- Boudin crackling, rice, duck, and all this beautiful crawfish.

If there's one place you can find the best food and incredible hospitality, it's here in Cajun Country: southwest Louisiana.

I'm Sara Moulton, and my mouth started watering the second I landed in Bayou Country to go on a great culinary adventure.

- [Voiceover] If you wanna meet the natives, they don't get any more local than Randy Thibodeaux, a third-generation farmer who follows the custom of flooding his rice fields for a second winter crop of crawfish.

I'll join him to harvest some of these tasty critters, and learn a little about the spectacular biodiversity of these lands.

We'll take a culinary tour of the region, and taste the signature Cajun delicacies: the oh-so-addictive fried pork crackling; and the local favorite, boudin sausages.

Everyone has their favorite kind.

Then two Louisiana-inspired weeknight meals: my sauteed duck breast with creole sauce, and Randy's authentic crawfish etouffee from an old family recipe.

It's so easy and delicious served over And did I mention: hardy enough to feed a crowd; and boy, do we have a big one.

- Join me to party the night away Cajun-style.

Welcome to Sara's Weeknight Meals.

(jazzy music) - [Voiceover] Funding provided by: - [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester, with symmetrical all-wheel drive and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru: a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Voiceover] Family-owned and Indiana-grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] And thanks to the generous support of: - Food defines a lifestyle here in southwest Louisiana, where seafood is abundant and everyone has a secret spice or a treasured family recipe.

Here's a look at food influencers, new and old, who define Cajun Country and make it a very special place.

(upbeat folk music with harmonica) - We move a little bit slower here.

It's more about the atmosphere and the good time in a different way.

What we do here means a lot to us, so we put a lot of passion into it.

Well, a crackling is one of our prized snacks here.

- There's a little bit of heaven in every piece of crackling, I think.

(laughs) - For the last two years, we've been number one in cracklings in this area.

We're very proud of that, and that's part of our family tradition.

We start off our cracklings, we get boxes of belly; we slice it, dice it up, we trim it out to where it's uniform size; we'll light the pots up; we'll put a little bit of startup grease, dump 'em in, and then we cook 'em 'til they're done.

Everybody makes their own boudin around here; but everybody makes it different.

It's pork meat and pork liver.

We cook it down with onions and Cajun spices.

We cook our rice separate.

And then we mix the two together through a grinder.

And then we shoot it into casing.

- I think only we would stuff a double-cut Berkshire pork chop with boudin.

What we do differently with our barbecue shrimp: we actually reduce the beer and wine, garlic, the Worcestershire, the cayenne, and we whip it all into the butter.

We brine it.

Just double-cooked pork chop overnight.

Cane syrup, fresh cayenne pepper, garlic.

We stuff it with our own house-made boudin.

- I like the idea of a hot dog because it's got a nostalgic background to it that reminds me of childhood.

It's a good-time food.

We like to do anything that we can think of: specials-based menu, creative options like putting etouffee on hot dogs, anything that can take the idea of the once-common hot dog and bring it over the top.

We get together and we have fun by making food here.

- Daryl's special is known throughout the city.

It's got a little bit of everything.

It's got your roast beef, your ham, turkey, jalapeno mayo, tomatoes.

And it's gotta be sloppy, which is great.

And if anybody comes to Lake Charles, be sure to stop by and get one.

So what we're kinda excited about is: we know we have the Louisiana flavor here, but at the same rate, new chefs coming to town, highly-trained chefs coming into town by way of the casinos.

Some folks even come in here to open up restaurants.

It's kinda like: what's next?

- We have history and culture and passion tied into everything that we do.

We keep it simple in southwest Louisiana.

We have simple ingredients and we have flavor profiles that are off the charts.

- [Voiceover] Next up, my take on a delicious Louisiana-inspired weeknight meal: duck creole.

- One of the many hats I wear is to write a column for the Associated Press called The Healthy Plate.

And it occurred to me one day that duck breast, which is actually pretty lean and healthy, would be terrific with creole spices.

Now, if you think that duck is gamy, you haven't tried Pekin duck breasts, also known as Long Island duck breast.

They're not gamy at all.

And any sauce you put on a steak, you could put on duck; takes the same amount of time to cook.

So let's start with a creole spice mix.

I need to get that ready first.

So here's what I put in my mix: one tablespoon plus one teaspoon hot paprika; one tablespoon garlic powder; one and a half teaspoons each of onion powder, cayenne, oregano, and thyme; and finally, one teaspoon each of ground black pepper and kosher salt.

