Cajun Thanksgiving

There's Thanksgiving, and then there's a Cajun Thanksgiving, which means a table spread of almost ludicrous proportions - at least two meats, not necessarily including generous chunks of boudin and andouille; seafood gumbo; sweet and white potatoes; dirty rice; macaroni and cheese; cornbread; Spinach Madeleine; green beans; something with eggplant; pies and cakes; and coffee and tea and maybe a little rum punch to launch the meal.

Yes, like the Pilgrims, Acadians, as they were known before the British drove them out of Nova Scotia's Acadian province and into Louisiana swamps, are annually thankful for their survival, and the bounty nature provided them in their new Low Country home.

They had rice, wild turkeys, crawfish, shrimp and alligator, and they found …show more content…
Alligator. Quail. Frog legs. These men, despite their differing geographic origins, come from a food culture that subscribes to the notion that too much is never enough. Double that for Garrett, whose unmistakable accent pinpoints his origins. He still lives in New Roads, La., roughly halfway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, population 6,000. He makes bi-monthly trips to Austin to bone, season, stuff and market his wares.

"When I was a kid we'd have 35 people at our Thanksgiving dinner," he says. "We always had three or four kinds of meat. Somebody would bake a turkey, somebody would do a brisket, and the table would be filled with two or three different kinds of dressing, two or three vegetables, always including my grandmother's Spinach Madeleine. She even made couscous. I don't know where that came from; Cajuns use everybody's