Boudin () is a type of sausage found in several Francophonie. The added ingredients vary in French cuisine, Luxembourgish, Belgian cuisine, Swiss cuisine, Québecois, Acadian cuisine, Aosta Valley, Louisiana Creole, and Cajun cuisine. Some variations such as boudin blanc contain no blood but retain the name.
Etymology
The Anglo-Norman word boudin meant , , or 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. ).
[Trésor de la langue française, s.v. "boudin"] The English word
pudding probably comes, via the Germanic word
puddek for sausage,
[Collins English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1991] from boudin.
[ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2007, s.v. "pudding"]
Some modern chefs, such as John Folse
Types
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italic=unset ball: A Cajun variation on boudin blanc. Instead of the filling being stuffed into pork casings, it is rolled into a ball, battered, and deep-fried.
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Boudin blanc: Originally, a white sausage made of pork without the blood. Variants include:
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French cuisine boudin blanc, with milk. Generally sautéed or grilled.
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Boudin blanc de Liège: A Belgian cuisine version similar to French boudin blanc but with marjoram, which has a protected geographical indication.
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Cajun cuisine 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,
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Boudin blanc de Rethel (): a traditional French boudin, which may only contain pork meat, fresh whole eggs and milk, and cannot contain any breadcrumbs or flours/starches. It is protected under European Union with a Protected geographical indication status.
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Boudin noir: A dark-hued blood sausage, containing pork, pig blood, and other ingredients. Variants of the boudin noir occur in French, Belgian, Cajun and Catalan cuisine. The Catalan version of the boudin noir is called botifarra negra.
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Boudin rouge: In Louisiana cuisine, a sausage similar to Cajun boudin blanc with pork blood added to it, though less commonly made. This originated from the French boudin noir.
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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.
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Boudin valdôtain: with beetroot, spices, wine and beef or pork blood.
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Brown-rice italic=unset: Brown-rice boudin is a less common variation made from brown rice with taste similar to traditional pork boudin.
File:Boudin Balls.jpg|Boudin balls, made in Marksville, Louisiana.
File:Boudin du Sud-Ouest.jpg|A sliced French boudin noir
File:Smoked Boudin Blanc.jpg|Cajun-style smoked boudin blanc
File:Boudins noir et blanc au marché de Noël de Bruxelles.jpg|Boudins blancs at a Christmas market in Brussels
File:Boudin blanc au chou.jpg|Boudins verts and 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
bison intestine, meat, and kidney
suet, boiled the links, and fried them in bear grease.
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.
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
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.
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.
"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.
The song makes repeated reference to the fact that the
Belgium 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).
See also
External links
