Cajun and Creole cuisine has enjoyed a recent popularity boom in the last ten years or so, and has resulted in countless cookbooks, cooking shows, and restaurants available in all regions of the United States. Paul Prudhomme single-handedly brought prestige to Cajun/Creole cooking in his cooking shows and cookbooks in the 1980's. He calls his unique marriage of Cajun and Creole cuisines "Louisiana Cooking".
This popularity has shifted the image of Louisiana cooking to become one of a gourmet delight. However, many of the foods we know today as Cajun cooking was looked down upon, a symbol of lower and working classes. The Creole style of cooking, on the other hand, evolved from the wealthier kitchens of planters and of affluent urban homes in New Orleans. Working in these kitchens were chefs of Caribbean/African descent, who added their own unique style of cooking. Additionally, some foods and resources were available to city dwellers and the wealthy, and is seen in the types of foods that are distinctly Creole.
According to Deany Cheramie of Thibodeaux Louisiana, cooking location of the early Cajuns varied seasonally; during the winters, they cooked on indoor hearths; the heat produced also warmed the home. During the summer months, they cooked on outside hearths, and had outdoor bread ovens as well. Cast iron cookware was the only utensil available to the early Cajun; nowadays, many Cajuns prefer to use cast iron instead of other types of cookware.
Homes were simple and utilitarian; the design of the home was originally from Nova Scotia, but was modified by Spanish and Native American influences. For example, the steep pitch of the Louisiana home was intended originally to cope with the heavy snow fall in Nova Scotia. Homes were of the "shot gun" house design, developed later in the 1800's to facilitate circulation; Spanish moss was often used as insulation in the walls, and mud used to plaster the surface. It was not until the 1930's that Louisiana rural areas were blessed with electricity, and then appliances. By 1950's everyone had relatively modern kitchens with refrigerators, stoves, and ovens. Today all Cajun kitchen are mainstream American, with a plethora of appliances, gadgets, and conveniences.
Because of the simple, no frills kitchen of the traditional Cajun, "one pot meals" were practical and common. It is amazing how much versatility there is in Cajun cooking, when one considers the limitations the chef had in regards to ingredients and utensils. Because of the frugal nature needed to survive in the Bayou country, nothing was ever wasted by Cajuns, including all portions of butchered meats, and stocks and vegetables. This is in contrast to classical French cooking, where it is common to prepare a sauce in a saucepan separate from the main meal, as well as using some vegetable or herb ingredients to flavor the stock only, strained and discarded later.
Today, Louisiana is the largest producer of rice in the United States. Rice cookers are a necessity in any Cajun household, as rice is used in many meals. As said time and time again in Louisiana, no self respecting Cajun would ever serve over- or under-cooked rice.
When did rice come to be such a staple in Louisiana's food ways? Rice was introduced to Louisiana in 1718, largely to substitute the wheat that was unable to prosper as a local crop. By 1850, rice cultivation was well established in Louisiana, especially the wetland areas in south Louisiana. Rice was used to stretch meals for large families, as rice was more plentiful and economical than meats or vegetables.
Red beans and rice was traditionally a Monday dish. This was because Monday was wash day, and the long unattended pot allowed the housewife to use Sunday's ham bone and leave the pot to simmer without having to tend to it. The red and white beans, by the way, were brought in by the original Acadian settlers from Brittany.
Hoppin' John is an economical meal using cowpeas and rice. Cowpeas, also known as field peas or black eyed peas were once used to feed cattle and slaves in the South, and gradually became a common dish for Southerners in general. This easy to grow legume was originally brought to the West Indies from Africa in the early 1700's.
Dirty rice, a hearty Cajun dish, isn't dirty as the name implies, but is actually rice with ground chicken livers, gizzards, and pork meat. As with many Cajun dishes, dirty rice includes cooked onions, green peppers, and plenty of spices.
Jambalaya is a direct descendant of the Spanish paella. Some of the ingredients were unavailable in the New World (such as saffron), and the Louisiana settlers quickly adapted the paella recipe to suit the available resources.
