Cookin' ATVS Style: Pulled-Pork Boudin

In the discussion of the general wondiferous-ness of our Tailgate Bracket runner-up, what places make the best boudin, best way to consume, etc..., your humble correspondent remembered an old conversation, by which a friend of mine mentioned his recent purchase of a sausage stuffer.

Upon a couple of phone calls to align schedules, the ATVS Kitchen Strike Force (zrau and I) assembled. The same friend had recently regaled us with stories of boudin made with pulled pork that he and his wife had partaken of at Boucherie in New Orleans.

With zrau having a couple of pounds of his own pulled pork leftover in the freezer, the wheels were a-turnin'. We looked up a few different recipes to come up with the proper ratios for what we wanted, and got to work.

Ingredients:

20 cups cooked rice
4 lbs smoked, pulled pork
2 large green bell peppers, diced finely
3 very large onions, diced finely
2 bunches green onions, diced finely
1 cup chicken stock, or as needed
Cajun seasoning to spice (we used a home-made 50/50 Tony Chachere's/Cayenne pepper combo)

For starters, this will make a LOT of sausage. We went through approximately seven 1.25-inch pork casings. Each casing is about 4-6 links of sausage, depending on how you portion them -- so we made more than enough for us to grill up some links to eat and still produce about 13 vacuum-sealed bags (at three links each) to save. Approximately 28 feet of boudin.

And it was pretty good, y'all.

The pulled pork not only gives the boudin a different texture, but a natural smoke flavor that saves you an extra step that you might need if you were just working with ground pork. We also used basic long-grain white rice, but short-grain might work a little easier, or maybe create a smoother texture.

We're going to break from our typical format, as this features fewer instructions and more of a journey.

For starters, it's important to note that you're going to be working with ingredients that are A) cooked and B) hot. The former makes things much more convenient, and lowers the ick factor that might typically come with making sausage. You also don't have to be as worried about cleanup and contamination as you might be working with raw meat. However, the necessity of working with it while it's hot is that you need to have your casings ready to go per the instructions on the package.

Then it's time to cook start with a good-sized stock pot, and maybe a couple of teaspoons of oil. Sauté your onions/peppers down -- it's a good idea to maybe start with half, then add the rest to get a little variance in texture.

Meanwhile, chop up your pork -- preferably a little cold so that the fat will stay congealed -- to a fine dice. Remember, the mixture has to be fine enough to fit into the casings well.

Once the seasoning is wilted, stir in the pork and mix well to get a good consistency. Heat the mixture through and make sure the fat gets rendered, and then add in your rice. Again, you may need to do this in batches, based on the size of your pot.

Stir the mixture well, and add chicken stock as necessary to keep things moist, but not runny. Then stir in your Cajun seasoning. Taste to make sure it's where you want it spice-wise.

From there we spooned it into a sausage stuffer -- a pretty basic, old-school, hand-lever like this one from Amazon, maneuver the casings on to the spout (which is not weird and vaguely phallic at all), then make yourself some boudin, per your stuffer's instructions.

Once you have it made you can grill it right up or parcel to freeze (vacuum sealing is a must to avoid freezer-burn). This makes a LOT of boudin. Enough to share with friends/family, and save for future tailgates. The pulled-pork variation gives this a much different texture than typical boudin. It's smoother, kind of velvety, with the bits of onion and pepper breaking it up. It naturally has a great color, and the little flecks of green onion provide even more authenticity.

Should you make this? Well, that depends. Do you wish to be the envy of every tailgater you know? For women to want you? For men to want to be you? Then yes. Yes, you should make this.