Porky's Boudin and Cracklin - Alexandria, LA

Fresh cracklin strips from Porky's in Alexandria, Louisiana

 -- The cracklin at Porky's in Alexandria is not as good as the boudin, but they're still worth a try.  This 4-year old store is making a name for itself in central Louisiana as the home to the region's best boudin and cracklin and if may indeed deserve the title.  The cracklin here come in long strips and they are lightly seasoned and not possessing of much bite.  CRUNCH on the other hand is something they excel at providing.  The strips are mostly skin with fat playing a secondary role and meat being a bit more elusive.  They cook them throughout the day so you're sure to get a fresh batch!

Check out the review of Porky's boudin HERE.

LeBlanc's Specialty Meats - Lafayette

Fine Cracklin/Gratons from LeBlanc's Speciatly Meats in Lafayette.

---  Porkalicious!!!  Shockingly good.  We didn't even get them hot, but these nuggets of fried pork perfection were awesome.  They're gently seasoned and offer a great ratio of meat to fat to skin.  The meat is cooked to the point where it gives some crunch, but not so much that it is too dry.  This stop, just off of Interstate 10, is definitely worth a try!!  It was nice that they had tiny bags ready to go.

Juneau's Cajun Meats (Crunchy Crackling) - Marksville, LA

A bag of warm crackin from Juneau's in Marksville, LA.

 -- A true delight!  Perfectly seasoned.  Perfectly crunchy, meaty, fatty, flavorful and juicy.  These are some of the best cracklin you're likely to find.  Anywhere!  They tasted fresh and clean. Made us want to just keep reaching for another nugget all the way back to Lafayette.  Juneau's is truly awesome.

Hog Tails' Pork Cracklin - Fifth Ward, LA

--  Uncle Jesse cooks these golden nuggets up out back, behind his Hog Tails store in Fifth Ward (outside of Marksville).  They hold more promise than they deliver.  Though cooked fairly well, the bland seasoning did nothing to mask the less-than-fresh taste that punctuated these cracklings.  And for a review of their boudin look here: Hog Tails Boudin

Sophie P. Cakes - Lafayette, LA

 --  A CRACKLIN CUPCAKE????  Yes, indeed it is.  Does it work? Well, you'll have to decide for yourself.  However, in our opinion it certainly works better that you might think.  With a delicious and moist sweet potato cake and a still-crunch cracklin top, these are a cake we look forward to sampling again and again.

THE LOW-DOWN  

Price = Special Order

 Crunch = 3 Gratons 

Meat/Fat/Skin/Cake Ratio = 4 Gratons 

Seasoning = 5 Gratons 

Presentation = 3 Gratons 

Did you check out Acadiana Profile.  We're extremely pleased to have written this cover article on our favorite fried pork treat!!!

Eunice Poultry - Eunice, LA

  -- Back on the Cracklin Trail and we encountered some problems: old, soggy, fatty, and barely seasoned.  No one is looking for cracklin like this, so it is odder still that they have to have a sign asking people to NOT put their hands in the cracklins!!  There is little to redeem these nuggets of mostly fat.  Let's face it, cracklin are already something we shouldn't really be eating, so if they're yucky why do it at all?  That's our advice.  Enjoy your time on the Trail!!

Kyle's Good Old Cajun On-Site Catering

A huge batch of Kyle's fresh-made cracklin.  So good!

Kyle Usie and Chuey Martinez, the host of "All You Can Meat"

 If we ever have an event where we need cracklin cooked on-site we'll choose Kyle's Good Old Cajun On-Site Catering.  We came to experience this world champion cracklin cooker's gratons when we helped coordinate a television shoot on cracklin for a Travel Channel show called "All You Can Meat."  Kyle cooked up a batch of cracklin from start to finish under a couple of huge oak trees on a farm just south of Erath, LA and the results were spectacular.  He uses a special grade of lard and has a spice blend that is perfect.  Kyle cooks at various festivals and events and if you get a chance to sample his cracklin we say DO IT! 

Billeaud's Grocery - Broussard, LA

Billeaud's Grocery's Cracklin.

--- Perhaps one of the coolest things about Billeaud's (aside from the fact that they've been in business since the late 1800s) is that you can get "cracklin crumbs."  Yes, for less than half the price of the regular cracklin, you can get a little baggie of crumbs.  Why?  I asked and the answer is that a lot of people put them in their corn bread.  Zoinks!  What a great idea!  Oh, the possibilities. . . . . . . . .

Guidroz's Food Center - Lafayette, LA

 -- Guidroz's cracklin can be found in small paper bags (of various sizes/prices) stamped with the store's name on top of the meat counter.  The Guidroz family works everyday in the store and at any given time you might find three generations (grandfather, father, and son) working side by side to keep the place running smoothly.

Dave's Quality Meats - New Iberia, LA

Fat stains showing through a brown paper bag is a wonderful sight.

---  Dave's  is a contender when it comes to cracklins.  These nuggets of pork perfection were served warm and were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.  The fat and meat did not have all the moisture cooked out of them.  Sometimes we find cracklin are too dry.  These were not dry at all and added a new level of flavor.

Early's Food Store- Scott, LA

Cracklin in a newspaper lined pan at Early's in Scott

 --- Upon entering the store take a hard right and head to the deli window.  Here's where you can get a small variety of delicious prepared foods and sandwiches to go.  The potato salad they make to go along with their Sunday lunches is one of my favorites.  But we're here for the cracklins today.  They keep'em in a newspaper lined pan toward the back of the cooking area.

