Boudin

File:Boudin3.jpg

Boudin ({{IPA|fr|budɛ̃}}) is a type of sausage found in several French-speaking cultures. The added ingredients vary in French, Luxembourgish, Belgian, Swiss, Québecois, Acadian, Aostan, Louisiana Creole, and Cajun cuisine. Some variations such as boudin blanc contain no blood but retain the name.

Etymology

The Anglo-Norman word {{lang|xno|boudin}} meant {{gloss|sausage}}, {{gloss|blood sausage}}, or {{gloss|entrails}} in general. Its origin is unclear. It has been traced both to Romance and to Germanic roots, but there is not good evidence for either (cf. boudin).{{lang|fr|Trésor de la langue française}}, [http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/boudin s.v. "boudin"] The English word pudding probably comes, via the Germanic word puddek for sausage,Collins English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1991 from {{lang|xno|boudin}}.Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2007, [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/154127 s.v. "pudding"]

Some modern chefs, such as John Folse{{cite web |url=https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/at-boudin-bourbon-beer-an-ancient-dish-gets-a-modern-twist/article_a6d8b47f-6c0e-576b-bde7-efd0d1f6fa37.html |title=At Boudin, Bourbon & Beer, an ancient dish gets a modern twist |date=October 31, 2017 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=The Times-Picayune |first=Ann |last=Maloney}} and Olivier Poels, attribute boudin to ancient Greece by way of Aphtonite,{{cite news |url=https://www.europe1.fr/societe/la-recette-de-la-tarte-au-boudin-noir-et-a-la-pomme-dolivier-poels-4024109 |title=Quelle est la différence entre le boudin noir et le boudin blanc? |date=February 13, 2021 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=Europe 1 |first=Julien |last=Ricotta |language=fr}}{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/05/04/526394343/boudin-a-story-of-sausage-slavery-and-rebellion-in-the-caribbean |title=Boudin: A Story Of Sausage, Slavery And Rebellion In The Caribbean |date=May 4, 2017 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=The Salt |publisher=National Public Radio |first=Melissa |last=Banigan}} to whom they attribute the first mention of boudin noir in the Apicius.{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Apicius/2*.html#V |title=Apicius, De Re Coquinaria — Book II |website=LacusCurtius |first=Bill |last=Thayer |access-date=July 18, 2023}}{{cite book |title=The Black and White Cookbook |first=Máirtín |last=Mac Con Iomaire |year=2019 |doi=10.21427/0hnp-6472 |publisher=Technological University Dublin |pages=3–8 |chapter=Preface |url=https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=tschafbk}}

