Cajun Cooking… just thinking about it makes me hungry! In my opinion, it’s one of the finest cuisines on the planet. It doesn’t require a lot of fancy ingredients—whatever is handy works just fine. And substitutions? Always okay. It’s freestyle cooking at its best.
Of course, there are a few defining characteristics that set Cajun food apart from other cuisines. It may help to know a little background in order to understand how Cajun cooking came to be and where it’s headed.
To start with, we need to know exactly what a Cajun is. Cajun is a contraction of the word Acadian. Acadia was the predominantly French settlement along the Canadian East Maritime coast, which included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The British occupied the region in 1710, but the Acadians refused to sign a British loyalty agreement. They engaged in guerrilla warfare to maintain communication and supply lines to the French forts at Louisbourg and Fort Beauséjour.
When the French and Indian War became inevitable, it was vital that the British neutralize the Acadian military threat. So, before the war was even declared, they forcibly deported all the Acadians to the 13 colonies in the south, later sending them to France and some to be imprisoned in England. This was done under an illegal court order by Judge Jonathan Belcher, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. The ruling went against every English law on the books, but the British occupation army enforced it anyway.
The Acadians had their property confiscated, and they were loaded onto ships under the most inhumane conditions imaginable. Thousands died—many of them women and children—due to disease, shipwrecks, or being shot by British troops. The surviving Acadians were later allowed to settle in the Spanish province of Louisiana, where they remain to this day, fiercely independent and self-sufficient. The term Acadian was eventually shortened to Cajun.
Cajun vs. Creole: A Key Distinction
Never, never confuse a Cajun with a Creole. You’ll get hurt by both sides! Creoles are descendants of Spanish, French, and Haitian settlers in the New Orleans area of Louisiana. The name Creole is derived from the African-Haitian word criollo, which was used to distinguish people of African or Haitian descent born in the New World, from those born in Africa or Haiti. In Louisiana, it was used to describe people of mixed race, descended from Spanish, Haitian, and French settlers. They have their own distinct culture and cuisine and are just as fiercely proud of their heritage.
The Cajuns soon developed a unique culture and cuisine, taking full advantage of the abundant water, humid climate, and local resources. One of the defining features of Cajun cuisine is that it almost always includes rice, which was plentiful, easily grown, and easy to store. One of the running jokes is that you can tell if someone is a real Cajun if you drive them past a rice field and they can tell you how much gravy it would take to cover it.
Another hallmark of Cajun cooking is the use of different colors of a sauce known as roux—a type of gravy. Roux can range from white to brown, to red, and finally to black, depending on how long it’s cooked. Each color has its own distinctive taste. In most other cuisines, the rule of thumb is that light gravies go with poultry and pork, while dark gravies go with beef. Cajun cuisine, however, flips this on its head. Dark roux is used with poultry and seafood, while lighter roux is paired with beef and other red meats. Roux is also one of the main ingredients in gumbo.
One thing most Cajun recipes will have in common is the use of the Holy Trinity: diced green pepper, onion, and celery. This is similar to the French mirepoix—a mix of onions, celery, and carrots—used in equal proportions. Another quirk is the use of black, white, and red pepper in the same dish. The reason for this is that each pepper reacts with a different part of the tongue, giving the food a full, round flavor.
Aside from these defining features, pretty much anything goes. Cajuns are not opposed to cooking and eating anything that isn’t immediately toxic, such as nutria (an extremely ugly, large water rat), crawfish, bullfrogs (not just the legs, but the whole frog), carp, bowfin and other rough fish, alligators, snakes, and anything else that can be captured with reasonable (sort of…) safety. You will never starve a Cajun out—it’s just not possible. If there’s a drainage ditch nearby, they’ll find something to eat.
No discussion of Cajun cooking would be complete without mentioning one of their greatest contributions to the world: the Tabasco Pepper. Isle Petit Anse was owned by John C. Marsh from 1818 until he sold it to the Avery family in 1849. The Avery family changed the name to Avery Island. They had a very successful farming operation, and when Mary Eliza Avery married Edmund McIlhenny, history was about to be made. Edmund had acquired some pepper seeds from a veteran returning from the Mexican-American War. The seeds came from the Tabasco region of Mexico. These seeds mutated in the salty soil of Avery Island into a wonderful, fruity, piquant pepper.
Unfortunately, the peppers didn’t dry well, so preserving them was difficult. But McIlhenny discovered that by boiling them and covering them in vinegar, they could be preserved and even turned into an outstanding pepper sauce. The new sauce was said to be able to treat cholera. Thus, one of the greatest hot sauces in the world was born: McIlhenny’s Tabasco Sauce—the only true Tabasco sauce. To this day, McIlhenny’s is still made from peppers that trace their lineage back to the original peppers brought from Mexico. All other copycats must call their sauces Louisiana Sauce and cannot use the Tabasco name. Actual Tabasco peppers only come from Avery Island, Louisiana. So when a Cajun recipe calls for Tabasco sauce, don’t risk using cheap imitations—use the real thing. It makes a huge difference.
I’ll leave you with one last bit of wisdom: You may be a Cajun at heart if watching episodes of Wild Kingdom makes you want to write a cookbook.
