Kernis “Big Lou” Louviere has a penchant for experimental cooking that dates back four decades. As a 15-year-old with little to no experience in the kitchen, he once poured half a box of baking soda into a pot of spaghetti, slightly more than the pinch required to neutralize the acidic taste of the sauce.

Louviere’s mother had left him a list of ingredients, instructing him to prepare supper for his five siblings.

“We got ready to start eating, and they were totally grossed out,” Louviere said. “We put the spaghetti down and the dog wouldn’t even eat it.”

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Forty years later, the New Iberia man still experiments with various spices and flavor profiles, but it’s been a long time since someone turned his nose up at the finished product. The self-taught Cajun chef extraordinaire has the trophies to vouch for his success in stimulating taste buds across the country. Once ranked among the top 10 grill chefs in the country, Louviere competes annually against some of the most accomplished cooks, often finishing in the upper echelon.

Louviere, 55, began cooking for a large family and still prefers cooking for the masses today. His business, Big Lou’s Catering, feeds hundreds at weddings and special events. During a cooking stint in the Midwest, Louviere and his crew once prepared a barbecue picnic for 8,000 people, a feat that required two weeks of preparation.

“Every time I light the stove I cook too much,” Louviere quipped.

In a part of the country replete with good cooks, Louviere stands out among his peers not just for his culinary competence but his willingness to help others. Louviere frequently cooks for charitable events and has donated proceeds recently to a handicapped children’s organization as well as the family of a local man battling cancer.

“One thing about Kernis is, no matter what you ask, no matter what you need, and no matter what the situation is, he is always there and willing to give a hand,” said Debbie Romero, a longtime friend of Louviere’s who also has enjoyed his cooking. “He’s a wonderful cook. He’ll take any piece of meat and turn it into something that you’ve never tasted before.”

Even those competing against Louviere in today’s  20th annual World Championship Gumbo Cookoff in Bouligny Plaza acknowledge the special ingredients in Louviere’s personality. “He’s got a heart,” said Walter Voorhies, who began cooking with Louviere in 1994. “He doesn’t tell people no. He can make a commitment, he’s accountable and he does a top notch job.”

Louviere relishes each victory, be it a Gumbo Cookoff win or the time his barbecue sauce finished ninth in the world in Memphis, Tenn. But he is also a man on a mission.

“My goal is to try to conserve the Cajun tradition of cooking,” Louviere said. “You don’t want it to become a lost art. We find it’s happening now, Cajun food is kind of like the lost food now.

“For a long time, Cajun food was the rave of everybody, and we had some bad cooks out there that made Cajun food bad. It’s not fair to the Cajun food because we know Cajun food is some of the best that we’ve got.”