Your Guide to Cajun Cuisine

Article Written By: SarahTobin

Cajun cuisine is native to the state of Louisiana, in the United States of America. The Cajun people in this region are mostly French speaking immigrants who have made Louisiana their home and in turn, created a distinctive and flavorful cuisine that is unlike any other you may have come across. The Cajuns are simple people and this is reflected in their cuisine which is free of complicated dishes.

Locally available products and meat are used predominantly in Cajun cuisine, and the most common ingredients that you may find are bell peppers, celery, and onions, which are chopped or diced and cooked in different ways. Rustic and wholesome, it also makes ample use of local ingredients such as crayfish, freshwater bass, trout and flounder, pork, beef and more.

Cajun cuisine is aromatic due to the use of seasonings such as garlic, bay leaf, oregano, cayenne pepper, thyme, and sassafras leaves, among many others. These seasonings add their unique flavor to the Cajun dishes that leave their own strong impression on those who taste them.

Here is a look at some of the common Cajun dishes that you may come across in Louisiana:

Gumbo

Gumbo is a type of Cajun soup or stew that is prepared with a meat or shellfish stock and includes celery, bell peppers, and onions. It is often thickened with okra, sassafras leaves, or roux and also contains flour and fat. A typical gumbo could contain chicken and andouille, a spicy Cajun sausage.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a mish-mash of ingredients that always includes rice along with meat, chili peppers, onions, and celery.

Étouffée

Étouffée is like gumbo, but it consists mainly of seafood like crabmeat, shrimp, and crayfish, and is served over rice.

Bisque

Bisque is a smooth and creamy soup, heavily seasoned and usually prepared with crayfish.

Dirty Rice

As the name suggests, this rice dish has a dirty or slightly muddy color which comes from being cooked with chicken liver or giblet. It also contains the usual Cajun ingredients such as bell peppers, celery, and onions.

There are many other such distinctive dishes that dot the culinary landscape of the Cajuns, all aromatic and flavorful, with the most common characteristic being their wholesomeness. This also means that you will always have a lot of recipes to try. So break out from your usual dinner time menu and give some delicious Cajun cuisine a try tonight, you will be glad you did.

About the Author

Sarah Tobin - SweetFry, a recipe sharing community for recipes. They have weekly and monthly recipes contests.

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