Saturday, April 9, 2011

original Cajun Food

Cajun cuisine is a patrimony of the French Acadians. Originally residents of Nova Scotia, they settled in Louisiana after many were ejected from their homeland by the British. The now world renowned Cajun style of cooking developed after the Acadians settled in the swampy Louisiana territory. The French Acadians were farmers with large families of up to eight persons each. In order to feed such a large family, they had to learn how to adapt their French cuisine to merge local bayou ingredients such as crawfish, rice and sugar cane, to supplement a low cost protein rich meal.

Cajun cuisine is sometimes also referred to as 'rustic cuisine' since it only used what was plentiful or readily ready at any given time. Preparing of former Cajun food is very simple. It is effectively a 'three pot affair' where each pot is dedicated to a singular dish. Often, one pot would be for the main meal which was for the most part a protein rich one, the next pot would be used to put in order a grain dish and the last to make anyone vegetable is readily available.

Traditional Food

Cajun recipes were passed down from one generation to the next solely by word of mouth. As often happens with oral traditions, the recipes evolved over the ages as each generation added an extra ingredient or changed the cooking methods employed for determined dishes. As a result, it is regularly hard to come across a singular recipe that can be deemed The former Cajun food recipe. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it gives each Cajun chef the flexibility to add something extra and tweak the menu a little to gain their own unique recipe.

Despite this constant recipe evolution, there are some elements of Cajun recipes that have remained constant straight through the years. The 'trinity' blend of onions, celery and bell peppers is one of the elements that most chefs of former Cajun food would swear by. Another long held tradition is the use of Cayenne pepper as a spice. But in spite of popular trust that Cayenne is the spice that gives most Cajun recipes their taste, the precise position is that the basal flavor of most Cajun food is derived from the cooking recipe which often includes a simmering phase.

Among the more popular former Cajun meals include gumbo, boudin and jambalaya. Gumbos are Cajun stews that have okra as the base ingredient - the vegetable lends a unique taste to the stew and doubles up as a thickening agent. Boudin is a sausage shaped delicacy that is stuffed with rice, pork, garlic, green onions and a collection of other spices. Gumbo and boudin will regularly be served with bread, rice dressing or maque choux. A jambalaya dish includes rice and anyone else the chef wants to include. regularly the 'trinity' ingredients will be included in a gumbo, boudin and jambalaya.

When it comes to the protein part of Cajun cuisine, seafood is a base ingredient as is game meat. For former Cajun food, the seafood will include crawfish, oysters, red fish shrimp or crabs. Game meat could vary from wild turkey to frog, turtles or gator meat. The constant in all Cajun recipes any way is rice which is included in large quantities in every meal. Some other ingredients that go into Preparing former Cajun food include yams, tomatoes, oranges, okra, beans, homemade sausages, figs, pecan, pork and black eyed peas.

original Cajun Food

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