Editor’s note: This is the second column in a series where Reid explores the origins and influences that make Southeast Texas barbecue unique. The first column provided an overview of how the influence of Louisiana traditions came to flavor Houston barbecue. Here, he covers specific barbecue traditions native to Cajun country.

Driving north from Lafayette into the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun country gets my mouth watering — literally. I’ve had the good fortune to spend most of my life traveling to Louisiana to visit friends and family, partaking of this region’s grand culinary traditions along the way.

The quick 30-minute drive to Opelousas is filled with memories and images of small convenience stores stocked with boudin, andouille sausage, tasso ham and ponce (stuffed pig’s stomach). Towns such as Eunice, Mamou and Ville Platte harbor all manner of this Cajun culinary goodness.

One thing you will almost never find on those back roads is a traditional beef-centric barbecue joint. This is in stark contrast to Texas (especially Central Texas), where a barbecue joint with an offset smoker and a menu of brisket and pork ribs seems to pop up every 100 miles or so.

Back to Gallery The origins of Southeast Texas barbecue: The Cajun... 4 1 of 4 Photo: J.C. Reid / For the Chronicle 2 of 4 Photo: J.C. Reid / For the Chronicle 3 of 4 Photo: J.C. Reid / For the Chronicle 4 of 4 Photo: J.C. Reid / For the Chronicle







Indeed, I am frequently asked, “Why aren’t there more barbecue joints in Louisiana?”

Recent history notwithstanding — Texas-style barbecue joints have been opening in New Orleans and Lafayette — the technique of cooking meat with fire and smoke in Louisiana has always been oriented more toward community and family rather than as a large-scale commercial endeavor.

More Information Love the smell of wood smoke in the morning? Join J.C. Reid, Alison Cook and Greg Morago as they discuss barbecue culture with special guests by subscribing to the Chronicle’s BBQ State of Mind podcast on Apple’s Podcasts, or visit houstonchronicle.com/ bbqpodcast.

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The boucherie (butchery in French) is a long-standing community tradition involving a hog that’s slaughtered and cooked on the spot. The pig typically is cooked using direct heat over a trench in the ground filled with wood coals.

The “trench method” is one of the oldest barbecue traditions in Louisiana and the southern United States. An article in New Orleans’ Times-Picayune newspaper published Oct. 12, 1844, celebrates the cooking style: “In the neighborhood large trenches are dug, some three feet wide by four feet deep. In this dyke large wood fires are kindled at the proper time; poles are laid across it, and on these, oxen, deer, sheep, pigs, etc. are roasted whole.”

This technique would eventually take root in Southeast Texas. For example, late Houston pitmaster Felix Powell recalled growing up in Louisiana in the 1930s and attending boucheries. When his family moved to Beaumont in the 1940s, they continued to use the trench method in their backyard to cook both pork and beef.

Another tradition appropriated from Louisiana is that of the smoke room. Traveling in Cajun country today, each small community has its own well-known convenience store and smoke room. For example, T-Boy’s Slaughter House & Boudin & Cracklins is the popular spot in Eunice. A closet-size room is filled with just-stuffed sausages, like boudin and andouille, then smoke from an exterior firebox is circulated through the room, flavoring and partially cooking the meat.

These par-cooked items can then be refrigerated and sold in a meat market; the final cooking is done at home. Purveyors, including Zummo’s and DJ’s in Beaumont and Frenchy’s in Houston, have adopted this method on a larger scale to provide par-cooked and fully cooked sausage and boudin to Southeast Texas barbecue joints and restaurants.

Although Texas-style barbecue is slowly starting to make its way back over the Sabine River into Louisiana, the last century has experienced a mostly one-way flow of traditions, recipes and ingredients from Cajun Country to Southeast Texas. In places like Beaumont and Houston, these Cajun traditions combined with the beef-centric traditions of Central Texas to create the unique barbecue we know and love to eat today.

J.C. Reid is the Chronicle's barbecue columnist. He also is the co-host of BBQ State of Mind, a podcast covering barbecue news from Texas and around the world, and co-founder of the Houston Barbecue Festival. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or send barbecue tips and questions to jcreid@jcreidtx.com.