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The Basics of Cajun Cooking
Author: Unknown
(if you know, let the webmaster know so he can cite credit correctly!)
The three meals of a Cajun's day are dejeuner, diner, et souper (breakfast, dinner, and supper) with dinner, the noon meal, being the largest. Breakfast is often cush-cush (fried corn meal) sweetened with sirop (cane molasses) or confiture de figue (fig preserve) and served with milk. Supper is often left overs from dinner.
Les Traditions
Acadians arriving first in Canada, then in Louisiana, turned to local foodstuffs and borrowed from their Indian, Creole, and Afro-Carribean neighbors to transform their traditional French peasant cooking. Some traditions withered. France's long history of cheese making survived among the Acadians only with caille egoutte, a humble cottage cheese.
Le Roux
Most of the original Acadian settlers came from a region near Poitou, France, an area on the boundary of the butter-based cooking of Paris and northern France and the oil-based cooking of southern France. In moving to the new world, the latter won out. So entrenched is that tradition that to this day, it is not uncommon in Cajun country to brown onions, make a dark flour and oil roux, and THEN decide what one is going to cook.
La Viande Boucanne
Some traditions brought from France flowered on the Cajun prairies. Charcuterie, the smoking and curing of meat, was developed into myriad distinct products. Sausages such as andouille and chourice contain blends of spices. Saucisse boucanne is a beef or pork sausage that is smoked to help it keep and give it flavor. Tasso, sometimes of beef but more often pork, is marinated for several days then coated with cayenne pepper and other spices and smoked.
Du Riz
Rice was being grown by the Acadians soon after their arrival in Louisiana, but it was "Providence rice", planted then left up to chance. This semi-wild rice was not a major part of the diet of the early Acadians. It provided variety, and was insurance against failure of the corn crop. In the last century, however, as the prairies were discovered to be perfect for large scale commercial rice growing, rice has become the indispensible dish on the Cajun table, relegating the many corn dishes to secondary status. Never eaten plain, it is consumed covered by gumbos, bisques, fricassees, and sauces piquantes.
Ancient French charcuterie traditions of meat curing thrived in la Louisiane cadienne. Seafood and local fruits et jardinage (vegetables) provided a diversified diet. Sausage such as chourice or andouille, and smoked, marinated beef or pork tasso, add flavor to cooking. Wetlands Cajuns sun dried chevrettes (shrimp) and tasso de poisson rouge (redfish) until refrigeration replaced these practices. Bremes et gombos (eggplants and okra), figues et plaquemines (figs and persimmons) quickly joined la cuisine cadienne.
Early Cadiens cooked in three-legged cast iron pots placed over the hearth fire, sometimes supplemented with kettles of brass or copper. By the late 1800s les Cadiens used the cast iron skillet. La Chaudiere still most used in la cuisine cadienne is the cast iron pot. The poelon (cast iron skillet), cured black through use, is the chief implement of Cajun cooking. It is ideally suited to etouffer (smothering), the technique of cooking a dish quickly over high heat, then very slowly over low heat. Its thick bottom helps prevent burning during the early, `high heat' phase of Cadien recipes, and forgives scant attention during the later, `low heat' part of the etouffer (smothering) process that is the heart of Cadien cooking. Cajuns also used le poelon to fry meat and fish and to bake pain de mais (corn bread). Often a deep, covered cast iron pot or Dutch oven was used for stews, making cush-cush, etc.
La Gregue
La gregue, the drip coffee pot, was used for the dripped cafe noir, black coffee, a taste the Acadians acquired from their Creole neighbors. Cajuns wake up and visit over cups of dark cafe, sometimes with chicory added a la creole, one of the few Cajun staples that is not a local product.
Do Cajuns really use so much Hot Pepper?
The answer is... yes and no. If you've only eaten Cajun food outside of Louisiana---where the concept of Cajun cuisine is often to dip something in cayenne---then you probably got the wrong impression. Cajun's do use red pepper, and probably a lot of it by the standards of most places, but it is intended to be only a part of the mix of many flavors.
La Viande de Cochon (Pork)
Andouille - Spiced sausage.
Boudin Blanc - Sausage stuffed with pork and rice dressing.
Boudin Rouge or Noir- Boudin blanc with blood added.
Chourice - Spiced sausage.
Cochon de Lait - Roast suckling pig, both as a dish and as a social event.
