Long ago the French came to the bayous of Louisiana and brought with them a vast wealth of recipes. Over generations of influence, the tastes and flavors of most of those Cajun recipes have evolved. These classic Cajun recipes and the artisan skills that go into Louisiana’s culinary cultural uniqueness are fascinating to me. The linkage to French gastronomy is apparent in so many ways, and my boundless curiosity drives me to find those connections. In my latest discovery–smoked ponce–I am intrigued by how the Cajun recipe we eat today has stayed true to French Acadian tradition.
Smoked ponce stuffed with sweet potatoes served up family-style is an old-school Cajun recipe. (All photos credit: George Graham)
This smoked ponce dish transports me to a time and place when French cooks took food seriously and approached cooking skillfully. Long before the heyday of Julia Child hawking the mastery of French cuisine in America, before Bocuse and the culinary renaissance of nouvelle cuisine, before Escoffier and the five mother sauces, even before Brillat-Savarin, French Acadian cooks in South Louisiana kitchens prepared ponce. And even now, almost 300 years later, Smoked Ponce is a Cajun recipe classic that provokes delicious curiosity.
Many who live in my city of Lafayette have never eaten ponce, and I would guess that some have never even heard of it. Smoked ponce is a Cajun recipe that is rarely seen on a restaurant menu except in the rural towns far away from the metropolitan areas. Quite frankly, I’ve never seen it sold in mainstream supermarkets either. But, take a short drive north of Lafayette and you will discover the legions of Cajun and Creole gourmands that swear allegiance to this French connection of a dish.
Ponce is essentially a stuffed pig’s stomach. There are different Cajun recipe versions, but most rural butchers create a spicy pork and herb sausage stuffing and truss it up inside the stomach cavity of a pig. The dish is called chaudin in some parts of Acadiana, and the two names are interchangeable. Whatever you call it, Smoked Ponce is an artisan Cajun recipe that in the expert hands of a skilled Cajun butcher is delectable.
Stuffing an animal’s stomach is done in most every culture. In Scotland, you’d be dining on haggis (sheep’s stomach), in Latin America hog maw and in Germany saumagen, but it is the French that always seem to up the ante.
Smoked Ponce – this Cajun recipe features pork sausage and sweet potatoes stuffed into a pig’s stomach and smoked.
I first saw ponce some years ago at Poche’s Market north of Breaux Bridge, but I am now discovering it more and more in the rural groceries. You can find it easily in the small Louisiana towns of Scott (Best Stop), Sunset (Janise’s), Ville Platte (Teet’s) and Eunice (Eunice Superette). To me, smoked ponce is much like Cajun smoked sausage–pork and herbs stuffed into a pig’s intestine or casing. Intestine? Stomach? What’s the difference?
Rural Cajun families eat ponce like an average non-Cajun family would eat pot roast. Either smoked or unsmoked, the ponce is roasted or braised for a couple of hours while the juices release into a pork gravy. Usually served over rice, it is simple farmhouse fare. Ponce is a timeless Cajun recipe and remains a testament to the artisan craft of true Cajun culture.
- 1 pig’s stomach, cleaned and prepped
- 4 cups ice-cold water
- 1 cup salt
- 6 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 cup sweet potato, peeled and diced
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 2 tablespoons Acadiana Table Cajun Seasoning Blend, see recipe here
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 yellow onions, quartered
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 4 cups dark chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons dark roux, such as Rox's Roux
- 6 cups cooked Louisiana long-grain white rice, such as Supreme
- For the ponce, prepare a smoker with hickory wood and bring to 175ºF by following the equipment directions.
- Place the pig’s stomach in a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold water. In a large bowl, mix the water and salt. Submerge the stomach in the saltwater solution and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove and inspect the stomach to make sure that it is clean, being careful not to tear the delicate tissue. Place on paper towels and let dry. Refrigerate until ready to stuff.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, celery, and bell pepper and cook until the onions become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute more. Remove the skillet from the heat and pour the contents into a large mixing bowl. Add the sweet potatoes and pork and season with Cajun seasoning and pepper. Combine making sure the ingredients are distributed evenly.