Where did the spices used in Cajun food come from anyway? We all know about Tabasco sauce from McIlhenny's plant on Avery Island, Louisiana. This hot pepper was introduced to Louisiana in the mid 1840's by the veterans of the Mexican-American War who brought back the seeds of this Native American plant. Other hot peppers were indigenous to the New World. The Spanish brought their knowledge of spices, as did the Haitian and African American settlers. Together with the new spices brought by the local Indians, such as the bay leaf, wonderful new combinations of spices and herbs made their way into dishes of the Cajuns and Creoles. Filé is a thickening agent used for gumbos and is actually powdered sassafras leaves. This came from the Choctaw Indians, who came to sell their filé in the French Quarter over 200 years ago. Since okra was available only during the summer months, winter gumbos would call for filé powder as the final thickening agent. Interestingly, any self respecting Cajun or Creole would powder their sassafras leaves only during a full moon. To do so when the moon was less than full would cause a weakening in the powers of the filé. Sassafras has medicinal qualities as well, including its short term ability to quicken metabolism. Think about that the next time you devour a cup of gumbo!
What is the origin of the word "gumbo"? It's actually an African word for okra, which is a native plant from Africa, introduced by the slaves. You can now find this vegetable in gumbo dishes as well as pickled.
Stocks are an essential beginning to many Cajun and Creole soups and sauces; this imparts a hearty base to the dishes. To begin with, one must have bones or seafood heads (such as fish or shrimp). Mirepoix (aromatic vegetables such as carrots, onions, garlic, celery, or tomatoes), spices, and liquid are the remaining ingredients to a stock. The flavors are boiled and extracted from the bones, which are then discarded. A stock can then be thickened by a number of means, including reduction, flour or cornstarch, blood, eggs, butter, or cream. A roux is such a thickening method, which has been developed to perfection by the Cajuns and Creoles.
Any Cajun will tell you, that you must first start off with a roux. "The key to a good dish is the roux," according to Peter Pelegrin of Houma, Louisiana. A roux is flour cooked in oil until it turns anywhere from a light tan to a dark cocoa in color. Lighter roues are recommended for delicate dishes, such as those using seafood. Heartier dishes, such as game or sausage call for the darkest of roues. Regional variation uses cornstarch instead of flour, as seen in south-central Louisiana. Creole dishes may call for butter as the base of a roux instead of oil, and oils can vary too, including vegetable oil, lard, bacon fat, and even duck fat. These variations result in differences in the final taste of the food. The Cajuns, however, never used butter in a roux traditionally. Butter was such a rare commodity, that it was saved for the luxury of buttering a piece of cornmeal bread.
The "Holy Trinity" also varies from region to region. The Holy Trinity refers to three basic vegetables that form the basis for "everything," according to Deany Cheramie. For one group, this is onion, bell pepper, and garlic, cooked and used in most dishes. For another region, the Holy Trinity instead is onion, bell pepper, and celery. The more Spanish-influenced regions are apt to consider onion, bell pepper and tomato as their Holy Trinity. This shows that variation is common even today, when there has been such a blending of cultures.
Sausage is an important food in the Cajun and Creole cuisine. Andouille is a smoked spicy sausage made from pork. Boudin can be white or red, and is made from pork, rice, the "holy Trinity" and spices. Red Boudin uses blood to give it a more hearty color and flavor. The Creole chaurice sausage, a spicy pork sausage with fresh vegetables, evolved from the Spanish chorizo sausage.
Germans arrived in Louisiana in 1690 and brought with them their fine skill in sausage making. The traditional Cajun winter butchering of hogs (called "bucherie") was a lively social occasion. Often, as many as twenty families, totaling 150 people assisted in the butchering process, and feasted on the day's work. It was, after all a full day of work, gossip, and fine food. Every bit of the hog was used, including the brain (for head cheese), entrails (for sausage casings), and organs to make a dish called "debris." Lard was made from the fat of the pig, as was cracklin', a golden brown fat-bit relished as a delicious snack. During the bucherie day, all members would prepare the hog meat for their respective dishes, such as sausage and ham. Everyone would delight in the feasting and festivities of the evening.
It cannot be underestimated the central focus that food and celebration has on the Cajuns and Creoles of today and yesterday.
From birth until death, every event in the life of a Cajun and Creole revolves around food. Whether visiting friends and family, celebrating the birth of a new born child, or mourning the passing of a loved one, every event involves eating. (Folse, 1989).It is said that a Cajun does not need an excuse for a party, and that every party includes a vast array of food.