So now I'm gonna mix all of these up; they'll all go in one bowl.

Isn't that pretty?

Cooking is so beautiful.

You need to stir it up.

And I'm just gonna use a little bit for the sauce; but the rest you can keep in the cupboard in a jar.

This keeps very well and you can use it for all sorts of things.

Alright, I'm gonna go down and start my sauce.

- [Voiceover] In a medium saucepan, heat one tablespoon vegetable oil, add two ounces finely chopped andouille sausage, and cook, stirring until the sausage is browned, about five minutes.

Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Add a half a cup finely-chopped onion, third of a cup finely-chopped celery, along with a half a cup green bell pepper to the saucepan.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until it is golden, about six to eight minutes.

Add one to one and a half teaspoons of or more if you want a very spicy sauce, and one teaspoon minced garlic.

Cook, stirring for one minute.

Add one cup low-sodium chicken broth and one cup chopped or crushed canned tomatoes.

Add the chopped andouille sausage, bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer until much of the liquid has reduced, about 20 minutes.

- So I'm gonna let this sauce simmer while I work on the duck.

Take a very sharp knife and score the skin in a crisscross pattern.

And the point of this is then the skin will render more fat out and become more crispy.

If you're pressed for time, you can sprinkle the creole spices on right before you cook the duck; but I like to sprinkle it on ahead of time and give it a little time so that the flavors really get in there.

- [Voiceover] In a large cold skillet, place the duck breasts skin-side-down.

Turn the heat to medium-low and cook the duck breasts until the skin looks very crispy, about 12 minutes.

- When you're cooking them, don't pour off this liquid fat; because that liquid helps to pour out more fat from the skin.

I think they're done on the skin side.

Let me just take a look.

Oh yeah, that's gorgeous.

OK so now I'm gonna transfer these, skin-side-up, to a clean plate and dump off all but one tablespoon of the fat.

And by the way, that other fat that you save, you can use for sauteing vegetables or potatoes.

I'll just leave a little in the pan.

And then, the duck goes back in, meat-side-down.

It only takes a few more minutes to crisp the second side.

- [Voiceover] Return the duck to the skillet skin-side-up and cook for another three to five minutes for medium rare.

Transfer the duck breasts to a clean plate, skin-side-up.

Cover them loosely with foil and let them rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

- Alright, let me take a look at my duck.

See, it gives off all that delicious juice.

Don't waste that; that needs to be added to the sauce.

I'm just gonna put it right in.

That way we marry the duck to the sauce.

And let me take one of these guys.

I'm gonna slice it.

I slice it skin-side-down.

I find it easier to slice that way.

Oh, yeah.

You can cook duck medium rare.

It does not have the same issues as chicken does with salmonella.

Oh, doesn't that look wonderful?

So juicy.

And actually, if we remove the skin, duck is leaner than white-meat chicken and turkey.

OK, so here goes our, let me stir in those juices, put some of our sauce on the bottom of the plate.

And then I'm gonna just fan our duck on top.

And this is a very substantial portion, a very nice portion.

This would make even my husband happy.

Ooh, there we go.

Wow!

Isn't that amazing?

That is my creole-spiced duck breast, perfect for a weeknight meal.

(upbeat folk music) - [Voiceover] Life is slow and easy in southwest Louisiana.

And here in Crowley, the rice fields of summer are flooded for a second crop of crawfish, the hugely-popular local delicacy.

Randy Thibodeaux is a third-generation farmer who took me on a crawfishing trip on his family farm.

They were among the original Cajun settlers.

- Been here since the mid 1700s.

And the reason why they came here: because they were expelled or exiles from Nova Scotia 'cause they didn't-- - Expelled?

- [Randy] Yeah.

Really?

Why?

Because they didn't adhere to the rules of the Queen of England.

- Ah.

- So most of the French descendants around here all came from Nova Scotia.

- Nova Scotia, so they all spoke French when they came here.

- Yeah, they all spoke French when they came here.

- You're real Cajun!

- [Voiceover] And it takes Cajun ingenuity to catch crawfish.

Locals use homemade flat-bottom boats with giant gears that literally push us across Randy's 10,000 acres.

- We do rice, (mumbling), and crawfish.

And everything is rotated every year.

We harvested the rice in July and August and now we crawfish in it.

- How did you come up with the idea of rotating these crops?

