BOUDIN BLANC DIP

If you’re a boudin junkie, you can drive through L’Acadiane and stop in spaces of less than 10 miles to get a fix of the most addictive sausage and rice creation known to palate; the stuffing is everywhere. Lucky neighbors: if we want fresh boudin in Mississippi, we make it. It’s very fine and relatively easy, given you have good fresh ingredients like we have. Since our dish is being stuffed into a pretty baking dish instead of a casing, its preparation diverges slightly from the normal compounding of a boudin in that cheese helps meld the ingredients instead of reserved liquids. Amendments are made to make it creamy, punchy, and ascetically pleasing for the center of your table. And it isn’t a rhetorical question to ask “what is boudin without beer”? They go together in your hands, and they go together in this dish. It’s easy and inexpensive to make, and will feed and please the multitudes. "Please multitudes at tailgates, duck camps, debutante parties, etc, as it goes fast and someone may leave teeth marks in one of those disposable aluminum pans.

INGREDIENTS

 2 cups Delta Belle or Missimati Bayou Bouquet Fragrant Ecogrown Long Grain White Rice

2 tbsp oil

4 cups water for rice

2 pounds coarsely ground pork (get butcher to grind some shoulders or butts with a little jowl thrown in)

½ pound pork liver (chicken livers will suffice here), chopped

1 cup water for meats

3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced finely

5 tbsp garlic, minced

1 large onion, diced

3 celery ribs, diced fine

3 handfuls of scallion (about 30 in all), chopped, divided

1½ tbsp paprika

1½ tsp cayenne, ground

2 tbsp mild pepper sauce, your favored

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp celery seed

16 ounces of sour cream

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

16 ounces sharp white cheddar, grated

½ cup heavy cream

1 16 ounce Tall Boy of Coors, Budweiser, or Pabst beer (Coors and Budweiser use rice, preferable)

Chopped chives, for garnish (optional)

METHOD

Cook rice. In large saucepan, heat oil and add rice, swirling the pan to coat grains. Add water, bring to boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, reduce to simmer, and cook for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

In large stockpot, fry liver. Remove and chop finely, then set aside.

Brown ground pork in the stockpot, and add chopped liver. Add 1cup water, bring to a boil, stir frequently, and reduce until water evaporated.

Add jalapeno peppers, garlic, onion, celery, 2/3 of scallions, paprika, cayenne, pepper sauce, black pepper, salt, and celery seed. Blend well and sauté until onions translucent. Add sour cream, cream cheese, sharp white cheddar, and cream. Blend very well while still on heat. Add rice, and blend well while still heating. The mixture will thicken due to the cheese—add ½ the Tall Boy of beer, blend well. If too thick, continue to add beer. When at a modestly thick but pourable consistency, add remaining scallions, blend well, and pour into 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. If desired, top with chives. Great with corn or pita chips, or rice or saltine crackers. Enjoy!