- Move the pig’s stomach to a large cutting board and open it up. Using your hands, gently stuff the meat mixture inside the stomach. Add just enough filling so that the lining of the stomach can come together and seal. Using butchers twine, sew the stomach closed. (Note: Alternatively, some use toothpicks to close the stomach.)
- Place the stuffed ponce on a rack in the smoker. Smoke for 4 hours at 175ºF. Once smoked, remove the ponce.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- In a heavy cast iron pot with a tight-fitting lid, add the smoked ponce. Place the carrots, onions, and celery in the pot and add enough chicken stock to come halfway up the side of the stuffed ponce. Add 2 tablespoons of dark roux. Cover the pot and place in the oven for 2 hours. Once the ponce has finished roasting, remove it to a platter and keep warm.
- Pour the gravy and vegetables through a strainer and into a saucepan. Over high heat, bring the stock to a simmer and skim off any fat or particles. Let reduce on a simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep warm.
- For serving, move the stuffed ponce to a cutting board and slice into ½-inch-thick slices. Place on a platter family-style and serve with white rice and plenty of gravy on the side.
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in Vernon Parish, we didn’t call the event a boucherie, but it was the same. The family and neighbors made it almost a festival. I was usually the one designated to shoot the hogs with a .22 short above the ear. It was immediately hung using a piggin stick by its hind legs. Its throat was cut and my grandmother collected the blood in a dishpan. She made blood pudding with it. The hog was gutted and the intestines were slung then soaked in a tub of salt water. The hog was laid out on a tarp and scraped using hot water and spoons. Getting the water right was an art. We ate the heart, tongue, lights and kidneys while they were still fresh. The men cut up the hog in normal parts and prepared the hams and middlins for curing, which involved a salt/sugar mixture and packed in a wooden box full of fresh pine needles and placed in the smokehouse.(later to be smoked over pecan wood). The women trimmed most of the fat and cooked it in a cast iron pot. The kids got sick eating cracklins. Later during the winter, the fat would be purified for lard and soap. One could write a book just on “boucheries”. I’m fortunate to have experienced this.
Wayne – Wow, what vivid memories you have of this time-honored tradition. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Thank you it brought back very pleasant memories of my my childhood and family tradition.
I’m actually in the middle of writing a cookbook called Cajun Home Recipes and more! I will have a few recipes involving ponce and other gastrointestinal delicacies! I’m a retired Chef from New Orleans and learned many recipes from my Cajun ancestors!
Hey Kevin- Thanks for doing your part in keeping our Cajun and Creole culinary traditions alive. It is because of talented cooks like you that our recipes continue on for generations. All the best.
I just heard about ponce a couple of weeks ago from a vendor who lives in Carencro. I grew up and still live in New Orleans. I’ve made 3 phone calls today trying to find ponce/pounce/panse/chaudin to no avail.
George-if you know of a place in NOLA that might carry this, do tell! Otherwise, a Harley roadtrip is in my near future!
I love your website/recipes. I have cooked several and they’ve become some of our favorites. Thanks for what you do.
Hey Rene’ – Ponce is a specialty of the Acadiana area and is seen exclusively in small rural markets (especially North of I-10) and specialty meat markets. I know of no markets in New Orleans that carries it. Go to my Faces and Places page and scroll through the meat markets and you’ll seen tons of locations selling ponce/chaudin. Here’s a few: Poche’s near Breaux Bridge, Janice’s in Sunset, Keeper’s in Church Point, Teet’s in Ville Platte, Superette in Eunice, T-Boy’s in Mamou, and others. I suggest making a road trip and call ahead to make sure they have what you are looking for. As for the Harley, I hope they make an ice chest that you can tow behind it! All the best.
You can also find ponce at Paul’s meat market in Ville Platte, La. and B & S meat market in Ville Platte, La.
Boyer – I will look for these shops when I am in Evangeline Parish. All the best.
My favorite is either Guillory’s in Pine Prairie or T-Boy’s Slaughterhouse in Mamou. These folks make the best ponces.
Do you know where I might find ponce already smoked? We have a grandfather who’s 90 and would love to have some.
