Hog heaven: Chef John Folse hosts Boucherie & Bourbon this weekend at White Oak Estate & Gardens

Celebrating the pig roast’s long history in south Louisiana, Chef John Folse is holding his own day-long Boucherie & Bourbon gathering with live demonstrations and tastings.

The ticketed event, celebrating its 10^th anniversary, takes place at White Oak Estate & Gardens on Saturday, Feb. 7, and features nine cooking stations, lectures on the boucherie’s significance, bourbon tastings and live music. About 100 butchers and chefs from around the country will join Folse for the culinary reenactment.

“People just seem to have an interest in the uniqueness of Louisiana’s food pantry,” says Folse, a chef and restaurateur whose voluminous cookbooks have helped create a historic record of Cajun and Creole culinary history. “We decided to invite chefs, cooks and novices who want to be aware of what went on at a gathering like that.”

The food fest mimics boucheries of old, beginning with the reverential slaughter of a 300-pound pig, and culminating in its transformation into regional delicacies like andouille, hogshead cheese, cracklins and porchetta. Attendees can visit nine different stations where guest chefs demonstrate how these and other pork-centric dishes were prepared throughout Louisiana’s history. Some, like smoked sausage and white boudin, are familiar staples today, while others are threatened traditions. For example, chefs will prepare red boudin using blood from the slaughtered hog, and ponce, or chaudin, in which the pig’s stomach is stuffed with ground pork, rice and seasonings.

“We have some really talented chefs making sure that our guests not only understand the importance of these dishes, but also the uniqueness and historic nature of them,” Folse says.

A south Louisiana native who grew up practicing such Cajun culinary traditions, Folse says the event will also reveal how obscure, campfire dishes like raccoon and rooster stew were prepared by butchers the night before the boucherie. “This was so they could have something to eat while they were butchering,” Folse says.

Attendees will also learn how Louisiana’s indigenous people cooked 3,500 years ago at Poverty Point, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in West Carroll Parish. The workshop will be led by Ray Berthelot, historic sites district manager at the Louisiana Office of State Parks and Poverty Point Park manager Ethan Henry.

Other sessions will take place in White Oak Estate’s ballroom, including “North Meats South,” a lecture by historian and longtime Whiskey Advocate copy editor Sam Komlenic about ethnic sausages from other parts of the United States, including Polish kielbasa, Italian sausage and Pennsylvania Dutch ring bologna.

Along with all manner of pork tastings, attendees can sip Folse’s StillWater Bourbon and Rum, distilled at White Oak’s Jones Creek Distillery, and Komlenic’s Pennsylvania Rye Moonshine.

The family-friendly boucherie begins at 8 a.m. with the hog slaughter. Folse is quick to say it’s handled with solemnity and respect.

“We want to take care of the fact that this animal is important,” he says. “It’s not a party during the butchering. It’s a real calm and quiet time because people are paying respect to the animal.”

Events unfold throughout the day until 3 p.m. and include a “Spoils of the Boucherie” lunch and live music.

Advance tickets can be purchased here or at White Oak Estate & Gardens.