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Tiny Prudhomme’s House of Meat "I think Cajun has been broadened way too much...Everybody thinks if it’s Cajun it’s pepper and it’s not; it’s all about flavor." – Tiny Prudhomme Damon Prodhomme, known by everyone as Tiny, comes from a family with deep traditions in the kitchen. His uncle is Paul Prudhomme, chef at K-Paul’s in New Orleans. His aunts and uncles co-authored The Prudhomme Family Cookbook, which shared as much family history as it did kitchen secrets. NOTE: What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here. Subject: Tiny Prudhomme ----- Mary Beth Lasseter: All right; this is Mary Beth Lasseter with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Today is Friday, January 23, 2009. I’m in Broussard, Louisiana. If you could for the record, please let us know your name, your birth date, and tell me what you do for a living? Tiny Prudhomme: My name is Damon Prudhomme. Most folks around here call me Tiny. The name of my business is Tiny Prudhomme’s House of Meat. My date of birth is April 1, 1971 and we do specialty meats. We do boudin, cracklings, any kind of specialty meat to order. We do breakfast; we do lunch; we do whatever you want. We have a--a variety of menu to choose from. Specialty meat seems to be a common phrase in businesses around here. Can you describe what it is and why it’s used? There’s--there’s a difference. You can go to Wal-Mart and buy meat or you can go to a big grocery store and buy meat. It’s different than buying a specialty place to where you have seasoned meats that are done in the traditional way that people used to do back in time and I say back in time--back in the earlier days of stuffing them with onions, bell peppers, and garlic and so forth to where the consumer doesn’t have to go home and do it. It’s already prepared; it’s seasoned. You go home and transfer it into a pot and you’re ready to go. So it’s--it’s specialty in that; plus there’s other things--items that we do is we make duck sausage, duck tasso, different items--chicken and chicken--different chicken deals. We stuff and debone chickens and that’s where the specialty comes into it more than anything. Can you tell me a little bit about the style of cooking that is around here? Mostly traditional, I mean it’s the rice and gravies, the jambalayas, the etouffee(s); I mean that’s more of what you’re going to find around here and one of my favorites is sausage in a tomato gravy. Lot of people don't know a lot about it because that’s one of the--a lot of poor people ate that because that’s all they had. All you had was tomato sauce and either smoked sausage or some fresh sausage laying around, so they made a big meal for a big family that--that couldn’t afford to go out and buy the pork and the beef or didn’t have it. So it--it’s actually an awesome dish if you’ve never had it before; it’s very good to eat over rice. So you do eat it over rice? Yeah; you eat it--everything is eaten over rice. You’re not a coon ass if you don't eat nothing over rice. Can you talk to me a little bit about how you got into the food business? Family--my uncle is a chef in New Orleans; he owns K-Paul’s in New Orleans, Chef Paul Prudhomme. My aunt here in town was open for quite a while and just handed down becoming a salesman. We went out and we cooked and did different things and then came to be the--just opened my own place after people told me you know why don't you do this yourself. And that’s kind of where we’re at today and that’s how it’s unfolded. And we’re going into our fourth year of business and going strong. Did your parents cook a lot? They did; they cooked at home. I mean it wasn’t nothing to this capacity but I mean my--we had home-cooked meals every night. It was something--we didn’t--we ate out very little. My dad worked a lot so we didn’t go out to eat. Very often when we did it was once a month or twice a month--not like a lot of people today go out five--six times a month. So we got a bunch of home cooking but it wasn’t to the capacity of what we do today. ----- And what did you do just before opening this store? I was a salesman. I--we did sales--oil field sales for about seven years and traveled around town to town running on rigs and calling in different companies here in town and just going out different places and that kind of got me interested too to find out the way different people in the--in the Louisiana cook ‘cause it’s so different from South Louisiana to North Louisiana, you know. We’re here; we’re the big rice and gravy and bread. Up there they’re potatoes; a lot more people eat potatoes up north. Believe it or not just being North Louisiana and you--the more you travel farther north the more they’re in the--the potatoes. [Laughs] Like us, we eat rice; they’re up there and they eat potatoes, so it’s very interesting. What would you consider to be the rice line? I would have to say probably Alexandria maybe--somewhere around in that area. Once you start kind of getting out of there then you’re going to start seeing more people eating potatoes where there’s a lot more potato items with--with different stuff. They don't eat as many gravies as we eat; that’s where the--the white gravy and biscuits come--to me is when you further north. So I mean South