AFJ 2009: Breakfast with Poppy Tooker's Calas, Boudin and Headcheese

Poppy Tooker and a woman from the Creole Country Sausage brought us boudin, headcheese and calas. Tooker prepared the calas, a deep-fried rice fritter sprinkled with powdered sugar. If you've ever had a beignet, the signature New Orleans fried pastry, the calas are somewhat similar. Where beignets can be ethereal, calas are more down and dirty. Tooker says they come from the Creole tradition of always having rice around. Calas were originally sold by street vendors but began as a home tradition. Boudin features rice in the sausage, and, at one point, involved liver. Boudin is often sold at gas stations.

Well fed, let’s soldier on.

-- Claudia Perry, "official" AFJ conference blogger