While bucheries are no longer necessary, the Cajuns have developed a fine feast called the "Crawfish Boil." This social gathering takes place outside, with picnic tables and newspapers spread over them. The feast is prepared by the men, which is a welcome break for the women. In a boiling pot go pounds of live crawfish, jazzed up with a secret potion of the hottest spices you'll come across. Boiled potatoes, corn on the cob, and andouille sausage round out the meal. Tails are peeled and crawfish heads are sucked by those not faint of heart. It's common to invite nearly every soul known, and the result is a party loaded with family and friends.
Where are the cultures of the Cajuns and Creoles today? Both cultures have persisted as distinct cuisines, despite cultural blending with other American influences. In fact the Creole culture is seen by some as no longer existing; the cuisine has been kept alive (and successfully so) in the kitchens of individuals and restaurants. However, the Creoles as a cultural group assimilated for the most part into the American melting pot over the last one hundred years or so.
The Cajun culture has remained more distinct, and is still thriving in the Bayou country in Louisiana. Gone are the days when school children were slapped for speaking French in the classroom. In fact, public schools are currently hiring teachers from Nova Scotia to teach school children French, as Louisiana enjoys a renewed return to their cultural heritage. And despite the influx of American fast food, freezer convenience foods, and the ubiquitous microwave, Cajun food way is here to stay.
Interview on 7 December 1996 by Cindy Beggs and Bridget Gipson
Preface
Earl Peyroux was born in New Orleans in 1924. His ancestors came from France and moved directly to New Orleans in 1740. Earl began his cooking show, Gourmet Cooking, in 1977, which aired nationally in 1982. In 1996, he retired from his cooking show for health reasons; he is currently at work on his next cookbook. The following information is transcribed from a very candid interview with Chef Peyroux. Earl's thoughts, feelings, and desire to keep his tradition alive and thriving for all of us to appreciate and enjoy truly describes him as an 'ethnic hero'.
On his family and Louisiana history:
"Creole is commonly considered (for a long time) in Louisiana to be the marriage of French and Spanish. But that's not necessarily true. You can be all French or all Spanish, but if you were a colonist you were considered Creole."
"My family came to Louisiana in the 1740's and they were rather prominent people. One of the first settlers in my family, M.J. Gabriel Peyroux, became licensed by the King of Spain to be the first civilian pharmacist in New Orleans. He was quite prominent in the local community. His son, J.M.G. Sylvain Peyroux, was a wine merchant who lived on Toulouse Street in New Orleans and built a plantation south of New Orleans, in what is now called Arabi. This plantation was built in 1830 and was called Three Oaks. Sylvain married about that time and had four children. He introduced rice to the St. Bernard area from the Caribbean. His plantation home existed until 1964 when the property owner, American Sugar Refining Co. (Domino Sugar) had it bulldozed even though it was in perfect condition. They could not have done that today because there are all kinds of protective laws for historical places. This was a building that they had spent a lot money fixing up, and overnight somebody in their organization decided they didn't want it standing. They just bulldozed it down. There was a big cry in New Orleans that day."
"There were Acadians who left France and went to Canada. They lived in Canada until they were exiled because they wouldn't swear allegiance to the English Crown. They came down the river and settled in southwest Louisiana and in and around New Orleans. Those are called Cajuns or Acadians (from a region of the same name in France). Then there were the who left France and came directly to New Orleans. Today, these groups are known mainly as the Creole, whereas those that came from Canada were called Acadians, shortened to 'Cajun'. The third group of people were Acadians directly from France. These people were very poor and had trouble even existing."
"One of my relatives that came over here was Henry Peyroux. He was apparently a diplomat involved with the Spanish Government. He convinced the King of Spain to pay and to get the King of France to permit those Acadians still in France to come to Louisiana. They came and settled above New Orleans on both sides of the river. Of course, when they got there they joined the Acadians that came from Canada. So there were three sources: there were the Acadians who came from Nova Scotia down the (Mississippi) River, there were Acadians still in France that were brought to Louisiana by the King of Spain, and there were who primarily came directly from France to New Orleans. The immigration was brought about by a number of things, including economic conditions in France and affluent people speculating about the New World. Additionally, there was a lot of promotion, fund raising, and connivery regarding Louisiana. John Law, a banker in France, who promoted Louisiana as a paradise. This promotion brought a lot of people over to the New World looking for a new way of life. Many people invested in land. A lot of people came with money and acquired land grants. They established large plantations and so forth. Now of course, with all of that you had slavery; slaves were being brought from Africa. These slaves made the mainstay of the economics of the area because they did all the work. They worked the farms and the plantations, and served the aristocracy. These people were clearly divided from the upper class. The economy in Louisiana grew that way.
