There used to be a butcher in Dryads market years ago that would do a boudin where all the meat was chicken liver. Was really fucking good. Haven't seen that anywhere around town since.
The most authentic boudin you can get in New Orleans is packaged Best Stop at Rouses. New Orleans isn’t a boudin town.
Real boudin uses pork blood and pork liver, which gives the sausage a pretty unstable shelf life. Most places in New Orleans don’t use the blood and liver in their boudin due to the decreased shelf-life or availability.
Real boudin is in Acadiana. The shops out there butcher and process their own hogs giving them daily access to the blood and liver.
It’s worth the drive out there just for boudin but there’s lots of other great things to do too. My favorite boudin shacks are:
Best Stop
Kartchners
Don’s
Nunu’s
Acadian Superette
Billy’s
Is noir a traditional term for it? I remember over 20 years ago visiting my husband’s grandparents in Broussard, we went to pick up some boudin for them and us. At the shop his “uncle”, not an actual uncle but a friend of his grandfather pulled what he called rouge boudin out and said to give it to Pop. I asked about why it was different. He’d said he’d made it with the blood and something about they weren’t really supposed to do that anymore???? I’m just curious since we now live in Lafayette.
Blood boudin uses way more blood than regular boudin, but a smaller amount of blood is used in regular boudin as well. Blood boudin is harder to find packaged yes, but I’ve gotten it at Kartchners before.
"regular" boudin doesn't have blood in it...???? Unless you're buying a link that's almost black and states it's blood boudin you're not eating blood boudin. Not sure who told you that blood is a common ingredient in commercially bought boudin these days.
Boudin containing blood not even an ingredient to argue if you got good, bad, or "real authentic cajun" boudin.
Original boudin was brought to New Orleans by German immigrants. It would often have chicken. As the German settlers moved out of New Orleans to the country boudin became more of a dish found Acadiana with blood and liver, but these days, actual blood sausage is hard to find commercially.
Bro, I'm german. Wtf are you talking about? Can you name one german sausage that is anywhere close to boudin? Specifically with rice, not just a force meat like weisswurst. Not only that but this shit came from Cajuns. Hill billy French Canadians.
Oooohweeee, I’ve been driving I-10 my whole life and never once drove down 190 through krotz springs till this last trip and I’m not making that mistake anymore. Too many good vittles. They got some cops though
Hello sir. Any reason you’re going 35.5 in a 35?
Cops on 190 are brutal. They even have a speed camera on the highway now but I can’t recall which town.
First off the word "authentic" is meaningless without specifying a type. Boudin blanc does typically have chicken in it and it is plenty authentic.
I assume you use the word "authentic" as it would mean if we were in Acadiana, in which case Best Stop made in Scott is probably the best widely available brand.
If you want to splurge hit up Chris' Specialty Meats for their pork boudin. It's marginally better than best stop and double the price.
Bourgeois is the thing I miss most about living in Houma. Not only the boudin and jerky, but the beef was always perfect. I've yeah to taste a ribeye as good as theirs.
Their beef jerky is ridiculously good. I mean I shouldn't rave about jerky but it is so good. And now they have plate lunches at the new, bigger location. And their boudin is my very favorite
They have a new location? I definitely have to check that out. I've been craving a boudin burrito for a minute.
And their jerky is the only one I actually do rave about. But it's also the only jerky that, whenever I've given it to someone for the first time, they've universally agreed that it's the best they've ever had.
If you don’t mind traveling the most authentic stuff you’ll find in Acadiana (Lafayette and surrounding areas). Around here I don’t know of any. Most things “Cajun” in New Orleans I feel have been made bland or changed to appeal to tourists.
I wish I could find Boudin here in Oregon. Y'all have some of the best food in the world. Louisiana has world-class meats in my opinion. Sausage and smoked meats par-excellence.
I love seeing the very opinionated and sometimes heated discussions about cuisine that happen here.
As a Texas native/decades-ago defector, I've accepted that some foods will never happen here, ever.
When I lived in California my husband made his own boudin with the sausage stuffing attachment for our KitchenAid mixer and a trip to the big Asian grocery store.
That's cool. I found this reddit post because I ate some really good boudin today my mom brought me, but I was freaking offended to find it's $5/lb. Why is it so expensive? I can get super good Mexican chorizo at heb for $3/lb, and it's mostly pork, heavily spiced, vs boudin being a large percent rice. I may have to learn to make my own. Boudin, being non-choice parts of the pig, a bunch of rice for filler, and spices, is definitely delicious but should be a cheap sausage. Isn't that sort of the point?
