Boudin, one dish that is synonymous with all of south Louisiana, can create a mouthful of flavor and spice that’ll inspire people to ask for seconds and even thirds when done right.

Though some make it with beef or chicken, the most traditional and time-honored way is with pork. There are a handful of ways to make boudin and even more ingredients that go in it. But while you may not be a pork professor just yet, Joshua Bernard knows a thing or two about the art of boundin-making.

“The process of boudin, for the most part, is you’re cooking everything in a pot,” the New Iberia native and Houston resident said. “The important things to use when making your boundin is the red pepper and your green onions. Your green onions.”

While most if not all a pig is used in making sausage, Bernard said he doesn’t use any liver for his recipe. Another crucial step for Bernard is the rice, the sponge that soaks in all of the flavor inside the casing.

“When you’re cooking that rice, you’re going to put water a little bit above the rice,” Bernard said. “You don’t want to add too much water because that rice is going to absorb that water and it’s going to be mushy. And you don’t want your rice to be mushy in your boudin.”

Once the rice is ready to go and the pot of pork and products are cooking away and are ready, Bernard said he mixes everything together and puts it together for its final stages in its casing.

The hardest part Bernard said about learning to make boudin is the trial and error before finding the perfect balance that the cook is OK with.

“It’s about getting your ingredients intact,” Bernard said. “Getting everything down to the point. When I first started, I got better and better. You start to learn how you do it.”