Louisiana and this area has--is very good with the--the--the deep rich flavors to me more than you would up north or middle Louisiana or even if you go into Texas or Mississippi. So it’s--it’s definitely a unique place to be. Can you tell me a little bit about your menu--the things you make both prepared for people to take home and the things you sell hot here? We do a variety of smoked sausages. We do a chicken and jalapeno smoked sausage which is a little different from a lot of people. We smoke all our own meats here; we do it the old-fashioned way with wood. There’s no electricity. We make seven different fresh sausages from pork and jalapeno to chicken and jalapeno, chicken and shrimp and jalapeno; we do all the stuffed pork chops plus the--the marinated rib-eyes and t-bones and so forth. We have the stuffed deboned chickens with several--several varieties of food. We do some stuff with stuffed breads; it’s a--just a French loaf that we stuff with a--a smoked brisket and pepper jack that we put in the oven. If you want it, it’s hot and ready to go. You can also bring it home and put it in the oven and do it that way. We have another flavor that we call a Tex-Mex that’s kind of a queso type cheese, Rotel, and onions and hamburger meat with cheese and we fill another one like that. They’re cut, ready to go, and prepared. All you got to do is put them in the oven and open them up--bag of chips and you’re good for a meal, so that’s Super Bowl--Super Bowl items. So we do stuffed mushrooms, stuffed bell peppers, chicken wraps, just a variety--variety of different items. The list will go and would take us forever so--but that’s some of the main stuff we do. Do you consider those foods Cajun? Um, yes and some of them--I found--I found that the--it seems like the longer it goes on--since in the last 10 years I think Cajun has been broadened way too much. Everything is a Cajun this, a Cajun that and that was one of our--our deals here that they asked me why I didn’t name my business a Cajun specialty meat--because I didn’t want that--um I’m trying to think of the word--the enigma of having Cajun put with my name because so many people have turned that into pepper. Everybody thinks if it’s Cajun it’s pepper and it’s not; it’s all about flavor. Everything we have in here there’s nothing that’s hot. It might be spicy but it’s not hot and I--that’s why I say Cajun--Cajun is flavor. And to say that most of this stuff is yeah; it’s pretty Cajun. I mean I just consider it down home more than Cajun--just more of a down home cooking style. What would you consider your family’s background? Cajun. [Laughs] My--my parents and my grand--my dad was--my--my mother is from Monroe and that’s where I learned a lot of what the potatoes and stuff is--she’s from Monroe in Arkansas and my dad and them were born and raised in Opelousas and Port Barry. It’s very versatile on which way you want to go; I’m trying to remember the question you asked me now. I done lost it. Was just asking about your family background. Oh so I mean it’s--it’s very different; my mom learned how to cook the way we did or we--my grandparents did and we learned the way to cook the way her grandparents did. I mean it was nothing to get up in the morning and there’s a fine line between the two. They’re from Arkansas but every morning when we woke up as kids my grandmother was--bacon, eggs, biscuits, the same thing as we did here, just cooked in a little different way. I mean every--I find everybody’s menus are the same. Everybody just puts their own little twist to it. I mean my Uncle Paul says that too; there’s probably 2,000,000 ways to cook chicken. It’s just which way is the best for you, you know. So I mean the background of it is Arkansas, North Louisiana and then Opelousas, Port Barry, so three different cultures. ----- Can you talk to me, since this interview will go on the Boudin Trail, a little bit about your boudin and the development of your recipe? We have a normal traditional boudin--pork boudin that we use--onions, bell peppers. We use tomatoes, onions; I’m--I’m probably one of the only places--places in this area that we don't use liver. Everybody else around here uses calf liver in their boudin because it has--that’s what people used traditionally is that--I don't know if you know anything about the traditional boudin of what it was consisting of. Normally when people slaughtered pigs they took their--their roast and everything else and put it aside and they used the remainder of everything [Laughs] which sounds really disgusting and made boudin with it--any of the remnants that they had over from the ribs and the--anything that they took off--the hanks and everything else they made boudin with it, and one of them is the liver and the--I don't know if you’ve ever heard of cowboy stew. That’s another cuisine down here. I don't like it but a lot of people use because they never got rid of anything because they tried to utilize everything from the cow when they slaughtered or the pig when they slaughtered. And the liver was one of them so they put it in the boudin but it gives it a real strong--if they put too much it’s too--it’s too strong. And we found that we didn’t need it ‘cause we kept taking it out and saying well it’s already still a little strong. But we kept