- Basically the crawfish is native to this area.

And when we would drain our rice fields, we'd actually see 'em coming out of the rice field.

We would try to catch what we could; but you just captured enough to have a party.

But then eventually we found a way to-- - [Sara] Just thought: "Jeez, let's make this into "a regular crop!

(laughs) "Yeah!

Let's encourage them!"

- OK this is our actual crawfish trap.

We've actually put a bait in here and crawfish come through these flutes and they get trapped in there and then they'll stay; they can't get out that way.

- What kind of bait do you use?

- We use a (mumbling) today; so put this fish in there, and we actually put it back in the water, let it set for a day or so, and it'll attract the crawfish.

- Now, how do you get the crawfish in here to begin with?

- Actually it takes a small stock and you put 'em along the levy.

- [Sara] So then they procreate.

- Yeah, when we drain the fields, they bury down, and then when we re-flood in October, that's when they come back up.

- [Sara] And what do they eat?

- [Randy] They actually eat the microorganisms off the rice stalk.

(upbeat folk music) - [Voiceover] Four to five months later, between January and April, the crawfish are large enough to harvest.

- Wow, look at those guys!

So they're all different sizes.

- Yeah.

- So what are you looking for in a crawfish?

- This is what we're actually looking for: this size crawfish right here.

You're actually looking for the size of the tail; because the fat is real good in these tender crawfish.

When the pincers start getting big, they don't have quite as much fat.

- And how many do you end up harvesting total?

- We like to get up to about 700 pounds an acre.

- [Voiceover] The crawfish have another purpose along with native ducks and geese: natural land conservation.

- The wildlife and the crawfish actually help us clean up these fields for a cleaner crop for the following year.

- [Sara] Of rice.

Of rice.

They eat the weeds?

- [Randy] They eat the weeds.

- Alright so we're gonna actually cook - That's right, make a etouffee this afternoon.

- Alright, let's head back.

- [Voiceover] We're off to make a hearty meal of crawfish etouffee, featuring Randy's family recipe.

That's coming up next.

(upbeat folk music) - K, now that we've just finished getting I'm sure you're kinda hungry like me.

And before we go start cooking the crawfish, we need to get something in our stomach because it's hard to cook when you have a empty stomach.

- So we gotta eat before we go and eat some more.

- [Randy] That's right.

OK, I like the way you think.

So what do we got here?

- So we got boudin, which is a seasoned link; it's made of rice and pork meat that seasoned and put in a casing.

- I think there's liver in here.

- [Randy] That might have a little bit.

- I'm getting a little bit of liver taste.

- There's no two boudins the same.

Every place you buy boudin has a different recipe.

And it's really pretty good.

- And what makes it different and unique is the spices, right?

- [Randy] Yeah, the spices.

Some people put more meat; some people put more rice.

Some people use a little bit of liver; some people don't.

- [Sara] Alright, tell me about the cracklings.

- [Randy] The cracklings is pork fat with a little bit of piece of meat on it, but it is cooked down and fried and then they add a lot of seasoning on it which is real good.

- [Sara] So this is deep fried fat we're eating here.

- They cook it in a big black iron pot; they throw this fat in and they cook it down 'til it's crisp.

(crunching) - That's really really good.

- [Randy] And they have a lot of different versions of cracklings too.

- Now I think it's time to go get cooking now that we're eating.

- Now we gotta go cook the crawfish.

- Oh wow.

OK, well I'm gonna get another piece.

And let's head on over there.

- OK. (upbeat folk music) - And now Randy's gonna show me how to make a classic Cajun dish called-- - Crawfish etouffee.

- Of course, alright!

But we gotta start with the rice, right?

- [Randy] That's right.

- We're gonna make rice in a rice cooker?

- [Randy] That's right.

- Wow, well you know I'm rice impaired; so I think this is what I need to get.

And how many cups are we making here?

- We should make at least five.

- One cup of raw rice equals three cups of cooked rice.

We're making 15 cups of rice?

- [Randy] That's right.

And this is local rice.

- Yeah, that's right.

It's actually grown on my farm.

- This is your rice.

Doesn't get much more local than that.

- [Randy] Yeah, you bet.

- OK, and this is five cups.

Alright, now, how much water?

This is where I always get flummoxed.

How much water?

- When you get this deep over the rice.

- OK, does that work the same for me?

I'm gonna say that's an inch.

OK, there we go.

Is that good?

