Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail

It’s been over a year now that the Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail has been in existence. Not to say the mom & pop shops along the boudin trail didn’t exist until a year ago, in fact, several of the stops along the boudin trail have been family owned for generations. What’s great about the trail is that it winds through Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes, so you can see all of Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana along the way, even down to our Gulf beaches!

First off, you might wonder what boudin is! It’s a tasty finger food that on the service looks like sausage. But boudin is Louisiana's spiced-up hybrid of pork or beef sausage. It's a tender, savory mix of pork, rice, liver, parsley and onions, variously seasoned with salt, red pepper, black pepper and garlic powder. Everything's stirred together, stuffed into casings and sold hot by the pound. It's the first thing we break out whenever there is a group of culinary writers in town or a tour group who needs a little flavor of the area!

There's mild boudin and hot boudin. There's smoked boudin, with a crispy casing. There's shrimp, crawfish and even alligator boudin. Bite it, slice it or squeeze it, and you'll discover Louisiana's love of food crammed inside.

No two boudin recipes are alike. Whether it's sold at a restaurant, a grocery store or a gas station, boudin has fillings and flavors reflecting the individual tastes and traditions of each boudin maker.

For a list of stops along the Boudin Trail, visit http://www.visitlakecharles.org/boudintrail or contact the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau at 800-456-7952 for a boudin trail brochure.