Types

File:BoudinBallsElizabeths.jpg

{{lang|fr|Boudin|italic=unset}} ball: A Cajun variation on {{lang|fr|boudin blanc}}. Instead of the filling being stuffed into pork casings, it is rolled into a ball, battered, and deep-fried.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uha0mHZ-N8oC&pg=PA141 |title=500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late: And the Very Best Places to Eat Them |author=Michael Stern |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-05907-5 |access-date=November 24, 2009 |date=May 7, 2009 }}
{{lang|fr|Boudin blanc}}: Originally, a white sausage made of pork without the blood. Variants include:
French boudin blanc, with milk. Generally sautéed or grilled.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
Boudin blanc de Liège: A Belgian version similar to French boudin blanc but with marjoram, which has a protected geographical indication.{{cite news |url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/une-association-veut-une-appellation-protegee-pour-le-boudin-blanc-de-liege-10363865 |title=Une association veut une appellation protégée pour le boudin blanc de Liège |trans-title=An association wants a protected designation for the boudin blanc de Liège |date=November 12, 2019 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=RTBF |language=fr}}{{cite report |url=https://agriculture.wallonie.be/files/20182/21888/Dossier%20Boudin%20blanc%20de%20Li%c3%a8ge |title=Boudin blanc de Liège |date=February 2022 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |publisher=Association des Producteurs de Boudin blanc de Liège |language=fr}}
Cajun boudin blanc, made from a mixture of pork, rice, onions, and seasonings similar to dirty rice and stuffed into sausage casings. Local variations may also include liver or other pork offal, or other meats such as venison,{{cite news |url=https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/ian-mcnulty-cajun-sausage-links-family-and-football-rituals/article_dfdf75be-5932-11ed-ad04-c3ef09d53046.html |title= How Cajun sausage links friends, family, football rituals across Louisiana |date=November 7, 2022 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=The Times-Picayune |first=Ian |last=McNulty}} alligator, shrimp, and crawfish,{{cite news |url=https://www.chron.com/life/travel/article/Louisiana-s-famous-boudin-tells-the-story-of-1688375.php |title=Louisiana's famous boudin tells the story of Cajun country |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=Houston Chronicle |first=Harry |last=Shattuck}} and can vary in spiciness.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.myneworleans.com/boudin-by-the-bite/ |title=Boudin by the Bite |date=November 16, 2006 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |magazine=New Orleans Magazine |first=Bob |last=Carriker}}
{{lang|fr|Boudin blanc de Rethel}} ({{IPA|fr|bu.dɛ̃ blɑ̃ də ʁə.tɛl|pron}}): a traditional French {{lang|fr|boudin}}, which may only contain pork meat, fresh whole eggs and milk, and cannot contain any breadcrumbs or flours/starches. It is protected under EU law with a Protected geographical indication status.{{cite web |url=http://www.cooking2000.com/fr/dossier/boudinbgout.htm |work=Cooking2000.com |title=Boudin Blanc |language=fr |access-date=January 8, 2008 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.jedecouvrelafrance.com/f-3194.ardennes-boudin-blanc-rethel.html |work=Je découvre la France.com |title=Boudin Blanc Rethel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080104230720/http://www.jedecouvrelafrance.com/f-3194.ardennes-boudin-blanc-rethel.html |archive-date=January 4, 2008 |access-date=January 8, 2008 |url-status=usurped |language=fr }}
{{lang|fr|Boudin noir}}: A dark-hued blood sausage, containing pork, pig blood, and other ingredients. Variants of the {{lang|fr|boudin noir}} occur in French, Belgian, Cajun and Catalan cuisine. The Catalan version of the {{lang|fr|boudin noir}} is called {{lang|ca|botifarra negra}}.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Sea-Bass-with-Blood-Sausage-and-Sea-Urchins/ |title=Sea Bass with Blood Sausage and Sea Urchins (Llobarro, Cruixent de Botifarra Negra, Eriçons de Mar, i Salsa de Pa Torrat) |access-date=July 18, 2023 |magazine=Saveur}} In the French Caribbean, it is known as {{lang|fr|boudin Créole}}{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}} or by local names, such as {{lang|fr|boudin rouge Antillais}} in Guadeloupe, and infused with spice or rum. In Britain a similar sausage is called "black pudding", the word "pudding" being an anglicized pronunciation of {{lang|fr|boudin}}, and probably introduced after the Norman Conquest.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
{{lang|fr|Boudin rouge}}: In Louisiana cuisine, a sausage similar to Cajun {{lang|fr|boudin blanc}} with pork blood added to it, though less commonly made. This originated from the French {{lang|fr|boudin noir}}.{{cite news |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/bbq/article/boudin-rouge-blood-sausage-louisiana-17842896.php |title=Boudin rouge is a rare find in Louisiana's Cajun country |date=March 17, 2023 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=Houston Chronicle |first=J.C. |last=Reid}}
{{lang|fr|Boudin vert}}: A green sausage made of pork meat and cabbage and kale. Popular in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant and in the Walloon immigrant areas of the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin where it is called Belgian Trippe.
{{lang|fr|Boudin valdôtain}}: with beetroot, spices, wine and beef or pork blood.{{Cite web |url=http://www.lovevda.it/en/food-and-wine/products/charcuterie/boudin |title=The Boudin |work=Valle d'Aosta |access-date=July 18, 2023}} in the Aosta Valley of Italy.{{cite report |url=https://www.ao.camcom.it/sites/default/files/contenuto_redazione/allegati/guidaenogastronomica_11_fr.pdf |title=À La Decouverte des Produits Valdotains de la tradition aux DOP et aux DOC |pages=36–37 |language=fr |publisher=Assessorat régional de l'agriculture et des ressources naturelles |first=Marie Claire |last=Chaberge}}
Brown-rice {{lang|fr|boudin|italic=unset}}: Brown-rice {{lang|fr|boudin}} is a less common variation made from brown rice with taste similar to traditional pork {{lang|fr|boudin}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.louisianaliving.com/product/boudin/fresh-food |title=Boudin |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824020945/http://www.louisianaliving.com/product/boudin/fresh-food |archive-date=August 24, 2011 |access-date=August 5, 2011 }}

File:Boudin Balls.jpg|{{lang|fr|Boudin}} balls, made in Marksville, Louisiana.

