Making some boudin blanc --long post, lots of pictures

[Twenty five ought six]

Got it in my mind to make some boudin blanc for Christmas presents. This is the common boudin of Louisiana, which is a pork/rice sausage, usually served steamed as a snack or appetizer.

So searched the internet for a recipe, finally found one that looked do-able.

First decision, the recipes seemed to be about evenly divided between those that include pork liver, and those that don't. Now, I like liver, but pork liver has always been a little over the top for me. However, the boudin I've eaten seemed to have some pork included, so I went with a recipe that included liver --although I did change the proportion of pork to liver.

So the first thing to do was find some pork liver, which is not the easiest thing to do. Found it frozen a Piggly Wiggly --frozen was just fine with me because you couldn't smell it.

Even frozen it had a definite aroma to it, so I set it aside for the time being in a pan of salt water, and let it soak.

After letting the liver soak, set in a colander, ran cold water over it and let it drain.

Some yummy looking stuff here.

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I had me a chub of some fine, UGA pig, that had been coarse ground, already. Being as I have a hand grinder, using the ground saved me a lot of time.
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Weighed out 5 lbs. Recipe called for 3 lbs. pork to 1 lb. liver which was a little strong for me, so changed to 5 lbs. pork.
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Boudin is a cooked product, so you have to cook the pork. 5 lbs. of pork in a pot, getting a 1 hour cook. Simple seaonings --onion, bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, celery, salt.
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After the pork is cooked, you take some of the stock, and cook up a big batch of white rice --3 cups uncooked.

Here is the pork prepared for cooking
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In case you don't know what it looks like, this is white rice. Cooked in pork stock.

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At the same time, you saute some onion and garlic in some bacon fat, then add the liver, and some of the pork stock, and cook the liver.

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Then you drop the liver and vegetable mix into a food processor, and make a paste.

Eventually, the pork, pate, and rice are all mixed together, and this is what it looks like.


The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of ground cayenne. Probably could have used a little more seasoning, but it's pretty good as is. When I'm working with spices, I have trouble judging the heat level of the actual food, and I have a tendency to make stuff too hot for civilians.

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Load the stuffer and start stuffing. This is the first link. I'm using synthetic casing because I had some, and wanted to see how it would do. It's not edible, but not a big deal because the casing is usually not eaten.

I have mixed emotions about using these casings for this project.

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First completed link. One draw back of synthetic casing is that you can't twist it, so you have to tie it off.
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Day one, set out in the unheated garage to firm up and dry a little (16 degree night).

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Close up, mostly because I was camera happy.

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This is the sausage mix before going into the stuffer.

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I ran out of the synthetic casing, so switched to some hog casings, which can be twisted.

This is what those looked like --

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This is about two days work, two run throughs of the "recipe"

Ones on the bottom are synthetic casings, ones on top are hog casings.

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Here's everything set out in a pan for another night's sit in the garage. Vacuum packaging next up.

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It's some pretty tasty stuff. I think the rice content is a little high, especially considering that I increased the amount of pork. I also wish I had been a little more aggressive in the seasoning. I'm going to get some "store bought" and compare.

I'm glad that I included the liver, as the taste is not noticeable at all, and it improves the texture and taste of the final product.

 

[Jeff C.]

Good job....I love Boudin. I may have to give it a go one day myself. I like to grill it also.

I'll be in NOLA next week, so I'll pick some up while there

 

[bnew17]

very nice! what kind of stuffer do you use?

 

[Twenty five ought six]

5 lb. vertical stuffer from Northern Tools.

 

[germag]

Very good! Now make us some boudin rouge.....

 

[Twenty five ought six]

Very good! Now make us some boudin rouge.....

If I could find the blood I would. You think pork liver is hard to find........

 

[Shug]

Looks good

 

[Nicodemus]

That looks right fine!

 

[Paymaster]

Excellent Post Ought Six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[blues brother]

Boudan is one of my favorites!! Great post.

 

[CC Rider]

Roll your boudin mix into balls and freeze, take out of the freezer and batter, then deep fry. Another good way to eat boudin.