Hunters and fishermen arrived by boat to pass a good time or, better yet, considering the locale about as deep in the heart of Cajun Country as people can get, passer un bon temps.

It was Swamp-a-laya time on the G.A. Cut! Never heard of Swamp-a-laya? Might be because a Teche Area outdoorsman cooked up, er, created the event’s name 3 ½, 4 weeks ago after the weather finally turned from constantly grilling us to darned near chilling us a little.

Kevin Latiolais thought it was high time to have a social event outdoors. Latiolais, who lived off-and-on at his camp for the last 15 years in the Atchafalaya Basin, then turned the modest structure into his full-time residence in 2016, decided to call the event Swamp-a-laya with a jambalaya cookoff theme right there on the big, splendidly, solidly built dock in front of his home overlooking the G.A. Cut.

All Latiolais had to do was fit it into a schedule to avoid duck season opening dates in the West Zone and East Zone as well as steer clear of any inclement weather in the forecast. Finally, he scheduled Swamp-a-laya for Nov. 23. He chose well.

“I like it. I like it,” Latiolais said, nodding his head in approval around 2:30ish that afternoon as other outdoorsmen enjoyed a break from deer stands or duck blinds.

A drone photographs the site of the first-ever Swamp-a-laya held Nov. 23. The dock floats in front of Swamp-a-laya founder and host Kevin Latiolais’ residence along the G.A. Cut on the west bank just north of Bayou Darby. Latiolais’ friend, Chad Guidry, got the drone up in the air at mid-afternoon to video the Swamp-a-laya-goers, mostly deer hunters and a few anglers who all enjoyed a jambalaya cookoff.
SUBMITTED BY CHAD GUIDRY

Approximately 40 people had stopped by so far, he said, to eat, shoot the bull and otherwise enjoy a Chamber of Commerce kind of day in the nation’s last great overflow swamp. Whether the ducks were flying or deer moving took a backseat for the moment.

Latiolais, who grew up in the Loreauville area near Lake Dauterive, where he learned from his father, Dewey Latiolais, to appreciate and live off the land and water, was in his element that Saturday as visitors in boats pulled in, tied up at the dock and stepped into the world of Swamp-a-laya. The G.A. Cut, also identified on some maps as Fausse Pointe Cut, turned into a parking lot around the dock built and installed in front of Latiolais’ permanent home on the high west bank north of Bayou Darby.

Swamp-a-laya was a time to talk, laugh, poke good-humored fun at your closest friend(s), meet other like-minded outdoorsmen and, oh, yes, eat jambalaya. Conversational topics across the dock ranged from guns (mostly pistols), hunting, football, business, some politics, fishing, family and, oh, yes, food, namely jambalaya.

Latiolais, 57, cooked off against Kip Louviere of New Iberia and Chris Dugan of Loreauville. There was plenty of smack talk goin’ on as each cook’s product was ladled into a bowl wrapped with either a red (Latiolais), white (Louviere) or blue (Dugan) tape, then handed to a hungry Swamp-a-laya visitor.

Three jars told the tale of Kevin Latiolais’ inaugural Swamp-a-laya at his residence overlooking the G.A. Cut on the west bank just north of Bayou Darby. Swamp-a-laya-goers stopped by Nov. 23 to chow down on jambalaya cooked by Latiolais, Kip Louviere and Chris Dugan. Those diners voted red (Latiolais), white (Louviere) or blue (Dugan) for the best bowl(s) of jambalaya.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

The diners were instructed to remove the tape on each bowl of jambalaya and drop the color representing his or her favorite jambalaya into a glass jar with a similarly colored tape wrapped around the neck.

Louviere and Dugan spoke warily about the host’s home field advantage and ability to sway the vote with his gift of good-natured gab. They wondered aloud about ballot counting integrity, ballot stuffing and/or unlimited mail-ins while another outdoorsman in the crowd asked if the counting process might take three or four weeks, as has been known to happen in other parts of the land.

For the record, results were readily available the next day. Latiolais’ jambalaya garnered 22 votes, Louviere’s 15 and Dugan’s 11.

The cooks fired up their pots and began cooking about 7:30 on game day, Swamp-a-laya morning.

Latiolais’ ingredients included but weren’t limited to smoked turkey necks; smoked brisket; pork butts; chicken thigh meat; Savoie’s beef sausage; Eckrich skinless sausage, and Best Stop sausage. He added the Holy Trinity of Cajun and Creole cooking plus red bell pepper, garlic and splash of jalapeno.