Perfect!

And that's your impeccably clean finger.

We boil that, right?

- [Randy] That's right.

OK good.

(laughs) OK, so now what happens?

This is electronic, so you're gonna have to show me; you program this.

You put the lid on.

- It's not snapped.

- Oh, we have to snap it, OK.

I'm gonna move the stand.

You're gonna set that up.

- K, now it's on.

- Alright, so how long does this take?

- At least 15 minutes cooking.

Then it takes five to 10 minutes just letting it sit there.

- So while that's doing its thing, we're gonna get the vegetables going, right?

- [Randy] Yes.

OK. You got a big old pot there.

[Randy] Yeah.

That's cast iron, no?

[Randy] That's cast iron.

Alright, just a little bit of butter we start with: two sticks; salted or unsalted?

- Either way, it don't matter.

- [Sara] You don't care?

No.

OK, little bit of butter goes in.

And now you like cast iron because it's even temperature?

- Even temperature and your food taste better.

- Your food tastes better.

OK then, alrighty, I like that.

So we've got three large onions chopped there.

- That's right.

- OK, and then this is about three quarters of a cup.

I measured.

You don't measure.

I had to measure so people could make this.

Three quarters of a cup of finely-diced green pepper.

And then we have one cup of sliced celery.

- [Randy] Celery.

Yeah, finely sliced.

OK good.

And now these three items, three vegetables are used a lot in Cajun cooking.

- Oh, we use it in everything; and we call it the holy trinity.

- [Sara] Really?

Yes.

So this is sort of like in French cooking which is celery, onions, carrots; but you ditched the carrots for the pepper.

- That's right.

- OK, and this is roughly the proportions you like 'em in; so a lot of onions.

- [Randy] Yes.

So here we go.

(sizzling) Boy, nothing better than the smell of butter, huh?

- That's right.

And onions.

- [Sara] You use a lot of butter in Cajun cooking, don't you?

- Yes, we sure do.

- Ah, it's your French heritage.

- [Randy] Yes.

- [Sara] So we're gonna cook these covered.

Go ahead, do your thing.

- [Randy] Yeah.

From what I understand, when you cook that way, all the flavor stays in there.

- [Randy] That's right, it does.

- [Sara] How long do we cook these?

- [Randy] Probably about 15 minutes.

- [Sara] OK so now you're gonna show me how to peel crawfish.

- [Randy] We wash them first.

I got the water boiling and I boil them for three minutes.

- OK, I have to translate for people who don't speak Cajun.

Boiled them.

For other people, we boil them.

You balled 'em, we boiled 'em.

- [Randy] (laughs) OK whatever.

- OK, and then what happens?

- Then you wanna peel it; so you push it in a little bit and you twist.

- [Sara] You push it in.

Oh, that's a good trick!

- [Randy] And then-- - [Sara] I should try that.

Oops, no I already lost some.

I'm fired.

- [Randy] That's alright.

Oh no, I got it.

[Randy] You got it.

OK. [Randy] And then you pull it out like this, and then you take out the vein.

- [Sara] Oh, OK, it's like shrimp.

- [Randy] Yeah.

OK so when we make the etouffee and that's actually a really important question: what is an etouffee?

- Etouffe is a smothered seafood dish.

And this is considered seafood.

- So smothered because it's cooked low and slow with mostly the lid on.

- [Randy] Low and slow.

That's right.

[Sara] OK, good.

OK now we're gonna check the pot.

OK I think we're ready to go.

- And how do you know?

- [Randy] They all clear; they're getting clear, you see.

- [Sara] Getting translucent, yeah.

- And you don't want it to start darkening.

- [Sara] No color.

Yeah.

OK, what can I pass you?

- [Randy] We need the crawfish.

- [Sara] Crawfish comes, OK.

Here we go.

Oh boy.

And what we got there is about three pounds of tails.

- [Randy] Tails.

We need to add some seasoning.

- [Sara] OK.

So we got some local seasoning here, right?

- [Randy] Yeah, we have local-blended seasonings.

- [Sara] How much?

I'll let you do it.

I'm watching you!

- [Randy] I don't usually measure.

(laughs) - [Sara] I'm watching you.

I know this goes against your (mumbling).

You just throw it in there.

That looked like a heaping tablespoon to me.

Oop, that's another tablespoon.

Alright, this is gonna be spicy.

So what's in there?

So there's salt and-- - [Randy] Black pepper and red pepper.