Daube Glace - Jellied beef or pork roast.
Debris - Organ stew.
Fromage de Tete - Hog's head cheese.
Gratons - Fried pork skins; also bits of meat stuck to a skillet's bottom, used in gravies.
Grillades - Small cuts marinated and grilled.
Saucisse Boucannee - Smoked sausage.
Roti - Pork roast.
Tasso - Spiced, smoked pork, or beef; marinated several days before smoking.
Les Fruits de Mer (Seafood)
Barbue - Catfish
Bigarneaux - Oyster-drill sea snails, usually eaten steamed.
Bisque - Spicy seafood soup, often made from crawfish.
Bouillabaisse - Fish stew, usually with redfish or red snapper.
Bouilliture - Boiling of crabs, shrimp or crawfish, often outdoors as a social gathering.
Chevrettes - Shrimp.
Chevrettes Seches - Dried shrimp used in cooking or eaten as a snack.
Choupique - Freshwater bowfin fish.
Cocodrie/Caiman - Alligator.
Courtbouillon - Fish cooked in a tomato gravy, served over rice.
Crabes - Crabs, boiled, stuffed or ficasseed.
Crabes molles - Softshell crabs. Crawfish pie - A pastry filled with stewed crawfish.
Ecrevisses - Crawfish.
Huitres - Oysters.
Ouaouaron - Bullfrog.
Patassa - Perch.
Perche rouge - Red Snapper.
Plie - Flounder.
Poisson Rouge - Red fish.
Tortue - Turtle.
Truite - Trout.
Pour Dejeuner (For Breakfast)
Cafe - Dark roasted, dripped coffee, sometimes with chicory.
Cush-cush - Corn meal sweetened and eaten with milk.
Pain perdu - French toast.
Tisane - Herbal tea; favorites are made from mint or sassafras root; sometimes drunk for medicinal purposes.
Manieres de Cuire (Cooking Methods)
Etouffee - Smothered dish, first seared, then slow cooked.
Fricassee - Stew based on a dark-as-chocolate flour and oil roux.
Fricot - Smothered potato soup with sausage or shredded meat.
Frit - Fried, the most common fate of local fish.
Jambalaya Blanc - Much like the Spanish paella, rice is cooked in---instead of served under---a spicy meat and seafood sauce.
Jambalaya Rouge - Like jambalaya blanc, except that the sauce is tomato based.
Macaroni - Pasta and any sauce used to cover it.
Ragout - Roux based stew.
Sauce Piquante - Tomato based dish, served over rice, with cayenne pepper often used to cover the gamy taste of alligator, turtle, or squirrel.
Du Gombo et de la Soupe (Soups & Gumbos)
Bisque - Spicy seafood soup, often made from crawfish.
Bouillabaisse - Fish stew, usually with redfish or red snapper.
Gombo file - A dark flour and oil
roux forms the base of this soup containing various meats and/or
seafoods.
Gombo fevie - An okra based dish with meat or seafood; sometimes whole boiled eggs float in the pot; served over rice.
Gombo aux Herbes - Green gumbo with vegetables and herb base.
Soupe - Soup; as in soupe de jardinage (vegetable) or soupe de tortue (turtle).
Pains (Breads)
Miche or Cap - Round French bread.
Pain de Mais - Corn bread.
Pain Francais - French bread.
Jardinage, Fruits et Epices (Vegetables, Fruits & Spices)
Breme - Eggplant.
Casbananes - Type of sweet squash.
Feves - Beans.
Figues - Figs.
File - Sassafras, dried and ground for gumbo.
Gombo - Okra.
Haricots - Green Beans.
Limons - Lemons.
Mais - Corn.
Melon - Melon;
melon d'eau (watermelon);
melon francais (canteloupe).
Muspuluces - Loquats, also called Japan plums.
Patate Douce - Sweet potato; also called yams.
Pistaches - Peanuts.
Piment Doux - Bell pepper.
Piment Fort - Red or hot pepper like Cayenne.
Plaquemines - Persimmons.
Riz - Rice, served with almost every meal.
Tac-tac - Popcorn.
Quelque Chose de Doux ( Something Sweet)
Bouillie - Custard.
Bouillie au pain or
Poutine au pain - Bread pudding.
Pralines - Usually with pecans.
Sirop de canne - Sugar cane syrup.
Tarte - Sweet dough pies.
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