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Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Southern Boudin Trail

ORAL HISTORY

XTRA: Red Boudin

Red boudin, also known as boudin rouge or blood boudin, is a fading tradition in Acadiana. Only specially-licensed slaughterhouses are allowed to produce this generations-old delicacy. Babineaux’s in Breax Bridge, Louisiana, is one of the last commercial makers of red boudin in the area. Here, we offer a short photo essay to illustrate their process.

FAIR WARNING: You are about to get a behind-the-scenes peek into the workings of a slaughterhouse. If the sight of blood isn’t on your list of things to see today, maybe you’d like to listen to Rodney Babineaux talk about his family’s tradition of making red boudin.

All photos are by Sara Roahen.

making boudin_Babineaux_1 — Pigs at Babineaux’s Slaughter House.

making boudin_Babineaux_2 — Readying for the slaughter.

making boudin_Babineaux_3 — The pig that gave its blood for Babineaux’s red boudin.

making boudin_Babineaux_4 — Fresh pig’s blood mixed with salt (to prevent coagulation).

making boudin_Babineaux_5 — Singeing the hair from a dead pig.

making boudin_Babineaux_6 — Boiling the butchered pig.

making boudin_Babineaux_6a — Rice for the red boudin.

making boudin_Babineaux_7 — The rice cooks beside the pork, over a gas flame.

making boudin_Babineaux_8 — Separating the meat from the bones.

making boudin_Babineaux_9 — Passing the pork through a meat grinder.

making boudin_Babineaux_10 — Peelings onions that will also pass through the meat grinder and be mixed with the ground pork.

making boudin_Babineaux_11 — Mixing the ground pork with the cooked rice.

making boudin_Babineaux_12 — Straining the pork stock, which will be mixed into the pork-rice mixture.

making boudin_Babineaux_13 — Adding dried seasonings to the boudin mix.

making boudin_Babineaux_14 — Mixing the pig’s blood.

making boudin_Babineaux_15 — Natural pork casings.

making boudin_Babineaux_16 — Filling the casings with the red boudin mixture using a pump driven by water pressure.

making boudin_Babineaux_17 — Uncooked red boudin.

Babineaux's boudin_2 — Cooked red boudin (L) with regular boudin (R) from Babineaux’s Slaughter House.

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