ROUSES_MarApr2020_Magazine_Pages_High-Res

Rouses Means Local flavor

Jack Miller’s BBQ by michael tisserand

A scan of old issues of South Louisiana newspapers shows how much Jack Miller’s business became a part of local life. It’s hard to find a local school event that didn’t include donated meals from Miller. Not surprisingly, Miller reigned as king over Mardi Gras festivities in Opelousas and served as Grand Marshal for a Louisiana Cotton Festival parade. “After 40 years in business, I have made a lot of friends,” Jack Miller told the Ville Platte Gazette in 1981. After serving in Vietnam, Jack Miller’s son Kermit joined his father in the business; Jack eventually named Kermit head of the company. Jack passed away in 1988 and, today, Kermit continues to run operations, assisted by numerous other family members. New products include a Cajun seasoning blend and a dipping sauce — but it’s the original tangy sauce that is lodged deep in the memory bank of the folks in South Louisiana. In fact, for some, the sauce itself is enough to make a meal. “Growing up south of Ville Platte, to me there was no other option,” wrote one fan on the company’s Facebook page. “I love to put it on Evangeline Maid bread.”

The town of Ville Platte has long proclaimed itself the “Smoked Meat Capital of the World,” so it should come as no surprise that the town also produces one of Louisiana’s most beloved sauces for those meats. It all started in the summer of 1941, when a former sweet potato farmer and truck driver named Jack Miller heard that there was a restaurant in Ville Platte that was about to go under. Miller took it over, and he honored the patriotism of the war years by giving the place a new name: American Inn. Jack had previously tried out a wide range of jobs, even working for a small company that sent men door to door in search of household gold. All that experience gave him a knack for dealing with people, which came in handy during the American Inn’s early years. There was a wartime meat shortage, so Miller served chicken and started working on barbecue sauces to keep the chicken from drying out — Jack needed that sauce, because he didn’t have a cover for his barbecue pit, his son, Kermit Miller, later recalled for the Opelousas Daily World . The new place was a hit with servicemen who’d driven to Ville Platte to dance at the Evangeline Club. Pretty soon, customers began showing up with empty jars to fill up with sauce for their own home cooking. And with that, Jack Miller’s Bar-B-Que Sauce was born. Conecuh If we asked our Alabama customers to pick their all-time favorite brand of sausage, there’s no doubt they would choose Conecuh. The late Henry Sessions, a World War II vet, created the original recipe, naming it after the Southern Alabama county between Mobile and Montgomery, where he lived. The sausage is still made in Evergreen, a small town there that is the seat of the county. Sessions was originally a salesman for a meat packing plant in Montgomery, but he had bigger ideas. In 1947 he opened a hog and cattle slaughter facility with freezer locker space for local families (this was before most people had home freezers). He quickly hit upon the idea of making his own smoked sausage using pork shoulders and bacon trimmings. He

also added more spice than traditional smoked sausage, and used a higher sugar content, which helps the sausage char and crisp. The delicate snap you hear when cooking it comes from its all-natural sheep and hog casings. Today, Conecuh Sausage produces 35,000 to 40,000 pounds of sausage per week, in six different flavors, including Cajun Smoked, Spicy & Hot, and Cracked Black Pepper. The company is run by Henry’s son, John Crum Sessions, and grandson, John Henry Sessions. And every Alabamians favorite sausage is now the “Official Smoked Sausage” of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

41 WWW.ROUSES.COM

ROUSES