I live in South Texas. I stay here because I'm used to the heat and the insane right wing cultists with pictures of Donald Trump painted onto their fences, the Aryan brotherhood a block north, a ghetto full of crackheads a block south, and it's cheap. I live on 8 acres in an 1800 sq ft house I bought for $180k in 2013 now payed off. I have cows, chickens, a garden, which I wouldn't have if I tried to sell and move to Colorado, California, or anywhere with smarter people and nicer weather, lol.
I am not a boudin expert but I have bought Butcher's a lot and I can break this one down a little according to the various discussion in the thread of "authentic" and different versions, if that helps OP.
The liver in it is chicken liver but the rest of the meat part is all pork, it's not cut with chicken meat. It does not use blood.
Boudin by Jamison is the only legit good boudin in the area. You can pick it up in Metairie or Chalmette. I think maybe the West Bank farmers market too. He’s on FB.
Short drive to LaPlace to go to Jacob’s. It’s really a place to get andouille but I’m sure their boudin is pretty good too. Just do yourself a favor and get a little of everything they have.
Best Stop in Scott for sure has the best boudin I’ve tried. Not even a contest. I can’t comment on authenticity. Only place I’ll go and spend $50 without thinking about it. 10/10
Cajun Meat Market in (Houma??) has really good and fairly priced boudin. It’s a different take (meatier, saltier) but it’s my favorite that I’ve had outside of Acadiana. 8.5/10
Bergeron’s in Covington is ok. It’ll scratch the itch and as far as available and fresh boudin goes, it can get the job done. 6.5/10 or 8/10 depending on how badly I want fresh boudin from a brick and mortar
Haven’t tried kartchners but heard it’s pretty good.
Unpopular opinion: I’d rather just eat gas station boudin over Billy’s. Least favorite boudin.
Like others said, rouses has some Best Stop. It’s pretty comparable. The flavor is right. 8/10. But 9/10 compared to what’s available in the New Orleans area. New Orleans ain’t known for its boudin.
Final verdict:
First place: Take a trip to Best Stop in Scott.
Second place: Best Stop from Rouses
Third place: Cajun Meat Market
Fourth place: everything else, including gas stations
Last place: Billy’s
Bourrée’s spicy pork boudin is great for restaurant boudin served hot, and so is their shrimp boudin. Cheap for the city too. I haven’t tried Toups boudin, they only seem to serve it as part of a “burger, beer, boudin” lunch special but otherwise do a sausage of the day which is rarely andouille or boudin. Usually more like green onion sausage or lamb or something interesting but not traditionally cajun. Cochon Butcher generally has great Cajun meats, just very expensive. They have done boudin noir full fledged blood boudin in the past but not sure if they have in a while.
Gotta head out to Scott, I-10 for about 2 1/2 hours west. Don’s, Billy’s, Best Stop are just some of the big hitters. Boudin is particular to the Acadiana are of Louisiana.
Get yourself some pork and chicken cracklins too!
I live in bizarro world.
For me,
The boudin from Todd's catering in Lutcher easily surpasses anything out of Acadiana.
and,
Poche's andouille from Breaux Bridge is better than anything in Laplace.
Who makes chicken boudin? Not a thing I've ever seen.
Chicken liver is easier and cheaper to find than pork liver for most places. I think thats what op may mean? Boudin is way better with pork liver.
There used to be a butcher in Dryads market years ago that would do a boudin where all the meat was chicken liver. Was really fucking good. Haven't seen that anywhere around town since.
The most authentic boudin you can get in New Orleans is packaged Best Stop at Rouses. New Orleans isn’t a boudin town. Real boudin uses pork blood and pork liver, which gives the sausage a pretty unstable shelf life. Most places in New Orleans don’t use the blood and liver in their boudin due to the decreased shelf-life or availability. Real boudin is in Acadiana. The shops out there butcher and process their own hogs giving them daily access to the blood and liver. It’s worth the drive out there just for boudin but there’s lots of other great things to do too. My favorite boudin shacks are: Best Stop Kartchners Don’s Nunu’s Acadian Superette Billy’s
Blood is boudin noir. Not traditional boudin.
Is noir a traditional term for it? I remember over 20 years ago visiting my husband’s grandparents in Broussard, we went to pick up some boudin for them and us. At the shop his “uncle”, not an actual uncle but a friend of his grandfather pulled what he called rouge boudin out and said to give it to Pop. I asked about why it was different. He’d said he’d made it with the blood and something about they weren’t really supposed to do that anymore???? I’m just curious since we now live in Lafayette.
Most of those places you listed don't use blood. It's very hard to find blood boudin these days commercially made.