Louviere’s entry had an interesting and lasting flavor. Latiolais agreed, tipped his cap to his buddy and said, “I think his was good, his jambalaya.”

Kip Louviere, left, and Chris Dugan talk about the prospects of finishing ahead of Swamp-a-laya founder and host Kevin Latiolais on Nov. 23 in the heart of the Atchafalaya Basin. Louviere and Dugan’s jambalaya entries went up against Latiolais’ entry in a three-way cookoff judged by those who stopped at his dock to eat and party along the G.A. Cut.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Louviere, who admitted he just wanted to finish ahead of Latiolais, even if it meant a second-place finish, said he used two 10-pound turkeys, first smoking, then baking each; 3 pounds of Eckrich sausage; 3 pounds of Savoie’s andouille sausage; tasso, and his own seasoning of 13 ingredients. He made stock out of the turkey skin and bones to add along with chicken bouillon, which he believes is better than beef bouillon.

The 58-year-old supervisor who oversees house construction for CHC Contractors is a veteran of many winning cookoff dishes at the World Championship Gumbo Cookoff in New Iberia. He’s been around the block a few times for cook-offs.

Dugan’s jambalaya included 2 pounds of bacon; 4 pounds of pork; 4 pounds of Boston butt pork; 4 pounds of chicken thighs; 4 pounds of Savoie’s Andouille sausage. The proud Louisiana Freemason and avid deer hunter said a “secret” jambalaya ingredient is Italian dressing seasoning dry mix, which goes into the pot with garlic and, at the end, green onions.

Dugan, 41, shop foreman at Reagan Power & Compression, also cooks competitively and is known for his mouth-watering barbecued brisket and pulled pork sandwiches at Chris’ Barbecue House.

Kevin Latiolais, left, uses a little body English during a conversation Nov. 23 at the inaugural Swamp-a-laya at his residence along the G.A. Cut in the Atchafalaya Basin. Latiolais dreamed up the event and Acadiana’s outdoorsmen responded as they stopped by to eat jambalaya and vote for the winning cook.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Latiolais showed first-time visitors and others around his home – raised high off the ground for obvious reasons, i.e. spring flooding. Electrical appliances, including four freezers, a refrigerator/freezer and two mini split air conditioners, get their juice from 85 solar panels. The property also has two chicken coops, a sawmill, drying cypress wood and a large, fruitful orange tree that may or may not stay depending on how he fares against an orange-sucking predator.

If the words sawmill and cypress trees ring a bell among readers of these Outdoors pages, they might recall a feature story published last December about Latiolais’ 1,400- to 1,500-year-old “sinker” cypress tree log that weighed an estimated 7,000 pounds. He discovered it about 6 ½ years ago in the canal between Bayou Benoit Landing and Grand Bayou, covered it to hide it in low-water periods, then extracted it with considerable effort and help from his cousin, Brian Latiolais.

The Daily Iberian story about the find and oft-lucrative practice of harvesting “sinker” cypress trees was reprinted in the First Quarter 2024 issue of Forests and People, an official publication of the Louisiana Forestry Association.

That historic cypress tree, felled so many decades ago by loggers who worked the Atchafalaya Basin, introduced a lifelong outdoors writer to an all-around outdoorsman, a good, hard-working, God-fearing man and, oh, yes, founder of Swamp-a-laya. The rest, as they say, is history.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.

Kip Louviere smiles while relaxing Nov. 23 at the inaugural Swamp-a-laya dreamed up by his friend Kevin Latiolais, who planned the first Swamp-a-laya event that attracted boats full of people to his residence along the G.A. Cut. Louviere was one of the cooks who vied for jambalaya bragging rights that day against Latiolais and Chris Dugan.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Boats of all shapes and sizes line the well-built dock in front of Kevin Latiolais’ home along the G.A. Cut. The boats carried mostly hunters and a few fishermen to the first-ever Swamp-a-laya event, where Latiolais and two other jambalaya cookoff contestants welcomed them on a cool, balmy late November day in the Atchafalaya Basin.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN

Kevin Latiolais’ black Labrador retriever, Charlie, relaxes on the dock on the G.A. Cut in front of Latiolais’ residence Nov. 23. Charlie, known for his canny ability to hunt and bring back frogs, tolerated the extra boat traffic and crowd on hand for the first-ever Swamp-a-laya hosted by Latiolais.
DON SHOOPMAN / THE DAILY IBERIAN