The Smokin’ Simars

Story, photos and recipes by Cynthia Nobles 

Cal and Pris Simar are making plans to do what virtually every rural family used to do when cold weather sets in — light up their backyard smokehouse. Every year the couple makes their own sausage, tasso, and beef jerky at their country home just north of Iota.

Cal is a retired educator and Pris is a retired registered nurse. The Simars learned how to smoke meat from Pris’ father, Allen Leger, a rice, sweet potato, soybean, hay, and cattle farmer whose ancestors passed the smoking skill down to him. “For all our 51 years of marriage,” Pris said, “Cal and I have been carrying on this family tradition.” 

“Before Pris and I were married I’d help my father-in-law with the smoking,” Cal said. “He taught me well. I have since taught my side of the family how to do it.”

German settlers first brought the art of smoking meat to Louisiana. The Cajun French quickly adopted this preservation technique and over time have spectacularly perfected it. (The French-founded City of Ville Platte even brags that it is the ‘Smoked Meat Capital of the World’).

Although southwest Louisiana is chockablock full of fantastic smoked meat stores, there are still many families like the Simars who smoke their own meat.  

The Simars’ 8x8-foot smokehouse is 15 feet high. It features a window that had been laying around in their garage, and which comes in handy for creating a draft. The walls and roof are made of tin and 2x4s. The inside has exposed rafters, an iron box on a dirt floor, and a heavenly scent that reminded me of bacon. The unassuming building sits right behind their home. 

“When we built our house in 1983, we built a small smokehouse,” Cal said, “but we quickly outgrew that one. My dad and I built our larger smokehouse in 1990. I got the Iota High School Ag Department to build the iron firebox.”

Cal’s pork sausage recipe is a tweaked version of his father-in-law’s. “I use 80 percent Boston Butt and 20 percent pork loin. I season it with salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and a little curing salt. For deer sausage I use 60 percent pork and 40 percent venison. The spice proportions for both sausages are a secret.”

The Simars own an electric grinder that can process 100 pounds of meat in 10 minutes, along with a giant mixer that handles 50 pounds of meat at a time. 

For stuffing, they use a large manual stuffer. “We use real pig casings,” Pris said. Natural pig casings are prized for their ability to deeply absorb smoke and develop a distinctive ‘snap.’ The Simars buy casings locally by the ‘hank,’ a measurement that will stuff about 100 pounds.

“Sometimes our son, Brandon, helps,” Pris said. “But most of the time it’s me who cleans the casings and stuffs them. Then I hand them off to Cal for smoking.”

“My favorite wood for smoking is sweet gum,” Cal said. There’s an abundance of sweet gum on a nearby farm, and that neighbor lets Cal cut down all he wants. He also occasionally uses oak and pecan. “I split the wood and let it dry for a year. When I make the fire, I start with dried wood. Then I add green wood to make smoke.”

On smoking days, Cal gets up early, hangs the meat in the smoker, lights the fire, and then drinks coffee. 

Smoking time depends on the weather and humidity. “The best days for smoking are cool and crisp,” Cal said. “It takes 5 to 6 hours for sausage to ‘take the smoke’. Tasso takes 5-6 hours, too, and jerky takes about 8 hours. In 5 hours, I have to replenish the wood about 4 times.”

When the smoking process is finished, the Simars spread their cured meat out on a large table where it cools. Then they vacuum seal it and freeze it.

Over the years the Simars have also smoked meats like brisket, turkey, and chicken, but their annual staples remain tasso and beef jerky, and their family-favorite pork sausage. “We make at least 300 pounds of sausage a year,” Cal said. “Some years it’s a lot more. One year we made 900 pounds.”

And what do two people do with all that sausage? “A lot goes to our kids,” Pris says of the couple’s 3 grown children. “And our 6 grandkids love it. Some of them won’t eat storebought sausage; they want their pop’s (grandfather’s) sausage.” The Simars also like to entertain, especially for LSU games, and friends devour much of it then.

Cal’s sausage receives so much acclaim that he has even been approached to sell it commercially.

​“But that’s not something I want to do,” he said. “My son-in-law Mike wants to learn how to smoke meat. I plan to teach him. As long as a family member keeps this going, I’m happy.”
 
 
Do you have a Louisiana agriculture story or a recipe you’d like to share? Contact me at [email protected].
 
Cynthia Nobles is the cookbook editor for LSU Press and the author/co-author of several historical cookbooks, including A Confederacy of Dunces Cookbook, The Delta Queen Cookbook, and The Fonville Winans Cookbook.
 
 
Sausage Crepes
Makes 12 - recipe by Diane Leger Cicero of Torbert
 
Crepes:
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Cooking spray
 
Filling:
2 pounds smoked sausage, shredded or chopped finely
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
4-8 ounces cream cheese (depending on how much you like), at room temperature
 
Topping:
1 cup sour cream
½ cup (1 stick) melted butter
 
1. Crepes: Thoroughly whisk together the eggs, milk, and vegetable oil. Set aside. Place a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat lightly with cooking spray. When pan is barely hot, add ¼ cup crepe batter and spread out by swirling the pan. You want an 8-inch crepe. Cook 1 minute. Flip the crepe over and cook 30 seconds.  Place cooked crepe on a towel to cool. Continue making crepes, spraying pan with oil each time. Stack cooked crepes between sheets of waxed paper.
2. Filling: In a skillet set over medium-high heat, cook the smoked sausage and onion until onion is browned. Remove from heat and drain any grease. Stir in the Cheddar cheese and cream cheese. 
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9x13-inch baking pan. Place 2 tablespoons filling down the center of each crepe and roll them up. Place filled crepes seam side down in the prepared pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake 30 minutes. 
4. Topping: Combine the sour cream and melted butter. Spoon the topping over the hot crepes and bake, uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes before serving. Freezes well.
 
 
Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Makes 12
 
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
12 large, fresh jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeds removed
12 slices bacon, at room temperature
Toothpicks
 
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Fill each pepper half with cream cheese. Completely wrap each filled pepper half with bacon and secure bacon ends with toothpicks. Bake until bacon is brown and crispy, 25-35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 
 
Sausage Bread
Makes 1 loaf (8 servings) – recipe by Pris Simar of Iota
 
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound smoked sausage, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, optional
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
2 large eggs, beaten
Flour for dusting
1 (16-ounce) loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onion in the oil until opaque, 6-8 minutes. Add the sausage and garlic and cook 5 more minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add the cheese and Creole seasoning to the sausage mixture and combine thoroughly. 
2.  Lightly flour a hard work surface and roll out the thawed bread dough into a 9x13-inch rectangle. Brush the beaten eggs over the dough, reserving 3 tablespoons. Evenly spread on the sausage mixture. From a long dough end, roll up jelly roll style. Pinche the edges and ends and place seam side down on the parchment-lined pan. Brush with the remaining egg.
3. Bake until golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Slice and serve.