Some Basics of Cajun Cooking

Cooking like a Cajun Some Cajun Basics Making Common Dishes Cajun

A Quick Guide to Cajun Terminology

Seasoning mixtures   Tobasco     Gumbo File Powder   Trinity Vegetables

Dark Roux
A Must for Gumbo

If you have never made a dark or black roux then it is really an eye-opening project to take on. Cooked flour and oil starts to fill the room with a smell of toasted nuts. And It really makes your Seafood Gumbo taste incredible. It is a new flavor that you have never tasted before.

Here is a link to a wonderful page by a blog by John Comeaux, called Lafayette Life.
Making dark brown roux with step by step pictures

This is from Louisiana Chef, John Folse, check out his website and books

1 cup oil
1/2 cup flour

In a heavy bottom sauté pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Using a wooden roux spoon, add flour, stirring constantly until flour becomes light brown. You must continue stirring during the cooking process, as flour will tend to scorch as browning process proceeds. Should black specks appear in the roux, discard and begin again. This volume of roux will thicken three cups of stock to sauce consistency.

Continue cooking until the roux is the color of a light caramel. This roux should almost be twice as dark as the light brown roux but not as dark as chocolate. You should remember that the darker the roux gets, the less thickening power it holds and the roux tends to become bitter. This roux is used most often in sauce piquantes, crawfish bisques and gumbos. However, it is perfectly normal to use the dark brown roux in any dish in Cajun cooking.

This roux gives food such a rich character that I sometimes make shrimp and corn bisque with it, as well as a river road seafood gumbo that will knock your socks off. Slow cooking is essential to achieve that dark, rich color.

Some time ago, I was discussing the origin of the dark roux with my good friend, Angus McIntosh, a chef and aspiring Cajun. I've always contended that because the Cajuns cooked in black iron pots over open fires using lard as a base, the dark roux was discovered by accident when the fire got too hot and the flour over-browned. With their lean pantries in mind, the Cajuns kept the roux instead of discarding it. They enjoyed the flavor and kept doing it that way. Classical cookbooks written as far back as the mid-1500s state that roux is derived from the French word "rouge" meaning "red" or "reddish" in color. Thus, the origin of the name. Angus felt that it developed during the Cajun's less affluent years as a means of enriching a soup or stew with flavor when the pantry was not as full but the number of chairs at the table were many. Either way, if properly done, the dark Cajun roux enriches food with color and flavor that is so fantastic it could only be Cajun.

Making Cajun/Creole Seasonings Mixes

Creole Seasoning

This is a basic seasoning that is not spicy but just well rounded. I use it for just about anything I want to cook

Seafood Boil
use this for a Crawfish Boil, Shrimp boil or Crab Boil and it peps up the flavor so much.

Cajun Seasoning Mixes
Here is a page that shows some different spice mixtures, for chicken/pork, beef, and Seafood that you can make yourself and put into glass jars.

Blackening Seasoning
This is one of the more famous dishes that is a project all its own if you are doing it the first time.

Emeril's Essence recipe
Probably the most famous Louisiana chef, this is his mild but kickin' up spice mix

Tobasco is Cajun.
It is located in Louisiana on the Avery Islands
http://www.tabasco.com/

It comes from the Tobasco pepper,
If you would like to grow some tobasco peppers go here
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com

Gumbo File Powder

What is File Gumbo ?
like the song ....Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie and a File Gumbo , son-of-a-gun gonna have some fun on the bayou.

File comes from the leaves of the Sassafrass tree and is dried and ground into a powder

This is a tree that origintated in Louisiana. The root is what they used to flavor Root Beer, before artificial flavors were developed. The leaves are used to make File Gumbo or File Powder.

It is generally added to the finished gumbo to help thicken and flavor it. Too much cooking will make it stringy.

Learn More about Sassafrass

Learn how to make your own Gumbo File Powder

The Vegetable Trinity

The Cajuns have a way of adding seasoning to a dish using 3 vegetables which they call the trinity. They are onions, celery and green bell pepper. Sometimes they cook them till almost mush, this really gets into the bones of the dish’s flavor. Sometimes they will reserve some of the vegetables and add them at the end so they add a nice look to the dish.

Go here to learn how to use these basics to make some Common Dishes Cajun!

Recipe, Links,Articles

Listen to Free Cajun Music
from Louisiana's KBON go to their website and click it on it's free.
http://www.kbon.com


Gumbo is a Mystery
This article talks about some of the unique elements of gumbo that are different than other types of soups and stews
Susans Daily Tips

Cajun Vs. Creole
So you have heard the term Cajun and Creole. This article tells you the difference, so you can talk to someone from Louisiana and not not get corrected.

Donated by Richard Holbert.