So here I was, MawMaw reading her daily abundance of emails when I received the email from a Cajun family transplanted in San Diego wanting to get together with someone to make boudoin. Gosh, how long had it been that my family had gotten together, started the fire, heated the water, slaughtered the hog, and made some really fine pork dishes?

Being a transplant in the Phoenix area, I would generally order my boudoin by phone or whenever I visited Louisiana I would pack it back home from The Best Stop in Scott, LA. I wondered if I could pull it together using today's modern means and conveniences and thought, "Why not?"

So MawMaw replied, "I believe it was your e-mail that I read that suggested you might be interested in getting together with someone in the San Diego area to make boudoin. I will be in San Diego November 07, 2002 thru Sunday." And here is where a beautiful friendship begins and the association of the SDBB - The San Diego Boudoin Babes started.

My new found friend replied, "Oh we are very interested and so excited! Sounds like a perfect opportunity to make good food and enjoy some fine southern company. You name the time and the place... We live very centrally in San Diego and would be more than happy to host you, so what ever you feel comfortable with. Honestly I am from San Diego but my husband is from Lake Charles, La. and as every family has a favorite source for boudoin, theirs from Rabideaux's in Lake Charles, LA. So with all that said, I hope to try our hand at making a better or equal boudin".

I decided to call my aunt in South Louisiana to refresh my memory and give me pointers on preparing boudoin. My older Aunt Nita, "Nit" as she is affectionately known, verified the steps of making boudoin. I scored jackpot! I could not remember what the old timers had used to stuff the casings. When she said "the horn" I remembered. The horn is actually a bull's horn that has the tip removed. Yep, a bull like in moo. A bull's horn is crescent in shape. You put the casing on the small end of the horn and push the sausage dressing through the larger end of the horn into the casing. Once the dressing is in the casing you push the dressing with your thumb and forefinger towards the end of the casing until it is full. Aunt Nita mailed the horn to San Diego. Therefore we had it for the Boudoin Day. Yippee!

Between the two of us, Ruth and MawMaw (and Aunt Nita) we were able to gather up cooking supplies, a Kitchen-Aid mixer and equipment. The only staple item that might be a bit of a problem to obtain here (outside of Cajun country) would be the fresh (real) casings. That is something you just don't see laying around in your local grocery store...I found out that casings in Phoenix are actually not hard to find at all. They are found in meat markets and are sold by the hank. A hank does about 80 pounds of sausage so I ordered half a hank. Now I have to transport these casings via airliner. Here I had a vision of the security people checking my bag and coming up with a handful of hog-casings. Would that have been a riot?

...Boudin makers unite. We are ready to make that boudoin!

I arrived in San Diego having gone thru airline security without any embarrassing questions and was ready to start the boudoin. The recipe I used was Renee's Classic Boudoin (Boudin) from our website. The only variance I made was that I boiled the meats with 5 shallots, 3 onions, and 2 bell peppers and made mostly the boudoin balls rather than the sausage links. This came out as good as any boudoin I have bought. In the old days pork liver was used as an ingredient; pork liver is hard to find and the flavor of this boudoin is just as good in my opinion as any I had as a younger woman with out the pork liver. Also, you need to soak the casings in water and rinse well before stuffing with the boudoin mix.

The pictures of the process tell its own story. The recipe was precise, we split the fixings, and with new found friends (Ruth's Mom came to help too, even her husband helped) and a renewed kinship of sharing one's heritage is something that I will always treasure. Making boudoin after all these years empowered me to prepare it time and time again since then. My son lives on the east coast; ask him and his friends about his Mom's Best Boudoin Balls!

By the way, if you are interested in joining the SDBB aka San Diego Boudin Babes visit our website and drop MawMaw a line...