Boudin () are various kinds of

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

, Belgian,

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

, Québécois,

Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

, Aostan, Louisiana Creole, and

Cajun cuisine Cajun cuisine (french: cuisine cadienne , es, cocina acadiense) is a style of cooking developed by the Cajun–Acadians who were deported from Acadia to Louisiana during the 18th century and who incorporated West African, French and Spanish co ...

Etymology

The

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

word meant 'sausage', 'blood sausage' or '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. The English word "pudding" probably comes from .

Types

* '' ball'': A Cajun variation on . Instead of the filling being stuffed into pork casings, it is rolled into a ball, battered, and deep-fried. * : Originally, a white sausage made of pork without the blood. Variants include: **

/ Belgian boudin blanc, with milk. Generally sautéed or grilled. ** Cajun boudin blanc, made from a pork and rice mixture (much like

dirty rice Dirty rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made from white rice which gets a "dirty" color from being cooked with small pieces of pork, beef or chicken, green bell pepper, celery, and onion, and spiced with cayenne and black pepper. Pars ...

) in pork casings. Often includes pork liver and heart. Generally simmered or braised, although it may also be grilled. ** (): a traditional French , 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 Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...

status. * : A dark-hued

blood sausage A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used. In Europe and the A ...

, containing pork, pig blood, and other ingredients. Variants of the occur in French, Belgian, Cajun and

Catalan cuisine Catalan cuisine is the cuisine from Catalonia. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of Northern Catalonia and Andorra, the second of which has a similar cuisine to that of the neighbouring Alt Urgell and Cerdanya ''comarques'' and which i ...

. The Catalan version of the is called . In the French Caribbean, it is known as . In Britain a similar sausage is called " black pudding", the word "pudding" being an anglicized pronunciation of , and probably introduced after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

. ** : In

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

cuisine, a sausage similar to , but with pork blood added to it. This originated from the French . * : A green sausage made of pork meat and

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

and

kale Kale (), or leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars grown for their edible leaves, although some are used as ornamentals. Kale plants have green or purple leaves, and the central leaves do not form a head ...

. Popular in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. * : with beetroot, spices, wine and beef or pork blood, in the French-speaking Aosta Valley of Italy. * ''Brown-rice '': Brown-rice is a less common variation made from brown rice with taste similar to traditional pork . * ''Crawfish '': Popular in Cajun cuisine, crawfish is made with the meat of

crawfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

tails added to rice. It is often served with cracklins (fried pig skins) and

saltine A saltine or soda cracker is a thin, usually square cracker usually made from white flour, sometimes yeast (although many are yeast free), and baking soda, with most varieties lightly sprinkled with coarse salt. It has perforations over its surf ...

crackers, hot sauce, and ice-cold beer. * ''Gator '': Made from alligator, gator can be found sporadically in Louisiana and the Mississippi gulf coast. * ''Shrimp '': Similar to crawfish , shrimp is made by adding the shrimp to rice. File:Boudin Balls.jpg, balls, made in Marksville, Louisiana. File:Boudin du Sud-Ouest.jpg, A sliced French noir File:Smoked Boudin Blanc.jpg, Cajun-style smoked blanc File:Boudins noir et blanc au marché de Noël de Bruxelles.jpg, at a Christmas market in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

File:Boudin blanc au chou.jpg, and

In the United States

The term boudin in the

Acadiana Acadiana ( French and Louisiana French: ''L'Acadiane''), also known as the Cajun Country (Louisiana French: ''Le Pays Cadjin'', es, País Cajún), is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that has historically contained mu ...

region of Louisiana is commonly understood to refer only to boudin blanc and not to other variants. Boudin blanc is the staple boudin of this region and is the one most widely consumed, and is just referred to as boudin. Also popular is seafood boudin consisting of crawfish or crab, shrimp, and rice. Most of Louisiana's Cajuns do not consider boudin a sausage. Cajun boudin is available most readily in southern Louisiana, particularly in the Scott (considered to be the Boudin Capital of the World), New Iberia, and Lafayette areas, though it may be found nearly anywhere in "Cajun Country". Boudin can even be found in areas outside of this, including 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 Interstate 10 (i.e., Lake Charles area). Since boudin freezes well, it can be shipped anywhere outside the region. Boudin is one of the stars of Cajun cuisine (e.g., jambalaya, gumbo, étouffée, and dirty rice) and has fanatic devotees that travel across Louisiana comparing the numerous handmade varieties. From the Lake Charles to New Orleans areas, boudin's taste and flavors can vary. Some Such as Foreman's Boudin Kitchen use no liver, and other such as Richard's Cajun Kitchen use liver. Boudin Noir is available in Illinois in the Iroquois County towns of Papineau and Beaverville. 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 "Le Boudin" (), officially "Marche de la Légion Étrangère" (English "March of the Foreign Legion"), is the official march of the Foreign Legion. "Le Boudin" is a reference to boudin, a type of blood sausage or black pudding. "Le boudin" colloq ...

", the official march of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

. "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

Belgians Belgians ( nl, Belgen; french: Belges; german: Belgier) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe. As Belgium is a multinational state, this connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultur ...

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'').

References

External links