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.