- [Sara] And maybe garlic powder a little bit or something.

And then we also have some fresh garlic too, right?

- [Randy] Yes.

OK. Might have to add a little water.

- Do we do that now or later?

- I would add a little bit right now.

- OK, alright, here we go.

You say when.

- [Randy] That's good.

- OK, so we just let this cook nice and slow for what?

- [Randy] 15, 20 minutes.

OK. Alright, great.

Now I know we have to get a few garnishes together, right?

- [Randy] Yes, onion tops.

- You call these onion?

I call these scallions.

- [Randy] Well.

(laughs) - Onion tops, OK, well you got your own way of doing things.

OK, speaking of your own way of doing things here in Cajun Country, tell me more about Cajun Cooking.

Like what are your other dishes?

- We love to cook (mumbling), gumbos, shrimp creole, catfish couvillion, all these different types of dishes.

- And now what's the difference between Cajun and creole?

- The Creoles use a lot of tomatoes in their different dishes; and we very seldom use tomatoes.

- [Sara] Oh, OK. And tomatoes and basil and thyme and stuff like that, we kinda leave that out.

- Stay away from that stuff.

OK. - [Randy] Yeah, you know.

Very interesting.

So what else makes a Cajun a Cajun besides the food?

- They're born that way.

(laughs) I guess it's our lifestyle too.

We don't live a fancy lifestyle; but we live a good lifestyle.

- You don't live a fancy but a good.

OK so how do you define a good lifestyle?

I'm interested.

- Everything is surrounded by food.

- I applaud that decision.

- Every time we entertain ourselves, food is involved.

You go to a football game, you gotta have food.

You go to a wedding, you have food.

You go to a funeral, you gonna have food after the funeral.

- Alright, so we got a bunch of parsley chopped.

And we need a little thickening, right?

- [Randy] Yes.

- OK so we're gonna use cornstarch.

- [Randy] Cornstarch.

- The reason we're doing this is 'cause his lovely wife is gluten intolerant; so for those of you out there who are, this is a good way to go.

So we need what?

Two-- - [Randy] Two of them.

Two of these guys, two tablespoons.

And then just some water.

- Yeah, just some water.

- And we're just setting this up.

We won't add this 'til later.

- [Randy] Yes, that's right.

OK. And a little bit of water.

You say when.

- Just try to stir that up and see what it looks like.

That's good.

- [Sara] Here, I'll let you do that.

- [Randy] This is gonna be good.

OK, it's time to check it, so I think it's all good.

We put this cornstarch mixture.

So we got that done.

So Sara, now you can hand me an onion tops and parsley.

- OK. (soup boiling) - [Randy] And I'm gonna stir that up a little bit.

We got the seasoning right.

- So you think the rice is ready?

- [Randy] Oh yeah, the rice is definitely ready because it was steaming awhile ago, so.

I'll get that.

- [Sara] We just need a little taste right now 'cause we're gonna have our guest coming soon.

- [Randy] Yes.

OK. - [Sara] Oh look at how perfect that is.

I understand sometimes you make this and serve it on a steak for your son.

- Yeah, for special occasions.

- That does seem a little over the top to me.

That's definitely surf and turf.

Here's your spoon.

- Yeah, OK. - Mm!

That's hot, but it's so delicious!

Mm, I love the seasoning!

- Thank you.

K, now that we got everything ready, we're gonna get ready for our guests?

- [Sara] I think so.

Alright.

(folk music) (clapping) (folk singing in foreign language) (clapping) - [Man] Hey!

- [Woman] Woo!

(clapping) - You know, if there's one thing they know here in southwest Louisiana, it's how to eat and how to party.

I'm Sara Moulton here with Randy Thibodeaux and all of his delightful friends.

I'll see you next time for some more of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

OK!

(voices chattering) (upbeat folk music) - [Voiceover] Sara's Weeknight Meals continues online.

For recipes, helpful tips, messages, and lots more, visit us on the Web at SaraMoulton.com/weeknightMeals, and go to our YouTube channel: Sara's Weeknight Meals TV.

Funding provided by.

(cheering) - [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester, with symmetrical all-wheel drive and plenty of cargo room.

A recipe made for whatever the day brings.

Subaru: a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

- [Voiceover] Family-owned and Indiana-grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.

Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens, Maple Leaf Farms duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.

Maple Leaf Farms.

- [Voiceover] And thanks to the generous support of.