Secrets of Cajun cuisine

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Secretsof Cajun cuisine
BY
MICHELE
PETERSON
It was morning and the mist from Bayou Teche was
lifting as I rolled down the gravel driveway atthe home
of one of Louisiana's most belovedchefs.Over the next
few days, I'd be soaking in what I could of Cajun
culture - which meant I'd be doing a lot of eating.
36
D r e a m s c a p e s0 c t o o e r 2 0 0 6
Essential
Caiundishes includea hearty,
lillingjanhalayaand
plumpshrimpin a
spicy red gravy
served over rice.
Lafayette
Conventio
& Visitors
Connission
\I,r: hosr u oulcl be Nlarcelle
B i e n v e r t u t. h e b c s r - s e l l i n gc o o k b o o k
author rncl tirrnrer resrallranto\vner
rvho spent rr clecadeu.orking u,ith
fantcd citcf ancl T\,' personalirt,
Emeril l,agasse.
B i e n r - e n u ' sh o m e i s i n S t .
\lartinr-ille. a ro\\'njusr outside of
Lafavette, 195 kilometres lvesr of
Neri- Orlcans. Four-rdedbt- Acadians
lr.hose exile fi-orn Nova Scotia in
17.55u'as described in Longf'ello-,i',s
eprc pocm Et,angeline,
this landscape
r.einccl rvirh bar,ousis the spiritual
hean of Cajun countrvand rhe perf e c t p l r t e l ' o r a c r a s h( . o u r : eo n i t s
c uIt u r e .
MarcelleBienvenu
is the
co-author
andauthor
ofseveral.cookbooks
on Gaiun
cusne. Michele
Peterson
l'hen thev did, thev'd order fried
food because rhev couldn't afford
deep frvers at home."
As a resulc,manv pleoplehave a
mlsconceptionthat all Cajun food is
dcep fried. It isn't. It is a rich blend of
recipeshanded dolr.rrthrough generations of settlers freed black
slar.es,Native Arnericans, Spanisl.r,
French and German.
At the heart of mar.rvrecipesis a
rlux, thc mixture of oil and flour that
thickens and adds a nllrry flar-ourro
clishessuch as gumbo,jtttnbn/a),aand
crarvfish irouffee.
"There are as many gumbos as
there are bavous," said Bicnvenn
rvho traces her own heritage to an
G e ffi cai sEe-, r.rretr i. :;a p,g
earlr, Acaclianfanrilri "But thev all
" ' l m e C a j u n c o o k i n g i s b a s i c a l l v begin ri,ith e roux."
h o r n ec o o h i n g , "e x p l a i n e dB i e n v e n u ,
The secret tcl its dcep mahr_rgan-v
t r h o s e s l i r n . s t r l i s h r r p p c a r r n c ei s c o l o u ri s s t e a d vs t i r r i n g .
more Auclrcv l{epburn than Bettv
"\'ou coLrld fall clou.n and die
Crocker. "It's difficulr to finc,l in
beside mv \,Iarna and she r,r.ouldn,r
restaLlrants
becausein the past rnost stop stirring her ro/,/x," jokcd
people couldn't affirrdto ear out. And
Bienr-enu.
'4q"
""'f"-fl4,
u4.,
''',*{. irFe,.,$9..
Aftertwo hundredsomeodd yeors
doingourownthingin thekikhen,
we'vebecomeprettyfomousfor
someomozingconcoctions
fhot
don'tcomeup on spellcheck.
So if you'retiredof thesomeold fqre,
we'vegot o plocesetjustfor you.
A DASH OF MYSTERY.
A P I N C HO F H I S T O R Y .
A s l i c eo f h e o v e n .
www.Lofoyette.Trovel. 1.800.346.| 958
k
"You Sot to live life to
the fullest, ma cltDre,"
Unique
landscape
Later that evening on
Bienvenu's patio overlooking
the bavou,we dined on.fnrnhnloya, chicken gumbo and delicious, but messy, crau'fish.
