2004 Cochon de Lait at Cajun Basin

[Turbine]

Before the UL-vs-NT I had fun perusing through and taking pictures of all the ULLigators cooking and having fun. Real close to the Krewe-de-Chew, I ran across a full blown "Cochon De Lait" (a pig roast) in progress.

A Cochon-De-Lait" can occur in many ways, but I remember fondly one from my youth where we used a time tested method of hand rotating a very small pig over a fire comprised mostly of pecan wood and dry sugarcane stalks over a hole lined with aluminum foil. After we were finished we threw the trash in the hole and covered it up. Someday an archeologist will dig it up and declare us prehistoric.

Those memories rushed to the fore at Cajun Basin when on my picture taking rounds, I came across the S-Club tent in the day long throws of a bona fide Cochon De Lait. While it wasn't the kind I remember from my youth, it was the kind you tend to see lately, a pig roast with an above ground devise with a motorized pig rotator. The self rotator allows you the luxury of standing away from the fire and tends to give you more time to socialize. From my old memories being so close to the fire for so long, the cook used to end up looking like the “other” other white meat.

Besides the Cochon De Lait it was exciting to meet a person I have come across many times in my research, Mike McDonald of UL football fame (late 60's and early 70's) he once had a 99 yard kickoff return in a game against Roger Staubach, and was a member of the Ragin Cajuns through what can only be considered some of their winningest years.

They offered for me to come back and taste some of the fruits of their day long labor but time did not allow. My goal was to hit all the tailgating spots in Cajun Basin, and even though the Cajuns lost and I never did make all the rounds it was still a day to remember.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. -- The time was just approaching 5 a.m., the sun had some two hours before it would rise, but Keith Guidry and his pals pulled into the Cajun Field parking lot anyway, knowing they had to get their pig started. Surely they'd be alone.

"But we weren't," Guidry said in his thick Cajun accent. "Somebody else had a pig, too. So it was two of us, in the pitch black, cooking our pigs."

Their 150-pound pigs. Their 12-hours-to-cook pigs. Their remove-the-skin, dip-it-in-ice and later-re-attach-it pigs. And this was 16 hours before a 9 p.m. kickoff. The sun would rise and set before Louisiana-Lafayette would take the field against North Texas later Friday night.

But it didn't matter. That's because in these parts, food rules. It's a place where "hello" is replaced by "you hungry?" A place where crawfish boils are as common as chips and salsa. There's a reason the school's nickname, the stadium's name, is the same as a spicy style of cooking. Win or lose on the field, the Cajuns are undefeated off it. Keith Guidry's tailgaters are well-fed. "I love my wife. And I love football," Guidry said. "But there's nothing like the love for great food. And each of these games I get to show it off."

Guidry and 23 other pals have tailgated every game outside the main entrance to Cajun Field for eight years now. The tailgaters wear lanyards around their necks that each carry a number, 1-24. The numbers represent each individual's ranking. Burn the pig, spill a beer, waste an oyster and you go down. Deliver great food on a regular basis and you go up. Guidry is No. 1, close friend and fellow tailgater Brian Richard is No. 2.

The rest of the story

By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com

[BeauCajun]

Turbine,

Boomer forced me to have some of that pig. That was some good piggy.

Thank you Boomer.

Beau Cajun

[El Sidonio]

This was a great story, hopefully this encourages more local fans, and fans from the visiting teams to come tailgate and come to the games. I sure do hope we have us a nice crowd this Saturday, and I hope that our boys pull off one more at home! Geaux UL! Geaux Ragin Cajuns!

God Bless.

[Bert]

I can't wait to see sights like these when I come down for a game this year.

[Crawfish]

I was recently invited to the Crew de chew tent (one of those guys was at the work day). I hope he remembers me when I show up at their tent hungry..