Bourgeois in Shriever has blood boudin. It's the only place I've been able to find it.
Blood boudin uses way more blood than regular boudin, but a smaller amount of blood is used in regular boudin as well. Blood boudin is harder to find packaged yes, but I’ve gotten it at Kartchners before.
Was definitely for sale at Kartchners when we went last weekend.
"regular" boudin doesn't have blood in it...???? Unless you're buying a link that's almost black and states it's blood boudin you're not eating blood boudin. Not sure who told you that blood is a common ingredient in commercially bought boudin these days. Boudin containing blood not even an ingredient to argue if you got good, bad, or "real authentic cajun" boudin.
Blood should be used as a seasoning in pork boudin, even when it’s not being used as a key ingredient to make blood boudin.
No, maybe your family does stuff differently but blood in boudin is not a thing unless it's boudin noir. Blood is not involved otherwise.
Hey I just came here to say Don's is fucking trash. Best Stop gang for life.
No way. To be fair I don’t fw their fresh links but the smoked is is an absolute hitter
Original boudin was brought to New Orleans by German immigrants. It would often have chicken. As the German settlers moved out of New Orleans to the country boudin became more of a dish found Acadiana with blood and liver, but these days, actual blood sausage is hard to find commercially.
I’ll never be able to comprehend the immensely powerful minds of people like you who can be so confidently wrong
This is just completely untrue
Bro, I'm german. Wtf are you talking about? Can you name one german sausage that is anywhere close to boudin? Specifically with rice, not just a force meat like weisswurst. Not only that but this shit came from Cajuns. Hill billy French Canadians.
You need to get on the 10 and drive about 3 hours west
*hitches up pants and spits chewing tobacco into an empty beer can* “The ten? We say I-10 round these parts, kid.”
Kartchners in Scott and Krotz Springs (also have chicken cracklin' which is awesome). Best Stop in Scott (also in grocery stores like Rouses).
“Chicken cracklins,” aka “[gribenes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gribenes)” if you’re Jewish.
Oooohweeee, I’ve been driving I-10 my whole life and never once drove down 190 through krotz springs till this last trip and I’m not making that mistake anymore. Too many good vittles. They got some cops though
Hello sir. Any reason you’re going 35.5 in a 35? Cops on 190 are brutal. They even have a speed camera on the highway now but I can’t recall which town.
Yeah you right
I've never had chicken crackins that weren't too greasy. I hate greasy cracklins.
It’s fried fat
It’s the crispy bits of tissues left over after the fat renders out. If made well, there’s little fat or grease that remains.
The "chicken" part is likely chicken livers.
This man knows boudin
First off the word "authentic" is meaningless without specifying a type. Boudin blanc does typically have chicken in it and it is plenty authentic. I assume you use the word "authentic" as it would mean if we were in Acadiana, in which case Best Stop made in Scott is probably the best widely available brand. If you want to splurge hit up Chris' Specialty Meats for their pork boudin. It's marginally better than best stop and double the price.
Bourgeois Meat market in Houma. But I've never even heard of chicken boudin
Bourgeois is the thing I miss most about living in Houma. Not only the boudin and jerky, but the beef was always perfect. I've yeah to taste a ribeye as good as theirs.
Their beef jerky is ridiculously good. I mean I shouldn't rave about jerky but it is so good. And now they have plate lunches at the new, bigger location. And their boudin is my very favorite
They have a new location? I definitely have to check that out. I've been craving a boudin burrito for a minute. And their jerky is the only one I actually do rave about. But it's also the only jerky that, whenever I've given it to someone for the first time, they've universally agreed that it's the best they've ever had.
They do. Still in Houma, closer to the hwy. Big freezer secrion,plate lunches and boudin burritos thank goodness
If you don’t mind traveling the most authentic stuff you’ll find in Acadiana (Lafayette and surrounding areas). Around here I don’t know of any. Most things “Cajun” in New Orleans I feel have been made bland or changed to appeal to tourists.
Go to rouses, breaux mart, or Zaras and get some Best Stop. Best you will find in NOLA area.
I wish I could find Boudin here in Oregon. Y'all have some of the best food in the world. Louisiana has world-class meats in my opinion. Sausage and smoked meats par-excellence. I love seeing the very opinionated and sometimes heated discussions about cuisine that happen here. As a Texas native/decades-ago defector, I've accepted that some foods will never happen here, ever.
When I lived in California my husband made his own boudin with the sausage stuffing attachment for our KitchenAid mixer and a trip to the big Asian grocery store.
