie Cajuns foodways. Interstate 10 runs through the southern part of Louisiana and on the Western section of that is generally considered the prairie country of Acadia, or Cajun Louisiana. They’re famous for having these incredible meat markets with head cheese, tasso ham, boudin, cracklins, stuffed chicken, and pork chops, all these Cajun delicacies, and boudin is one of those things that people from all over the country travel to Louisiana for.” – Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois
Boudin Balls
Author: Chef Jean-Paul Bourgeois
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork shoulder, cubed
- 2 cups Brown Chicken Stock (recipe follows)
- 5 dried bay leaves, divided
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered
- 1 carrot, trimmed and chopped
- 2 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
- 2½ cups water
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- Pinch salt, plus more to taste
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- ½ pound chicken livers
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced, separated into green and white parts, and divided
- 1 small yellow onion, diced small
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced small
- Hot sauce (I prefer Tabasco for this recipe but Louisiana and Crystal will work great as well), to taste
- ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 pound pepper jack cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Peanut oil, for frying
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup seasoned corn flour or fish fry mix*
- Cajun seasoning, to taste
- Cane syrup, to serve
Instructions
- In a stockpot, cover pork shoulder with Brown Chicken Stock. Add 4 bay leaves, quartered onion, carrot, and celery. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 3 hours or until the shoulder is tender, adding water if mixture looks dry. Once pork is tender, let cool in the broth until safe to handle with your hands.
- In a medium Dutch oven, combine 2½ cups water, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, salt, and remaining 1 bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add rice, and stir; when it returns to a boil, cover, lower heat to low, and cook for about 30 minutes. Keep warm.
- Season your chicken livers with salt and black pepper. Pat dry with a paper towel.
- Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; when oil is just smoking, add chicken livers, and sear on one side. Livers will splatter when hitting the skillet. Chicken livers should be cooked no more than medium and ideally still medium-rare when you remove them from the skillet. Set livers aside, and reserve skillet.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to reserved skillet. Add white parts of green onion, diced onion, garlic, and bell pepper, and season with salt and black pepper; cook on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 2 cups pork cooking liquid, and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes.
- If your pork is cool enough to work with, remove it from the liquid, and pick meat from the bones. Reserve all of your pork cooking liquid, and keep hot. Once your meat is pulled, roughly chop the meat until coarsely ground. Roughly chop chicken livers until they are a coarse mush.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine hot rice, chicken livers, pork, and onion mixture with liquid from the skillet. With a wooden spoon, begin to paddle your boudin together. You will need to add reserved hot stock to the mixture as needed as you work your boudin in the bowl. Season the mixture with salt, black pepper, and a couple dashes of hot sauce. Be aggressive. The combination of starches being released from the rice, the silkiness of the livers, and hot pork stock is what gives boudin its iconic texture. The more stock you use, the more “wet” the mixture will be. For this recipe, you want the final product to resemble a thick rice pudding while still warm. Add parsley and green parts of green onions; taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Let mixture cool to about room temperature.
- Make golf ball-size balls of boudin, and stuff with cube of pepper jack cheese. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Prepare a deep fryer with peanut oil and set to 375°. Alternatively, in a large Dutch oven, pour peanut oil to a depth of 4 inches, and heat over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375°.
- In 3 wide, shallow bowls, add egg, flour, and seasoned corn flour, respectively. Season flour and egg with Cajun seasoning. Dredge boudin balls in flour, roll in egg, and then dredge in corn flour. Place balls in fryer basket. Fry in batches, if necessary, until golden brown. Season with Cajun seasoning, if desired. Serve with cane syrup, if desired.
Notes
*Jean-Paul suggests masa harina for the corn flour.
Can you freeze the filling that you don’t use?