taking it out and finally we decided why do we even put it in it? So our boudin tastes completely different from everybody else’s because it doesn’t have that liver taste in it. Now we have a lot of people coming to us saying I like your boudin ‘cause it doesn’t have the liver taste. You know and some--some people even come in and ask you know what--what do you make your boudin--? You tell them and they go I don't think I’ve ever known anybody not to do it. And then when they eat it they go God; this is--this is--this is weird ‘cause it doesn’t taste the liver. [Laughs] And it’s like well that’s why because it doesn’t have none in it. So it’s really interesting the way different people make it but normally everybody makes it pretty much the same until it comes to seasoning. That’s pretty much the difference. ----- How do you get your recipes? Do you develop them by trial and error or are you using family recipes? Shaking--not stirring; if you want to put it--shaking a little too much when you shouldn’t have. I find with cooking that recipes come from mistakes. There’s a way of following recipes but I don't think anybody from the past really followed recipes unless they were baking because baking is so precise. That’s why I don't bake ‘cause I don't like being precise. And recipes that we have just evolved from there because I like--I’m very creative with the stuff that I do and I like to find different ways to change--to change something to make it my own. I’m a big Food Network fan; I love the Food Network. I’m always looking at different recipes and I try to take the--the basic recipe on something and make it my own. Changes--changing whatever it is in it and instead of using red bell peppers using sweet bell peppers and seeing how that changes the flavor of the dish. And then it’s not theirs anymore; it’s yours and that’s what I think cooking is all about is making something yours. And that’s what makes people come back is because it is different, it is something new to try; it’s not something that--that’s so spicy you can't breathe whenever you’re eating it. And that’s how we develop all our recipes. I still do follow some recipes but not much. ----- Can you talk to me about the schedule here? When are ya’ll open and what is a typical day like for you and your staff? Monday through Friday we’re open 6:30 to 6:30--full 12-hour days; Saturdays we’re open from 8:00 to 2:00. A typical day--you start off pretty--pretty busy usually. This is like I said our kind of slower period at times because of the holidays and everybody is trying to get back in the swing and the oil field slows down on this time--for people’s budgets and so forth. So but our mornings are really, really busy and we’re pushing our catering business a little more, so we’re--we’re trying to do more caterings for oil field companies or personal people--anybody on the street, you can come in and get it done. We offer services either out or in; if you want them done I have a cooking trailer that we use that we go from--I go from here right--easiest way to put it is I’ll go anywhere a pocketbook will take me. If there’s a road to get to it I’ll--I’m going to go, so--. But we do sides and baked beans, rice dressings, and all that stuff. If somebody is cooking and you just wanted the sides, we do those too. We do--we started doing a thing I call--we don't--we don't prepare lunch every day. I started doing a thing called custom lunches that you have a group of 10 or more that want lunch we cook what you want and we do it in a plate lunch style. It gives you a little variety of what more--that as a group you--from anything you want; I mean étouffée(s) and steaks, whatever you want; we do it that way. It’s a little easier for you and a little easier for us. You mentioned rice dressing and that seems to be a common dish around this area. Could you please talk to me and describe it? Another unique thing; rice dressing is probably another way that you can cook--it’s a very basic dish. Some people call it dirty rice; some people call it rice dressing. Dirty rice, more people from the northern part will call it dirty rice just ‘cause of the way that it looks. It just looks dirty and that’s where I think the term--terminology came from. But I--I make mine in a very non-traditional way. I don't use liver and gizzards in mine. It’s just got a good flavor to it; I use nothing but ground meat, onions, Rotel and seasoning, a little bit of Worcestershire® and some garlic powder and Cajun powder stuff but that’s it. I don't--it’s just a mix of the blends on how you mix them that I think we have a unique rice dressing. It comes out very good and doesn’t have that big strong liver taste. I love it and my grandmother’s probably got the best rice dressing in the world and it’s got liver in it. But I don't make mine with it because there’s so many people that don't want it. It’s something different. ----- Has your daughter shown any interest in working in the family business? No; not at all. She--she does--I say no; she--she does show some interest. She likes to cook but she’s a typical teenager. She’s 15 and she has nothing to want to do with work or being around here. She’d rather be with her friends talking on the phone and so forth, so I’m hoping it changes later on a little bit ‘cause