A dish of ‘Salt Pork and Shrimp —Smothered Okra’ will accompany the evening meal at the home of Edna and Richard Boutte Sr. of Grand Marais.

The aroma of traditional soul food filling the air in the community of Grand Marais is a sure sign there is a gathering of family and friends nearby.

Mention the word “soul food” in the small community, which has been influenced by African-American cuisine, and residents instantly think of family and friends gathered around a table piled high with good home-cooking.

“Soul food goes hand in hand with a warm feeling of comfort, said Angela Broussard a native of Grand Marais and chairwoman of the Grand Marais Mardi Gras Association’s second annual Southern Soul Food Showdown set for Saturday.

“I was born and raised in Grand Marais. I grew up eating soul food. The residents of Grand Marais are like a close-knit family and part of that is because soul food has a tendency to bring families together,” she said.

Edna Boutte, a native of Grand Marais, said soul food is compared to comfort food — food that feeds the soul and nourishes the body.

When Boutte thinks of soul food, crispy fried or smothered chicken, collard greens, okra, red beans and rice, jambalaya, sweet potatoes or black-eyed peas comes to mind.

“Basically, soul food is smothered or fried. That is what we do here in Grand Marais,” she said. “Just about anything prepared with a lot of cooking oil can be considered soul food.”

Pigs’ feet, oxtail, ham hocks, tripe and chitterlings, the prepared and cleaned intestines of the pig that is often referred to as “chitlins,” all have a place on the menu when families gather to enjoy a meal of traditional soul food.

“There is very little difference between Creole food and soul food,” Boutte said. “My mother was quite a cook and soul food was all she knew how to cook. I can remember when she would leave home at 5 a.m. to go to work at a potato factory and not return until 7 p.m., but before leaving she would always cook a hearty meal for the evening,” said Boutte.

Broussard said the origin of soul food reflects a part of history dating back to the slave days.

“It is believed to have originated during the slave days when slave owners tried to feed workers as cheaply as possible using hearty dietary staples. The slaves would often use the leftover and waste foods or whatever ingredients were on hand to prepare their meals,” she said.

The flavors were enhanced with the use of onions, garlic or thyme. Pork and ham hocks were used for flavoring vegetables, gravy and sauces, she said. The fat of the animals, particularly hogs, was rendered and used for cooking and frying.

Unfortunately, Broussard said, many of the recipes were never written down with exact ingredient amounts since it was illegal in many states for slaves to learn to read and write. Many of the soul food recipes and cooking techniques were passed down verbally. Beyond remembering the main ingredients of the recipe, most soul food dishes were prepared by a cook’s instinct.

“They added the seasonings to the dish by taste. There was no set amount for one recipe,” said Broussard.

Boutte said breakfast was always an important meal of the day.

“Back in the days, I can remember my mother making homemade biscuits and flap-jacks, which was the consistency between a biscuit and pancake. Once mixed, it was poured into a skillet,” she said. “When we were growing up, we ate a lot of soul food. No one had the money to go out and buy food. Our parents would fill our stomachs with beans and rice and gravy or any vegetables they had on hand,” she said.

Boutte and her husband, Richard, still enjoy cooking soul food delicacies, such as pigs feet and tripe. Richard Boutte Sr. said he has a simple recipe that he follows when cooking trip.

“I use a pressure cooker to cook them, but I always add a little crab boil to the water for seasoning,” he said.

Teche Area residents will get an opportunity to taste some of the best soul food around as cooking teams compete for bragging rights in the second annual Soul food Showdown in Grand Marais Saturday.