"Everyone lived in the swamp; even New Orleans was underwater practically all the time in those days! Many Frenchmen got land grants from the government and developed huge plantations up the river toward Baton Rouge and St. James, Louisiana. Some of my immigrant ancestors had property up the river and also in New Orleans."
"New Orleans is called the "Crescent City" because the city was built on the crescent of the Mississippi River. Once you walked out of what is now the French Quarter, you crossed what is Rampart Street and you were now out in the boondocks. People ultimately bought that land and developed it. My ancestor, M.J. Gabriel Peyroux, the pharmacist, lived in New Orleans with his wife. They had land up around Bayou St. John. Bayou St. John was the connector between the River and Lake Ponchartrain, so a lot of supplies to keep the city going came from various places through Lake Ponchartrain down Bayou St. John, which was an income producing property. Later, he dismantled and rebuilt this home on the corner of Dumaine and Burgundy. It is now a bed & breakfast in the historical district.
"The Peyroux family are Creoles. We are not Cajuns because we did not come from Acadia through Nova Scotia or directly from France by virtue of the King of Spain. My family came from Poitou, a province in France. The Peyroux family was very prominent in the pre-civil war era. This war ended the South's glorious economy and the Peyroux family literally went from riches to rags. They no longer had the slave help to keep up the work on the plantations and they lost their land and had to move in town."
On moving to Pensacola:
"My family stayed in Louisiana until my generation. I left 35 years ago. Living in New Orleans got more and more complicated. I got sand in my shoes and I moved to Pensacola."
On Creole and Cajun food:
When I asked Earl what he liked to cook most, he replied, "food!". Two favorites prepared at home are: red beans & rice, and breaded veal cutlets. The Creole culture had affected Earl's way of life. In Louisiana, "you grow up in a very special culture that doesn't exist anywhere else in this country". It is quite obvious that Earl Peyroux is very proud of his Louisiana heritage, reflected in his cooking show, cookbooks, and life at home. We conducted the interview in his office at home, where from a window you can view a beautiful courtyard reminiscent of the French Quarter. Two walls of the office hold a large library of books, another is covered with plaques bearing names of famous cooking schools. Letters from viewers with requests for cookbooks and more shows are stacked upon the desk. Never tiring of the conversation, Earl quickly turned to his favorite subject.
"... Cajun and Creole cooking have become the rage throughout the country. Unfortunately, I think it has been 'bastardized' because of the misinformation that has been passed out. But anyway, what is Creole and Cajun cooking? They tend to be similar but are really very distinct styles. They are similar in that they both exist in Louisiana and draw upon the same resources of the area, such as the seafood and vegetables. When the Acadians came down the river, they lived out in the swamp, and were a very closed group of people. They had been persecuted so much in the past that when they finally got someplace where they could live and practice their ideas and religion, they kept the outside world out as much as possible. So southwest Louisiana, which is known as Cajun country, became almost an enclave. But, who were these people? They were farmers, fishermen, and trappers; people who earned their existence by the sweat of their brow. They were not sophisticated in the sense that they didn't come from the aristocracy of France. So their cooking evolved out the food ways they brought with them and also the resources available to them in the area."
"Creole cooking is the outgrowth of the style of life and cooking that developed in Louisiana from the French expatriates. Some of them were not too highborn people. There were people that were turned out of jails to colonize the area, and those who were escaping the law and moved over. There were also a large group of people who came here as speculators. They brought with them a culture from the bourgeois."
"Creoles lived in a city as opposed to the Cajuns who lived in the country. Creoles were aristocratic people and developed a rather sophisticated society in Louisiana. Likewise, Creole foods enjoyed a lot more finesse than the country (Cajun) cooking. Cajun cooking has a lot more ruggedness indicative of the lifestyle of the people... In this century, these two cultures have blended a lot because of increased mobility and integration."
"The great champion of this blending in Paul Prudhomme, who popularized Cajun and Creole cooking. Unfortunately a lot of what Paul has done has been taken by others and 'bastardized'. For example, Paul created a dish called "Blackened Red Fish". That's nothing more that a piece of fish dipped in butter and then dipped in a bunch of seasonings and cooked on an extremely hot skillet. It smokes when they do it. Now, that's Paul. Now, you go elsewhere to restaurants and you get everything 'smoked' or 'blackened' from hamburgers, to chicken and pork chops. They are no longer cooked properly; they are just thrown on a grill in some restaurant and come out and are usually too damn hot (peppery) than they should be. It's a mistaken notion that if it's Creole or Cajun it's gotta be hot. That's not true. It should be spicy, not hot! Creole/Cajun food are two different things with similarities. So, I would like to make that distinction between the two!"