Hey Priscilla- Give my friends at Teet’s in VIlle Platte a call. Also, Karchner’s or Best Stop in Scott. One of them should be able to provide a top-quality smoked ponce. All the best to you and your grandfather.
In Ville Platte, La, you can find ponce at @teets. They’re very good. We are cooking one as I type this. I paid $33.50 for a very large one.
Hey Sissy-
I love Teets Grocery and Meat Market in Ville Platte. They have excellent ponce, boudin, stuffed meats, and a variety of quality smoked meats. They are one reason Ville Platte is the Smoked Meat Capitol of the World. All the best.
Agree!
Best stop in Scott Louisiana has ponce/ chaudin
You’re not gonna find that in NO, ma’am. Only in the cajun area of the state. NO is a mostly a creole-oriented city, not a cajun one, even though the popularity of Cajun food and such has been picked up by La Grande Ville (NO). There is a big difference, however.
I’ve lived in south LA most of my life – my mother’s family were river people from St James and Assumption Parishes, and I married a Cajun from Evangeline Parish, so I’m familiar with the differences in culture, French languages, and other distinctions between the Spanish-influenced French, French Creole, and Cajun (Acadian) people and cultures.
Panse bourrée is strictly a Cajun delicacy – most people in NO would not be down when you tell them it’s a stuffed hog stomach – and virtually none of them would eat the casing, even though it’s pretty good, really.
Grew up with Cajun ponce. Being from Mamou and living in VA for 40 years, it is still a dear memory. I recently ordered a green ponce from Teet’s and am anxious to cook it this Christmas for my family.
Hey Mandy – Ponce is a delicacy on rural Cajun tables, and Teet’s in Ville Platte, LA makes one of the best. All the best for a Cajun Christmas.
Bonjour, George! I’m cooking a smoked pounce I bought at B&S grocery in Ville Platte for my granddaughter Sarah’s 25th birthday! Both she and her 31 year old brother, Matthew love Cajun food although they’ve never lived in Louisiana! They’ve requested it often so even though I’ve lived away from Louisiana since 1962, I make frequent trips to buy the real stuff and ” pass the time ” with family and friends!
Merci beaucoup, Judith Faye Fontenot
Kartchner’s Grocery and Speciality Meats in Krotz Springs also sells smoked ponce. They are worth the drive for their awesome meats, but do ship some of their products if you are too far for a road trip.
Enjoyed this story. We eat ponce a lot. Looking forward to your next story
I’m happy to see you have sweet potatoes in your recipe; I’m seeing more and more of that. For the longest, my grandmother’s recipe was the only one around that had sweet potatoes in it. Her recipe first came out in the ’60s in a local cookbook, then in the Time -Life series on Acadian cooking. Then it was included in the John Folse cookbook Something Old and Something New. The difference between hers and yours is her recipe is for a “green” ponce. Meaning it wasn’t smoked. In my opinion you just as well eat sausage if you are going to smoke your ponce. Thanks George!
Hey Charles- Great to hear your story and thanks for sharing your memories of your grandmother. Ponce has been cooked by generations of Cajun cooks and I can assure you there are many different recipes and methods for this old traditional dish. All the best.
Best Stop Supermarket. A mile north of I-10 on Hwy 93 at the Scott exit.
I’m half French…from France…1860s. Our family has always incorporated a lot of French in everyday cooking.
But, Ponce…Blood sausage…a lot was missing.
Thanks for this recipe!
Ponce is one of my favorite Louisiana foods. I have to try your recipe. Do you know of anyone in south Louisiana where I might purchase (mail order) pigs stomach to make ponce? I no longer live in South Louisiana. Anyone national? Thanks George.
Robert- I do not. Plus, that would probably be an expensive (shipping on dry ice) endeavor for one pig’s stomach. Instead, I would find a butcher or slaughterhouse that knows how to prepare it. Also, an Asian market might be a good bet for finding this specialty. All the best for your search.
What is “dark” chicken stock? Can’t wait to try this.
Wanda- For dark, you’ll need to make your own, but in a pinch, you can use regular chicken stock. All the best.