Just last week I told a good friend that I was planning to make shrimp and Okra Gumbo for the weekend. Without hesitation, she asked: “Cajun Gumbo or Kreöol Gumbo?” Oh, I go here again. After a 10-minute explanation, I was able to see how my friend regretted asking the question. But it is a difficult topic and one that has used the highest scientific studies. If you have a little shy of ten minutes, pour in a cup of coffee and listen to me.
Barrels and Okra Gumbo mix the best of Cajun cooking and creole cooking in a delicious bowl. (All photos credit: George Graham)
What is the difference between Cajun Cooking and Creol Cooking? For a food author in Louisiana, which covers Cajun and Creole Cooking, this is to be asked: “What is in a gumbo?” There is no clear answer, and that is the beauty of culture and cuisine. Let me get the danger that I should be involved in culinary controversy and let me illuminate this long and sometimes heated debate.
The difference between the two is easiest to explain by looking at the two cultures and their geography. The Europeans of wealth and stature settled down in the city of New Orleans and brought a palate for a garnified kitchen that reminded of their French, Spanish or English roots. Over time, servants and chefs of African descent learned these demanding recipes and techniques and mixed them with their spicy, herb. Soon the taste mingled into a soulful mix that became the decisive taste of Creole. Cooking with tomatoes, cream, butter, cheese and other more sophisticated ingredients led to the rich kitchen for which New Orleans has become famous. French sauce techniques helped to define dishes such as shrimp remoulade, trout -meunière, oysters Bienville, Krabbenfein -ravigote and so many other great Creole dishes. And for these classic European dishes, Creole food such as Gumbo Z’herbes, smoky red beans and rice, dishes with Okra and a version of Jambalaya enriched with tomatoes.
A different kind of culinary evolution took place in the swamps southwest. In 1755, the expulsion of the French Akadier from Nova Scotia led by the British to migrate thousands of families to the wetlands in South Louisiana. Siedler laid roots along the golf coast and north to the Prairie region of Acadiana. These were not people with prosperity, but simple farmer families. To survive, catch, catch and chase them for food and turned their basic French culinary skills in rural French culinary skills to simple Cajun recipes that fit their palate. Settlers along the coastal community made their living through shrimp, crab and harvesting oysters; In the interior, agriculture also led the lowlands with sugar cane and rice as predominant plants to Cajun recipes with all these indigenous ingredients. The ATCHAFALAYA basin was a wild source for crowds, and finally the rice fields were flooded in a controlled aquaculture environment after harvesting agriculture. Over time, the Germans settled in the region north of Lafayette and brought sausage and smoke houses, which were beautifully inserted into the gumbo of the flavors, which we now know as Cajun cooking.
Shrimp and Okra Gumbo are a recipe that connects Louisiana’s cultures.
The family plays an important role in Cajun Foodways. Celebrations still break out today when families come together to cook an entire pig. The Bawerie and the Cochon de Lait are French traditions that are important for Cajun’s way of life. Even lobsts are family celebrations that bring people together through food. The food is an important ingredient in living in South Louisiana.
I described Cajun Food as a basic and not sophisticated method for rustic, rural cuisine. I do not agree. For me, this description is the talent and the taste of the culinary art of the French Akadier. I think the development of this clearly original cuisine is based on manual techniques that are handed over for generations and preserved as a cultural treasure. Proud and passion for the cooking of Cajun are just as defined elements of people as music, dance and language. Deep, dark gumbos, spicy tasso, extensive crawfish Étuffée and Schwarzzeisener pot rice and sauce are original cajun recipes that are penetrated by historical awe from a culture.
But the explanation does not end there.
I claim that Cajun and Creole cuisine are summarized into a unique, intercultural cuisine over time, which is represented all over Louisiana. The sacred trinity of spices – onion, peppers and celery – is the divine starting point of both kitchens. Okra often appears in Gumbos on both sides of the Atchafalaya basin, and a bowl of creamy red beans with smoked andouille is a connection that bridges the two cultures deliciously. The beauty of eating in Louisiana is the mixture of flavors in unexpected and surprisingly unique dishes.
Let the debate end. What is the true Louisiana kitchen? Who cares? The conspiracy of the distinction lines of these two cultures has led to a really original, unique cuisine. To celebrate and illustrate this association, I offer a steaming hot bowl with shrimp and Okra Gumbo.
A bite and you will understand clearly.
Freshly cut Okra gives this Cajun recipe for shrimp and Okra Gumbo a Creole touch.
Shrimp and Okra Gumbo
Recipe from: George Graham – Acadianatable.com
Serves: 6 to 8
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of rapeseed oil
- 2 cups seasoned yellow onions
- 2 cups rolled green peppers
- 2 cups of cubes seasoned
- 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
- ½ cup of chopped parsley with flat sheet
- 1 cup of chopped tasso or smoked ham
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 12 cups of shrimp or seafood, plus water if necessary
- 1 cup of dried shrimp
- 2 cups cut into Okra
- 1 ½ cups of dark roux, like Rox’s Roux
- 1 tablespoon of Cayenne Pfeffer
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pound fresh Louisiana shrimp
- Shot hot sauce
- 8 cups of cooked Louisiana white rice to serve, such as supreme
- 1 cup of green onion tops seasoned
- Filé powder
Instructions
- Add ¼ cup of rapeseed oil in a large cast iron pot over medium heat. As soon as it’s hot, add the onions, peppers and celery. Fry until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic, parsley and the Tasso and fry them together. Add the tomato paste and stir it to combine.
- Add the shrimp stock together with the dried shrimp. Add the cut Okra. Bring to a boil and add the roux. Sink the heat on a boil and season with Cayenne pepper. Cover the saucepan and cook for 1 hour.
- Lift the lid after 1 hour and fly over the surface of an excess oil. Try the Gumbo. If you prefer your Gumbo thinner, add more bearings or water. Add salt and pepper to the taste. Add the shrimp, cover the pot and simmer for another 20 minutes. Switch off the heat.
- Leave the pot and fly over the surface of an excess oil. Try the finished gumbo and appreciate with a hot sauce.
- Scoop the gumbo into large bowls over a hill of rice and garnish with diced green onions. Leave filé powder and hot sauce on the table to add. Serve with hot French bread.
Notes
3.5.3217
A deep dark Cajun Roux with Creole Okra is the basis for the introduction of fresh Golf shrimp in this shrimp and Okra Gumbo – a classic dish in South Louisiana.
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Thanks, George.
