Cajun cuisine refers to the style of cooking of the French-speaking Acadian or "Cajun" immigrants transported by the British from Acadia in Canada to the Acadiana region in Louisiana, USA. It is known as Acadienne in French. It is more oriented towards being a rural styled cuisine mostly where nearby obtainable ingredients prevail and making style is simple. A classic Cajun food meal is normally a three-pot affair where one pot contains the main dish, one contains steamed rice, skillet cornbread, or any other grain preparation and the third holding the vegetable that is abundant or available. Popular Cajun recipes include Crock-Pot Jambalaya - Pastalaya, Beignets - A French Doughnut, Boudoin (Boudin) Balls, Cajun Deep Fried Turkey and Red Beans and Sausage.
Historical and Cultural Influences on Cajun
The word “Cajun” has been obtained from the word "Acadian," hailing from French words "Acadien, Cadien, Cadjin“ and in English, "Cajun". The word "Acadian" denotes the 17th and 18th Century native of an area in eastern Canada called Acadia or, in French, Acadie. The common meaning for the word "Acadie" is "earthly paradise," borrowed from the language of the Micmac Indians, who resided in the area. Acadia then, consisted of today’s New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and parts of the state of Maine. The word "Cajun" did not come into use until a moment in the late 18th Century and is firmly a word from South Louisiana.
Ingredients Commonly Used in Cajun Food
Ingredients in Cajun recipes include aromatic vegetables like bell pepper, onion and celery referred to by some chefs as “the holy trinity” of Creole and Cajun cuisines. Typical seasonings include parsley, bay leaf, green onions and dried cayenne pepper. Acadian refugees, who mostly arrived from the present day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia adapted their French rural cuisine to local ingredients such as rice, crawfish, sugar cane and sassafrass. Cajun recipes greatly depended on game meats added with rice or corn. Influences found in Cajun food other than African and Native American cuisines include French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and South Asian Indian cuisines. Another quality of the cuisine was the regular use of smoked meats. Smoked meats are a frequent feature of many Cajun dishes.
Cooking Methods Adopted for Cajun Food
- Barbecueing –the method resembling to "slow and low" Texas barbecue traditions, although with Cajun seasoning.
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Baking - direct and indirect dry heat in a furnace or oven, quicker than smoking and slower than grilling. Grilling - direct heat on a low surface, speediest of all variants whose sub-variants include:
- Charbroiling - direct dry heat on a solid surface having wide raised ridges.
- Gridironing - direct dry heat on a solid or hollow surface having narrow raised ridges.
- Griddling - direct dry or moist heat together with the use of oils and butter on a flat surface.
- Braising – uniting a direct dry heat charbroil-grill or gridiron-grill with a pot filled with broth for direct moist heat, speedier than smoking and slower than regular grilling and baking.
- Boiling - like in boiling of crabs, crawfish or shrimp in seasoned liquid. Deep frying - in hot oil. Étouffée - allowing a vegetable or meat to cook in its own juices, alike braising or "smothering" as known in New Orleans.
- Frying - also referred to as pan-frying. Injecting – with the help of a large syringe-type setup to infuse seasoning deep within large cuts of meat. This technique is quite newer and very common in Cajun recipes.
- Stewing - also known as fricassée.
Cajun Recipes Popular in Foreign Culture
Boudin which is sometimes spelled "boudain" in Texas is a kind of sausage prepared from pork, pork liver, rice, garlic and green onion and other spices. Gumbo refers to soups prepared in Cajun recipes. It is a frequent part of the menu in traditional Cajun meals.Jambalaya is a classic Cajun food. The only definite aspect that can be noted about a jambalaya is that it has rice with mostly anything else.
Traditional Cajun Recipes
There are several common traditional Cajun recipes for making Cajun food. Potato Salad, made with egg, potato, celery, onions, mayonnaise, mustard and sometimes bell pepper. Gumbo des Herbes, Couche Couche or Cajun corn mush, Boiled Crawfish, Maque Choux Tasso (meat product), Catfish (or Redfish) Court-Boullion, Crawfish Étouffée and Crawfish Bisque are a few popular Cajun food items.
Festive and Special Cajun Food items
Crawfish boil or Louisiana-style crawfish boil is a festive occasion where Cajuns boil crawfish, potatoes, onions and corn over large propane cookers. Boucherie is the traditional pig-slaughtering party or Boucherie, where Cajuns get together to hang out, play music, dance and preserve meat which is still prevalent in some rural communities.
Popular Chefs of Cajun
Here are the names of some of the popular Cajun chefs:
• John Folse
• John Besh
• Emeril Lagasse
• Paul Prudhomme
• Justin Wilson