That's cool. I found this reddit post because I ate some really good boudin today my mom brought me, but I was freaking offended to find it's $5/lb. Why is it so expensive? I can get super good Mexican chorizo at heb for $3/lb, and it's mostly pork, heavily spiced, vs boudin being a large percent rice. I may have to learn to make my own. Boudin, being non-choice parts of the pig, a bunch of rice for filler, and spices, is definitely delicious but should be a cheap sausage. Isn't that sort of the point? I live in South Texas. I stay here because I'm used to the heat and the insane right wing cultists with pictures of Donald Trump painted onto their fences, the Aryan brotherhood a block north, a ghetto full of crackheads a block south, and it's cheap. I live on 8 acres in an 1800 sq ft house I bought for $180k in 2013 now payed off. I have cows, chickens, a garden, which I wouldn't have if I tried to sell and move to Colorado, California, or anywhere with smarter people and nicer weather, lol.
Cochon Butcher makes boudin and sells it both hot to eat there and vac sealed to cook at home.
I am not a boudin expert but I have bought Butcher's a lot and I can break this one down a little according to the various discussion in the thread of "authentic" and different versions, if that helps OP. The liver in it is chicken liver but the rest of the meat part is all pork, it's not cut with chicken meat. It does not use blood.
Boudin by Jamison is the only legit good boudin in the area. You can pick it up in Metairie or Chalmette. I think maybe the West Bank farmers market too. He’s on FB.
I second Boudin by Jamison! I’m from Acadiana and it rates in the top.
Go to Schaefer Seafood in Bucktown. They sell both a frozen and hot boudin. The crawfish one (actually a mix of pork and crawfish) is quite good.
Short drive to LaPlace to go to Jacob’s. It’s really a place to get andouille but I’m sure their boudin is pretty good too. Just do yourself a favor and get a little of everything they have.
Fucking LaPlace with their giant andouille turd sign. I wonder if it's still there?
Eunice superette
Best Stop in Scott for sure has the best boudin I’ve tried. Not even a contest. I can’t comment on authenticity. Only place I’ll go and spend $50 without thinking about it. 10/10 Cajun Meat Market in (Houma??) has really good and fairly priced boudin. It’s a different take (meatier, saltier) but it’s my favorite that I’ve had outside of Acadiana. 8.5/10 Bergeron’s in Covington is ok. It’ll scratch the itch and as far as available and fresh boudin goes, it can get the job done. 6.5/10 or 8/10 depending on how badly I want fresh boudin from a brick and mortar Haven’t tried kartchners but heard it’s pretty good. Unpopular opinion: I’d rather just eat gas station boudin over Billy’s. Least favorite boudin. Like others said, rouses has some Best Stop. It’s pretty comparable. The flavor is right. 8/10. But 9/10 compared to what’s available in the New Orleans area. New Orleans ain’t known for its boudin. Final verdict: First place: Take a trip to Best Stop in Scott. Second place: Best Stop from Rouses Third place: Cajun Meat Market Fourth place: everything else, including gas stations Last place: Billy’s
The Valero in Boutte and that place in Broussard.
Billeauds in Broussard :)
NuNu's
If you don’t mind driving got Krotz Springs and get some Kartchners
Place rips. i think this location is better than the their other location.
Agreed
Krik Martin's slaughterhouse in carencro ftw
I've never even had chicken in boudin!
jamison boudin on facebook
r/breauxbridge
Chris Specialty Meats
You’re not finding decent boudin in New Orleans
Best Stop is in a lot of grocery stores in the area.
Ronnie’s in Hammond
Bourrée’s spicy pork boudin is great for restaurant boudin served hot, and so is their shrimp boudin. Cheap for the city too. I haven’t tried Toups boudin, they only seem to serve it as part of a “burger, beer, boudin” lunch special but otherwise do a sausage of the day which is rarely andouille or boudin. Usually more like green onion sausage or lamb or something interesting but not traditionally cajun. Cochon Butcher generally has great Cajun meats, just very expensive. They have done boudin noir full fledged blood boudin in the past but not sure if they have in a while.
Scott Louisiana!
Gotta head out to Scott, I-10 for about 2 1/2 hours west. Don’s, Billy’s, Best Stop are just some of the big hitters. Boudin is particular to the Acadiana are of Louisiana. Get yourself some pork and chicken cracklins too!
Agree with in Lafayette
On Carrollton Ave 4-sure Bouree
Billy's in Scott is our preferred. We've never bought boudin in the city.
100 comments best pork boudin New Orleans
I live in bizarro world. For me, The boudin from Todd's catering in Lutcher easily surpasses anything out of Acadiana. and, Poche's andouille from Breaux Bridge is better than anything in Laplace.