Boucherie and parade

On Sunday we went to Eunice for the children's mardi gras courir. The old tradition in this part of the state is to go out into the countryside to gather chickens for the community gumbo to be served at the end of the day. And they do start learning at a young age. There were wagonloads of children riding along the backroads throwing beads. They carry the necessities along on the trailer.

They stopped at a large field and were gathered into groups by age to catch a chicken that was turned loose for them. What a riot it was to watch forty kids on top of one chicken.

We then went over to the boucherie in Eunice where they had butchered a hog. Thank goodness we missed that part. People were cooking cracklins, which is cut up pork including the fat and skin. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to cook.

Other people were making boudin and backbone stew. This is a very old boudin maker where the casing is put onto the tube and then the ground sausage mixture is forced into the casing. The casing is the hog's intestines. Finally it is put into the steamer basket for cooking. In years past neighbors would gather together and butcher a hog. They would then use all parts of the hog, wasting nothing.