One of Louisiana’s Top Chefs Reveals the Truth About Cajun Food

Cajun food for thought is one of the most misunderstood cuisine out there – usually it ’s misguided for superfluous spicy fish that ’s been blackened ( aka burn ) beyond all recognition , or anything with a picayune cayenne black pepper thrown on top . In reality , Cajun nutrient is one of the most decided cuisines coming out of Louisiana , with a culture just as complex as its dishful . We talked to John Folse , a leading expert on Louisiana food for thought and the chef behind Restaurant R’evolution at Royal Sonesta New Orleans , to better down the myths and truths about Cajun cuisine . Get ready to get hungry ( and educated ):

MYTH: Cajun and Creole food is the same thing.

Cajun and Creole is more than just culinary art , it ’s two unlike cultures , develop about 70 international nautical mile apart . That is more than the aloofness between NYC and rural New Jersey , which may as well be two different planets . While there is some crossover of ingredients , Cajuns were essentially the rural folks , while Creoles were the urban urban center slickers , and that ’s reflected in their food for thought . concord to Folse , Cajun is comfort food of the “ stick to your costa ” variety and heavily use constituent found in the local swampland . These are ordinarily simple meal , cooked in a cast iron pot , dish with rice and bean . Creole , meanwhile , looked for ways to incorporate European ingredients into their diet while using what was available in Louisiana . So they would spell some ingredient , like squash rackets and eggplant , then grow out multi - course , sumptuous meals featuring complicated dishes . A Creole remoulade sauce , for example , has about a 12 factor … and it ’s served on the side .

TRUTH: Every Cajun dish includes the “trinity.”

Cajuns are the descendants of Acadians and Gallic Catholic colonists who come to New Orleans after they were exiled from Canada by the British . Given this , it makes sense that the backbone of every Cajun smasher is a play on the Gallic “ mirepoix ” ( chop onion , celery , carrots ) and the “ Holy Trinity ” ( onions , Apium graveolens dulce , bell pepper , no Holy Ghost ) . The trinity , plus ail , parsley and scallions , makes for an authentic Cajun dish aerial . suppose Folse : “ If you walk up to a corporation in Louisiana , and it ’s quick to serve , and you do n’t see gullible onions and Petroselinum crispum still in their skillful green manner on top of the pot , you just pick up your goddamn purse and get out the room access . You do n’t want to eat it . “

“ If you walk up to a pot in Louisiana , and it ’s ready to serve , and you do n’t see green onion plant and Petroselinum crispum still in their nice unripened way on top of the pot , you just pick up your goddamn purse and get out the threshold . ”

MYTH: Cajun food is always super spicy.

When Cajun and Creole intellectual nourishment was first usher in on a global scale in the ‘ LXXX , most people became familiar with Chef Paul Prudhomme ’s version of blackened Sciaenops ocellatus : a fillet seasoned with spices and cayenne pepper pepper , then seared in a cast iron pot ‘ til those season were extra toasty . It was improbably popular and led to lot of imitations , which extend to poorly craft dish that were right smart too hot , harmonise to Folse . The realness is , most Cajun and Creole dishes are extremely seasoned , rather than just hot and spicy . The dishes call for ingredients with a ton of flavor , like fresh veg and smoked centre . A properly prepared Cajun or Creole looker should give you with a warm feeling in the back of your throat – not running to gulp down a glass of milk to put out the fire spreading down your esophagus .

TRUTH: The swamp was (and still is) where Cajuns shop for ingredients.

Long before scrounge was a thing , it was a way of living for Cajuns . Folse call it shopping in the “ swamp floor larder ” because growing up , that ’s on the nose how he and his siblings would get ingredients for dinner . The swampland provided plentiful of course growing herbs and seasonings , like sassafras tree , which could be ground into filé powder , the spicy ingredient in gumbo soil . Pepperworth and wild garlic were usually incorporated , as were the frogs , turtles , and dotty catfish that they would pull up from mirky waters .

MYTH: Cajun dishes all use the same roux.

A roux is a combining of fat and flour used to thicken sauces , but not all roux are the same – especially in Cajun cooking . A traditional Gallic roux is a jazz group of butter and flour , but Cajuns use different oils and fats to make particular roux for especial looker . For example , Folse make a dark brown roux with vegetable oil for his traditional Cajun dish , like smoke duck’s egg okra . That obscure roux is full-blooded enough to stand up to the smoky flavors of the duck’s egg . But for a seafood gumbo , you need a faint roux , one the colouration of a paper bag , to congratulate the Pisces without overpowering the flavors . Some of his roux call for animate being adipose tissue , 1st Baron Verulam , butter , lard , or even peanut oil colour , depend on the dish , to result in different flavors . All of this Folse see from his father , as part of cooking tradition passed down in his family : “ We went to culinary schooling all our lives , learn by our grandmothers and grandfathers . ”

TRUTH: Cajuns will eat anything that doesn’t eat them first.

When a group of executive and journalists came to Folse for an reliable Cajun dinner at his family last yr , he want to give them a dependable taste of what his kin ate spring up up . So , he called his comrade to see if had any raccoon in his freezer , then smoked it for hours , humiliated and deadening , in a traditional Hibiscus esculentus . “ If it cower , if it swim , or if it flew , it was in worry in Cajun land , ” Folse articulate of Cajun dishes , which boast everything from wild boar to gator . His family would also take egg sac out of the fish they caught and fry them with lard for breakfast . His restaurants now feature a “ Cajun caviar ” with nut from the choupique ( aka bowfin or mudfish ) , which was historically considered a “ trash ” Pisces , featured on top of a fancy yellowfin tuna crudo .

“ If it grovel , if it swam , or if it fly , it was in trouble in Cajun country . ”

MYTH: Gumbo is an all-encompassing word for Cajun stews and soups.

Because this most traditional dish has seemingly endless sort , you may be allure to call any slightly soupy bowl in Louisiana a “ okra . ” You ’d be wrong . First , if there ’s rice in the dish rather than alongside it , it ’s not a gumbo , it ’s probably jambalaya , which is the Cajun variance of a paella . A Cajun sauce piquant is a savory , thick stew also service over rice , but unlike Abelmoschus esculentus , it ’s made with Spanish white pepper to impart the rut . Cajuns also have their own version of French etouffees ( mean to track or smother ) . This dish is also hot , but is made with a blonde roux , making it thick and perfect for seafood , like crawfish , and is large enough to be a main dish .

TRUTH: Cajuns have their own wine varieties, and even spirits.

There ’s a intellect why New Orleans is family to Mardi Gras : the hoi polloi there do n’t just know how to immix & shake drinks at a political party , a wad of them can even work their own . When Cajuns first made their path to Louisiana , pay off a clench of a nursing bottle of wine for dinner was n’t as unsubdivided as manoeuver to a liquor storehouse . Instead , they used the fruit that grew in the swamp to make their own varieties , like muscadine wine , which is made from a Louisiana muscadine grape diversity . They also are known for realize a “ cherry leaping ” – a spirit made from fermented sharp cherry red , usually served around the vacation . “ Ratifias ” or a portmanteau of fruit and brandy , are also popular at a Louisiana table . A ratifia with camelia and persimmon is on the cocktail fare at Bar R’evolution – drink a few and you will no doubt teach what it ’s like to be misunderstood .