File:Boudin du Sud-Ouest.jpg|A sliced French {{lang|fr|boudin}} noir

File:Smoked Boudin Blanc.jpg|Cajun-style smoked {{lang|fr|boudin}} blanc

File:Boudins noir et blanc au marché de Noël de Bruxelles.jpg|{{lang|fr|Boudins blancs}} at a Christmas market in Brussels

File:Boudin blanc au chou.jpg|{{lang|fr|Boudins verts}} and {{lang|fr|blancs}}

In the United States

The journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition include an early record of boudin blanc in the Louisiana Territory during an encounter with French fur trapper Toussaint Charbonneau on May 9, 1805, who prepared it using buffalo intestine, meat, and kidney suet, boiled the links, and fried them in bear grease.{{cite journal |title=The Journals of Lewis and Clark |url=https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1805-05-09#lc.jrn.1805-05-09.01 |first=Meriwether |last=Lewis |author-link=Meriwether Lewis |date=May 9, 1805 |quote=Capt C. killed 2 bucks and 2 buffaloe, I also killed one buffaloe which proved to be the best meat, it was in tolerable order; we saved the best of the meat, and from the cow I killed we saved the necessary materials for making what our wrighthand cook Charbono calls the boudin blanc, and immediately set him about preparing them for supper; this white pudding we all esteem one of the greatest delacies of the forrest, it may not be amiss therefore to give it a place.}}

The term boudin in the Acadiana region of Louisiana is commonly understood to refer only to boudin blanc, and specifically to the regional combination of rice, pork, and seasonings originally made at rural communal hog butcherings since the 18th century.{{cite magazine |url=https://64parishes.org/desperately-seeking-boudin |title=Desperately Seeking Boudin |date=August 30, 2019 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |magazine=64 Parishes |publisher=Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities |first=Robert |last=Carriker}} Also popular is seafood boudin, consisting of crawfish or crab, shrimp, and rice.

Cajun boudin is available most readily in the Acadiana region of southern Louisiana, though it may be found nearly anywhere in "Cajun Country" extending along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from eastern Texas to western Mississippi.{{cite news |url=https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2008/08/23/new-cajun-specialty-meats-store-opens-in-vidalia/ |title=New Cajun specialty meats store opens in Vidalia |date=August 23, 2008 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=The Natchez Democrat}} Several Louisiana towns and cities stake claims based on their boudin; Scott, Louisiana, was named "Boudin Capital of the World" in 2012, while Jennings was named "Boudin Capital of the Universe"{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/04/13/150552841/scott-la-latest-boudin-capital-of-the-world |title=La. Town Named 'Boudin Capital Of The World' |date=April 13, 2012 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=Morning Edition |publisher=National Public Radio |first=Renee |last=Montagne}} and former "Boudin Capital of the World" Broussard redesignated itself the "Intergalactic Boudin Capital of Positive Infinity".{{cite magazine |url=https://www.louisianalife.com/around-louisiana-21/ |title=Around Louisiana |date=March 2, 2015 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |magazine=Louisiana Life |first=Claire |last=Salinas}}

There are numerous meat markets and Cajun stores devoted to the speciality, though boudin is also sold from many convenience and grocery stores in other towns and areas along Louisiana's portion of Interstate 10, referred to by the Southern Foodways Alliance and some local tourism bureaus as the Southern Boudin Trail.{{cite web |url=https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/southern-boudin-trail/ |title=Southern Boudin Trail |date=April 13, 2006 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |work=Southern Foodways Alliance}}{{cite magazine |url=https://countryroadsmagazine.com/cuisine/Louisiana-foodways/fear-and-loathing-on-the-boudin-trail/ |title=Fear and Loathing on the Boudin Trail |date=June 23, 2021 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |magazine=Country Roads |first=Jason |last=Vowell}}{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/columns/2023-07-07/day-trips-southwest-louisiana-boudin-trail/ |title=Day Trips: Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail |date=July 7, 2023 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |newspaper=The Austin Chronicle |first=Gerald E. |last=Mcleod}} Since Cajun boudin freezes well, it can be shipped outside the region if made and packaged in a federally approved facility.{{cite interview |url=https://www.southernfoodways.org/wp-content/uploads/transcript_ray_comeaux.pdf |title=Ray Comeaux |first=Ray |last=Comeaux |date=January 22, 2009 |interviewer=Mary Beth Lasseter |publisher=Southern Foodways Alliance}}

Boudin noir is available in Illinois in the Iroquois County towns of Papineau and Beaverville, with their Quebecois heritage. The dish is the featured cuisine at the annual Beaverville Founder's Day, held the second weekend of September. People travel from hundreds of miles to partake of the boudin.{{cite news |last1=Sier |first1=Renee |title=Taste for boudin sausage is in blood |url=https://www.daily-journal.com/life/food/taste-for-boudin-sausage-is-in-blood/article_6d169213-103b-5821-9951-ee0afb3e3915.html |access-date=14 December 2021 |publisher=Daiily Journal}}

"Le Boudin"

Boudin gave rise to "Le Boudin", the official march of the French Foreign Legion. "Blood sausage" is a colloquial reference to the gear (rolled up in a red blanket) that used to top the backpacks of Legionnaires.{{Britannica |id=213365 |title=French Foreign Legion |author=Douglas Porch}} The song makes repeated reference to the fact that the Belgians do not get any "blood sausage", since the king of the Belgians at one time forbade his subjects from joining the Legion (the verse says "ce sont des tireurs au cul{{-"}}).{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}