With an average of twenty-five to thirty teams competing in the Parks Cracklin Cook-Off each year, it’s not uncommon for entrants to try to stand out by adding their own special flair to the pot.
If the Louisiana weather isn’t hot enough for you yet come April, the pots sizzling at the Parks Cracklin’ Cook-Off sure will be! This cook-off has had pig skins and good times popping in the small village of Parks, Louisiana, every spring for 43 years, and the 2019 festival is heating up to do more of the same.
In its original incarnation, born in 1976, the Parks Cracklin’ Cook-Off was little more than a simple competition between teams frying up pig skins. It has since evolved into a full-fledged weekend festival, complete with live music, a kids’ fun jump, arts and crafts fair, local student art contest, and more. The cracklin’ doesn’t fall far from the cochon, however, and the values at the heart of the cook-off remain the same today as four decades ago.
“When it comes down to it, it’s real Louisiana Southern cuisine, in a way most people just don’t get to see it,” says festival coordinator Clint Laviolette.
The Cajun delicacy of the graton, or cracklin’, is simple: fry up a pork rind and throw some salt on it to make sure it keeps. But with an average of twenty-five to thirty teams competing in the cook-off each year, it’s not uncommon for entrants to try to stand out by adding their own special flair to the pot.
“There’s still plenty of teams that believe that the traditional way [using only salt] is the only way,” says Laviolette. “But we get plenty that think they can get an edge by finding the perfect ingredient, and they end up making their own top secret spice blends and such … sometimes the results get pretty interesting.”
No matter who takes home the prize for best cracklin’, the real winner of the cook-off (besides the samplers’ tastebuds) is St. Martin Parish itself. The goal of the Parks Cracklin’ Cook-Off remains, as it has always been, to “help those in need” throughout the parish. With its expansion, the festival not only extends its invitation to those near and far to enjoy genuine South Louisiana food and entertainment, but it also amplifies the help it can pass on to its community.
Join in the celebration for a generous helping of South Louisiana’s tongue-tingling food, toe-tapping music, and general bon temps for the whole family, all being served up April 26–27 at the Cecile Rousseau Poche Memorial Park in in Parks, Louisiana. Find all the details at parkscracklincookoff.com.