Bourque's Supermarket - Port Barre, LA

-- It was a pleasant drive to Port Barre for our most recent venture onto the Cracklin Trail and low-and-behold we were not disappointed: Just the opposite really.  These cracklin are touted as being "world famous."  Truth is, a lot of homemade items at Bourque's are given that title.  I'll leave the veracity of such claims to another thread.  Suffice it to say that these cracklin were fresh, super meaty, crunchy with a perfect complement of fatty moisture adding texture and tons of flavor.  There was the hint of sweetness in the seasoning which we wish had been a touch hotter, but that is really just quibbling.  We'll be back for these and we suggest that you give'em a try.

Da Bo's, Tom's Mega, and Lee's Country Style - Commercial Brands

Our best advice is . . . . .don't.

-- On a recent trip through Mississippi we stopped and picked up these three bags of "cracklin" at a convenience store.  I've lumped the review together here because they are all, essentially, the same level of bad. 

• Da Bo's bills itself as both "traditional" and "tender."  While "traditional" is a more subjective term, "tender" is fairly straightforward and I can assure you that these are NOT tender. 
• Lee's Pig Skins is touted as being "country style" and "seasoned dipper." Here I'm scratching my head.  I'll leave "country style" alone and focus on "seasoned dipper."  What does that mean?  Who dips cracklin?  Anyway, they are in strips, so, I suppose, if there was something to dip them in they'd be better for it than a nugget.
• Tom's Mega Cracklin - Let's see, how can I put this. . . . . well, Mega is defined as "large or great" and these cracklin are neither large nor great.

Hebert's Slaughter House - Abbeville, LA

Hebert's Slaughter House - Cracklin

 -- Hebert's Slaughter House is located on the outskirts of Abbeville, Louisiana and it has served the community for over two generations as a full scale butcher shop and slaughter house.  Here is where you can get all the custom cuts that other places just can't accommodate.  There are plenty of bands saws around for meat and bone cutting and one result of all the meat cutting they're doing here is an abundance of fresh pork skins for making

Cormier's Specialty Meats - Jennings, LA

A snack size bag of fresh hog cracklin from Cormier's in Jennings.

 -- If only they were warm!  First rate cracklin with first rate seasoning.  They only suffer from not being presented warm; either fresh from molten hog lard or, at the very least, from being kept warm under a heating lamp.  Ahhh, such is life in South Louisiana.

Brim's Pork Cracklin Strips - "Old Fashioned" and "Seasoned"

Two types of cracklins from Brim's.

--- Brim's . . . . . what is there to say?  For some poor souls this is the closest they may ever come to what folks in Louisiana know and love as pork cracklins.  Perhaps ignorance is bliss.  Okay, okay, okay, they're not as bad as the Wash Pot Style we sampled earlier.  Their crunch is actually rather appealing and the seasoning is substantial.  Still, there is no meat (which may be a good thing) and what used to be the fat has taken on a texture that makes sense only when you consider these cracklin "strips" have been sitting in a bag for . . . . .who knows how long.  Both the "old fashioned" and the "seasoned" have slightly perceptible pork flavor [Well, calling it a pork flavor might be going too far; perhaps it is a pork "essence."].

Plauche's Homemade Cracklin

 

 --- Out in the country, around Cottonport, Louisiana, Raymond Plauche is known to make some of the finest cracklin in the state; highly regarded for their tremendous size, unique meat bands, and exquisite "thin and crispy" skins.  You can't buy these in any store, they are a "Private Reserve" graton made only for friends and family.  These are a 5 Graton winner!

THE LOW-DOWN 

Price = Graciously offered to friends and family

Crunch = 5 Gratons

Meat/Fat/Skin Ratio = 5 Gratons

Seasoning = 4 Gratons

Presentation = 5 Gratons

OVERALL SCORE = 5 Gratons 

LOCATION 

Around Cottonport, Louisiana

Ray's Grocery PLUS - Opelousas, LA

Cracklin from Ray's Grocery Plus

 --- Is it just me, or do these folks always have a little chip on their shoulder?  The cracklin are, uh, uninspired; moslty skin and fat and very light seasoning.  Salt, and salt alone, seems like the primary seasoning.  They are exceptionally crunchy, but this is due to their having been over cooked.  Lastly, they exuded a subtle lack of freshness.

THE LOW-DOWN 
Price = $10.49 per lb.
Crunch = 4 Gratons
Meat/Fat/Skin Ratio = 2.5 Gratons
Seasoning = 2 Gratons
Presentation = 3 Gratons

OVERALL SCORE = 2.5 Gratons 

LOCATION 

6028 Louisiana 182

Opelousas, LA 70570-8930

Get Directions

(337) 942-9077

For a review of Ray's Grocery Plus's boudin click HERE.

Wash Pot Style Pork Craclkins - Golden Flake

Much worse than they look.

 --- I would say "no surprises here," except that I was surprised!  These were far worse than I even imagined they'd be.  An inauspicious beginning point for a cracklin experience; open the bag and you're hit with the rather unpleasant sent of greasy cardboard.  The bad news continues.  These craclkin stones are hard, hard, hard and their flavor takes the greasy cardboard smell to lower levels.  I'd say it tastes like greasy "old" cardboard.  No meat on these things, but the seasoning is surprisingly spicy.  There are few good reasons for a person to be buying these.  Even if you're in a pinch they do more culinary harm than good.