Eggs Boudinict

At home meat meets flame quite often. Lindsay makes routine trips to the western portion of this fair state, and she is kind enough to always carry an ice chest in her car. She stops at Best Stop, Bergeron's, or some other meat market and fills it with boudin, sausages, meat pies, etc... Then recently I received a test sample of boudin from Sunset Farm Foods in Georgia. They asked me to try it (I did) and give them some feedback (I did).

So the other Saturday I was craving eggs Benedict. Two problems: 1) I don't really enjoy English muffins, and 2) I had no Canadian bacon. But a few months ago at a press event, Chef Brian Landry of Galatoire's created a version which used hogshead cheese for the pork quotient.

So remove the boudin from the casings, form it into a patty, and cook them in a non-stick pan until crusty on the outside. Eggs Benedict needs poached eggs and hollandaise, so lets make 'em.

To poach an egg: In a pot with at least a two inch side, bring water to a simmer and then add a tablespoon of vinegar. Drop egg into water, cook for 2-3 minutes, remove with slotted spoon and pat dry.

To make hollandaise: Melt a half stick of butter in the microwave or in a pot. In a metal or glass bowl whisk one egg yolk with the juice of half a lemon, add salt, pepper, and some cayenne. Set this bowl over a simmering pot of water - "Hey the one you used to poach an egg would work." Continue whisking as you stream in the melted butter. It will set and you have made hollandaise.

This is one hell of a brunch. You break the egg yolk which combines with the hollandaise and saturates the boudin. The boudin is crunchy on the outside while remaining soft and flavorful on the inside. Plus a good boudin has all the spice and flavor the dish needs. It is all the textural elements of a classic Eggs Benedict in a more local way. Serve it with a cup of chicory spiked with a shot of Catdaddy or with a mimosa.

Or you could make two patties and place a fried egg in between them and call it an Egg McBoudinwich. I'll be here all weekend folks.

And hey, if you are going to the Saints game this weekend, Ben Sarrat, Jr., will be the honorary captain for the Saints. So cheer loud for him.