Bergeron’s Boudin & Cajun Meats (760 Hwy 415, Port Allen, LA, 225.338.092) provides a tasty way to hang on to the holiday feeling:  turducken sausage.  A coarsely ground, turkey/chicken/duck smoked sausage, the turducken sausage   tasted like a poultry andouille.  The rich flavors of duck and turkey predominate; I can’t wait to try it out in gumbo, jambalaya or just lightly grilled.

Bergeron’s is a meat wonderland.  All the usual suspects abound:  stuffed chickens, quail, and rabbits; bacon-wrapped, stuffed pork tenderloin; andouille and various fresh sausages; meaty boudin and cracklins.  Step right up to the counter, past the cold cases chock full of pork, beef, poultry, and side dishes ranging from green bean casserole to stuffed peppers.  Go on up and check out what’s hot out of the fryer, basking in the heat lamps by the cash register:  stuffed pistolettes and boudin balls.  If styrofoam containers & parking-lot snacks aren’t your style, Bergeron’s serves all of this plus a daily special, in an attached dining room.

Or pick up  a pound of their version of “little smokies”–short, narrow, lightly smoked pork sausages that bear only passing resemblance to the Hillshire Farms product of the same name.  The low casing-to-filling ratio gives the small sausages a pleasing snap.  Black pepper and smoke combine to make a stellar snack:  the small-batch Cajun cousin of industrial slim jims.

Start the New Year right:  support local small businesses, whether meat markets, ice cream shops, independent grocers, farm stands, seafood vendors, or lunch counters.  Maybe we can all eat our way out of the recession, just in time for health care reform.