On changing food ways and modern food production:
People like Earl Peyroux keep the tradition of Creole and Cajun cooking alive in America today. Earl's next project could possibly be a cookbook of what he calls the 'endangered species', certain recipes and dishes that were indigenous to cultural areas disappearing due to modern cooking methods and lifestyles.
"... an example (of this change) is here in Pensacola on the local level. When I first came here 35 years ago there was a salad that was extremely popular. All the old timers and the Navy people and even those that had come here like me knew of it. It was readily available; you could buy it in delicatessens and everybody made it at home. It's called gaspacie -- that's a salad made up of green onions, tomatoes, andcucumbers. One version used vinegar dressing and hardtack. Hardtack is a very hard biscuit that was the bread of travelers when it took two months to cross the ocean. To eat this bread, you had to break it up and soften it with some liquid. Now it's pretty hard to find hardtack today, and most Pensacolians do not know what gaspacie is. And yet it's a classic. It's only in this area that you would ever find this recipe. Now how did gaspacie come about? Well, the colonials here in Pensacola used to make a soup called gazpacho, which uses the same ingredients (cucumbers, tomatoes, and green onions). What they would do is take the hardtack and dip it in the soup to soften the bread so that it was edible. Over time that generated into a salad; less liquid and more hard tack. Now this has disappeared! So that's one of the 'endangered species' recipes that I would like to write a cookbook about. There are others, but that's the one that comes to mind."
"As our culture has evolved we've sacrificed taste and quality in our food. When I was a youngster, we didn't eat a lot of frozen foods. We had some meats and a few things like that. What I'm driving at is that we ate strawberries only when strawberries were in bloom, in the summer. We ate apples only when apples were in season. You might say it's better today, because you can buy apples at the store any time. The trouble is that apples don't taste like apples did 50 or 60 years ago. Strawberries don't taste the same either, because we have hybridized these fruits to produce out of season. This sacrifices taste. Everybody that I know that goes to Europe comes back and says the food is so much better there. We have more abundance in this country; there is no question about that. In this country most of our garden is California and Florida. In order to ship produce from California, it must be picked before it is ripened. Then, produce is often treated with chemicals, causing them to ripen up. The trouble is this procedure only makes them look better; they don't taste better. In France, when they pick something it's only got one day to get where it's going. The whole country is the size of Texas. So I can ship something to the south of France up to Paris in one day. In this country it takes 3 to 5 days to get stuff from California to the East Coast, or vice versa from Florida to the West Coast."
1992. Brasseaux, C.A. Acadian to Cajun: Transformation of a people, 1803-1877 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi).
1987. Brasseaux, C.A. The founding of New Acadia: The beginnings of Acadian life in Louisiana, 1765 - 1803 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press).
1994. Brasseaux, C.A., Fontenot, K., Oubre, C. Creoles of Color in the Bayou Country (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi).
1984. Brown, L.K., and Mussell, K. Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press).
1994. Claibornes, C. The New York Times Food Encyclopedia (New York: Wings).
1983. Conrad, G. The Cajuns: Essays on their History and Cultures (University of Southwest Louisiana).
1990. Daniels, R. Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life (New York: Harper Perennial).
1983. Dormon, J. H. The People Called Cajuns: An Introduction to an Ethnohistory (Lafayette: University of Southwest Louisiana).
1987. Egerton, J. Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. (New York: Knopf).
1985. Esman, M. Henderson Louisiana: Cultural Adaptation in a Cajun Community (CBS College of Publishing).
1989. Folse, J. D. The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine (Donaldsonville LA: Chef John Folse & Company).
1986.Fussell, B. I Hear America Cooking (New York: Viking).
1996. Lagasse, E. Louisiana Real and Rustic (New York: Morrow).
1962. Post, L. Cajun Sketches from the Prairies of Southwest Louisiana (Louisiana State Unviersity Press).
1976. Root, W. Eating in America; a History (New York: William and Morrow).
1987. Smith, J. The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American (New York: Avon).
1980.Zahendra, P. Spanish West Florida 1781-1821 (London: University Microfilms International).
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