Jambalalya, crawfish bisque, red beans and rice, gumbo, shrimp
Creole, maque choux, the list could go on and on. It’s the stuff natives of
south Louisiana grew up on and just a few of the many dishes the earliest
residents created.
A ll of these homegrown specialties are either Creole (meaning
born in the New World) or Cajun (of the Acadians), or a combination of both.
Here’s a refresher course on how the basic ingredients and techniques got to
south Louisiana in the first place.
Native Americans
Long before the French arrived, tribes such as the Choctaws,
Chickasaws, Natchez, Houmas and Chitimachas were drying fruit, herbs and meats
and simmering game and turtle in stews.
They also gathered pecans, cultivated sweet potatoes, caught
fish and shellfish, pounded sassafras leaves to make the thickener filé and
ground corn into grits.
The French
The Catholic French sailed here in the late 17th century, and by
1718 had built the Port of New Orleans. The French brought memories of classic
Parisian cuisine.
They made roux, sauces and stocks, seasoned with herbs and
started many a dish with a mirepoix, a mixture of diced carrots, celery and
onion.
The colonial French were also fond of the seafood soup
bouillabaisse, along with pralines (the French original made with almonds) and
imported liqueurs and wine.
The Africans
The French began importing slaves in 1719, and with Africans
came black-eyed peas, watermelon, okra, a love of simmered greens and rice.
Slaves also knew how to season with spices, and in the kitchens
of their masters they continued doing what they had done in their own
countries: skillfully stew and fry.
The Germans
Because slaves were considered too valuable to spend time
growing food to sell to locals in New Orleans, in the 1720s Scottish speculator
John Law lured Germans.
An industrious group of them settled in what is today St. James
and St. Charles parishes, where they set up the state’s first dairies. They
also grew turnips, spinach, cauliflower, artichokes, onions, garlic, cabbage,
white potatoes and sweet potatoes, were prolific bakers and knew how to cure
meats, such as the smoked pork sausage we call andouille.
The Spanish
When the Spanish took over the Louisiana colony in 1762, they
brought along jamó n (ham), chaurice (spicy smoked sausage), tomatoes and
cayenne pepper, along with a love of onions, garlic and parsley.
They also had an affinity for eating beans with rice and for
cooking paella, the one-pot ham and rice dish.
The Acadians
The Acadian French arrived in New Orleans in 1785 and ended up
west of the city in the prairies and marshes, where they foraged for just about
anything that flew, crawled, climbed or swam.
Although they’d been living in Nova Scotia, the Acadians were
still partial to the one-pot meals of peasant France. They were also unfamiliar
with Louisiana ingredients and, consequently, adopted cooking techniques from
established residents.
Over time they developed into their own hearty Cajun cuisine, including robust roux-based versions of gumbo and jambalalya . The Acadians also became experts at cattle ranching and smoking meats, and are now the state’s leading rice growers.
The Croatians
During the 1840s, commercial sales of oysters, fish and shrimp
got a big boost with the arrival of seasoned Croatian fishermen.
These former sailors from the Adriatic Sea lived on Louisiana’s
coast south of New Orleans, and started the state’s oyster cultivation.
The Sicilians
In the 1880s, waves of Sicilians arrived, bringing with them a
passion for bread, wine, pasta and tomatoes. Louisiana’s Italians took to truck
farming almost immediately, growing vegetables like zucchini, spinach, garlic,
lemons, eggplant, fennel, figs, leeks and cucumbers.
In many cases, traditional Italian dishes melded with Creole
dishes .
Although the line of distinction between fancy Creole cooking
and rustic Cajun cooking has over the years been blurred, chef John Folse makes
the distinction eloquently: “Creole … is that melange of artistry and talent,
developed and made possible by the nations and cultures who settled in and
around New Orleans.” And Cajun is “the mirror image of [the Cajun] unique
history … a cooking style that reflects their ingenuity, creativity,
adaptability and survival.”
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