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We have some friends from Louisiana that come to our place bow hunting whenever they can draw a tag. Several of the guys have left local things for my wife and I to eat after they have gone home. Most of the time, it is something they have hunted or caught as they enjoy their local outdoors down south. Some of the things we have dined on long after our hunters have gone home are speckled trout, a delicious fish caught in the brackish water of lakes and bayous near the ocean, shrimp, caught fresh right outside their back doors, crawfish etouffee, boudin, a sausage made with rice and meat, and the list goes on.

When Ben left last fall, he gave me two packages to put in the freezer. One was deer sausage that resembled smoked bratwurst, and the other, Ben said was a "paunch" or something like that. He actually called it two French words. Not being the least bit fluent in French and not wanting him to think I was stupid or ungrateful or both, I did not ask any more questions. It looked a lot like a hickory smoked football. Since I did not know what is was, but did know it was special, I decided to save it and serve it at the company Christmas party.

Around Christmas, there are always time conflicts making it difficult for everyone to attend. The weather is usually not the greatest in December which is another point. If the roads are snow covered or icy, four wheel drive is necessary to get to my house. Since my company is rather small, I wanted to make sure all the crew could be there. That is the reason we had our company Christmas party last weekend. The weather is a lot warmer in May and nobody else is having conflicting Christmas parties.

The time between hunting season and the May Christmas party gave me plenty of time to research what a "paunch" could possibly be. I decided what the French or Cajuns call "paunch" is what Scotsmen call "haggis." Several people, including my wife, were well aware of what haggis was made from. They wanted no part of it. Haggis is a sheep stomach stuffed with liver, heart, assorted other internal organs, spices and rolled oats or wheat. Coming from Cajun country, I thought this was either a hog or deer stomach stuffed with rice, meats, and spices. I have always been under the belief, if somebody, somewhere is eating something, it must be good. If not why would they bother eating it.

The morning of the Christmas party, I thawed meat, including deer sausage, our stomach of whatever, and a few burgers and hotdogs in case we had some picky eaters. In the package of smoked sausage, I also found a piece of meat I had not noticed earlier. It was smoked and looked like a whole smoked deer tenderloin. I have never known anyone to give away a deer loin, but you never know. My wife worked on salads while I cooked the meat. I grilled the sausages and what I thought was a smoked loin. I cooked the football like the directions on the internet said one should cook a haggis.

After the party, we had a couple hamburgers and several hot dogs left over. The sausage was gone, as was the paunch, even enjoyed by those who thought they would not even touch it. The other piece of meat that may have been a smoked deer loin or perhaps an alligator tail was also savored to the last piece. Several people learned, just because it is something different does not mean it is not delicious.[[In-content Ad]]

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