I do have intentions of opening a restaurant. I don't know when or where but it’s going to be somewhere in town so I’m hoping maybe she leans towards maybe that ‘cause eventually I’m going to sell this. And that’s where I’m gearing my way to go is towards the restaurant and that’s why--that’s why I’m pushing my catering business even more to give more people the--the exposure to it--to where when I do go into the transition of a restaurant people already know the food. They already know that--man I know that place ‘cause I’ve had this and it’s going to be good. So that’s what we’re trying to gear it that way a little bit more. So your aspiration is to be a chef then? Uh, yeah; some people already call me chef. But I don't think I’m even close to being a chef. I think it takes a little bit--I don't necessarily think it takes going to school and having a degree in it. To be honest with you I don't think my--my uncle has even got a degree in--in Culinary. I know he’s been to some schools but most of my family that are chefs now it’s been coming with experience and that are now considered chefs these days. So it--being a chef, you know not set on looking for the title but--the restaurant part of it yeah I’m looking very forward to it. ---- Do you see any seasonality with how you sell your foods--things that sell better at certain times of the year? Not really; the only thing that to me is really seasonal is cracklings and boudin ‘cause to me the--the colder it gets it’s--it’s a hot food, so during the summer--. I’m--I’m like that with coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker but hot chocolate I don't want--I don't want that during the summer. Or gumbo; I don't want gumbo during the summer. To me that’s--that’s a winter food. Chili is a winter food to me. But I mean normally just boudin and cracklings to me is more of a winter food and it seems to pick up at that time. And then I can lie; tomorrow it can be 80-degrees and sell 40 pounds of boudin a day you know. It--it just all depends on what--but yes; I think that’s the only really seasonal thing that we have is that--besides the gumbos ‘cause we have ready-gumbos too that we sell out of the case. Can you talk to me a little bit about the stuffed breads? What’s the tradition there? I don't think it really is a tradition. I think it’s more of somebody put some stuff on some bread ‘cause I know as a kid I--I ate everything on bread. I mean I ate--I’d--I’d take potato salad and put it on bread; I would take rice and gravy and put it in bread. I think it’s just our nature of eating bread and we just took the idea and--and we’re not the first one that’s done it. There’s--there’s many, many places that have different kinds of stuffed breads that either bake it into it or make it the same kind of way we do. I don't--I don't think it’s really a tradition on anybody; I think it just came up and it was easy. And people took what they had when they ate at home and did the same thing; so that’s--that’s pretty much the way we came up with that. Are you using traditional New Orleans French bread or do you buy it from a local provider? Actually I buy it from Albertson’s, the local store here in town. They have French bread loaves that are very good, very inexpensive, and they’re delicious. I can't ask for a better bread. They really are good. Some--many of the folks around here that we’ve interviewed speak French and I’m wondering do you speak French or do folks in your family do it? My dad speaks a little bit; my grandparents do. All I know is cuss words; that’s it. I don't know--I know very, very little French. Another thing I find that is failing this area is that a lot of people don't know French anymore and I--I’m not a big person on making somebody learn it in school because I find the French that they teach in school is not the French that people speak here. I--and I kind of separate it in a fact that England teaches proper English; they speak proper English. We don't; we speak broken English. Paris speaks proper French; we spoke broken French and I have--the way--the way I look at it they call it--they call it Cajun French in school but I really don't--I still don't see the--‘cause you can--I’ve got friends that know French from school that can't go home and talk to their grandparents ‘cause they don't know what they’re talking about. And I just think that’s sad because why do I want to learn something I can't talk to the people that I know speak French? They don't understand what I’m saying. And that’s--I think it’s sad that they don't teach the French that’s spoken here. And I don't--I didn’t learn it in school because of that reason. I--I’m disappointed in it now ‘cause I wish I would have learned it through my grandparents so I could communicate with the people like them, but it--it’s hard. They don't--they don't teach it so unless you learn it from an older person or somebody that knows French you’re not going to learn it the way it should be learned. So I’m not a big stickler on pushing French on people. I wish I--I wish I would know it; I really do ‘cause it--it really does enhance your--your life a little bit you know to be able to speak French. ----- To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.
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