Then, as the sun set and the
deep green shadou.sgrew, we
took a sunset cruise on the
bayou. Surrounded bv a lush
landscapeof ferns and mossdraped oak trees, it meandered past rustic cottages,
lvater hyacinths and u'hite
egrets.
From the vast swamp wildernessto the Gulf of N{exico,the
steadl,flow ofthe baYouskeePs
rhe pulseof rhe Cajun spirir.
The pace of life often seemsas
slow as the gumbo rharsimmers for hours. Yet, the early
settlerswho establishedhomesteadsalong these watery channels that snake across the
prairies,had to improvisewhen
crops were poor, eating everything from alligatorsto crawfish
dug from the muddy waters of
the rice fields.
While the gumbo simmered,
"We'd often use what no one else
w e h e a d e d t o J o s e p h i n e ' s C r e o l e rvould eat," said Bienvenu. "Crar,vfish
Restaurant,a nearby diner where plate r,vasconsidered a food for poor folk."
lunches,a combinationof hot dailv speThese days,crawfish is considered
cials, is a traditional favourite among a delicaclr At N'Iyran's Maison de
working men. While larger restaurants, Nlanger in nearby Arnaudville, fried
such as Victor's in New Iberia and T:
catfish and crawfish poboys are local
Coon's in Lafavette, also offer plate favourites.The historic town of Breaux
lunches,Josephine'sis unique because Bridge even hosts an annual Crawfish
it offers a black or "soui" version of
Festival.
Cajun cooking.
Another delicacy appears every"You got to ger here early ftrr rhe
u h e r e f r o m r e s r a u r a n t so g a ss t a t i o n si n
best selection,"saidJosephine,the gre- Port Barre, located where Bayou
gariousowner, as she doled out ladle- Courtableau and Bayou Teche meet.
fuls of smothered okra. In addition to
Once a busy steamboatport in the earraising eight children, she built a suc- ly 1800s, today it is best known for
cessful businessby focusing on familv jalapeflo corn bread and bourJin- a
recipes such as stuffed turkey u'ings, sausage stuffed u'ith rice, pork and
baked squashand slou-barbequedribs. spices.
D r e a m S c a p e s0 c t o b e r 2 0 0 6
Gumbo
for
your
soul
With delicious food in such plentiful
supply, I began to wonder how
Bienvenu kept her trim shape. I soon
found out. The next morning. in
Lafayette, Lil' Nathan, a third-generation accordion musician, offered a
primer on zl deco dance music. an
African-basedrhvthm that grew out of
C a j u n .b l u e sa n d j a z z m r r s i c .
"You got to live life to the fullest, ma
c/tlre," he said, "With drums poundin',
everybodysweatin' and your feet movin'
pretty soonyou gonna be dancing."
We didn't have to go far to find
authentic Cajun and zydeco music as
many local restaurants feature live
bands. At Prejean'sin Lafayette, oldtimers glide across the floor to the
sound of fiddle, accordionand guitar.At
Fred's Lounge in Marnou, the good
r i m e se r e n b e g i ni n t h e m o r n i n g .
Bur the favourite for late-night
action since 1947 is Slim's Y Ki-Ki in
Opelousas,one of Louisiana's oldest
towns. When we arrived.the music was
pounding and the dance floor was hopping. Before long, u'e were dancingand
r.vorkingup a sweat.
Nor.v I know the Caiun secret to
stavingslim. 0
topleft Known
fortheirup-beat
tempos,
cheerful
lFics
andpeculiar
dance
rhyftmcfte Cajun
sounds
areablend
ofGerman,
Spanish,
Scottish,
hish,Anglo-American,
AfroCaribbean
andAmerican
Indian
influences
wift a baseof
westem
French
andFrench
Acadian
folkradition.
cente:Ihefaditional
Caiun
instumenb
were$e fiddle
(ff fed,butAcadians
andtriangle
soonleamed
tomake
fteirownpercussion
instrumenb
fromhousehold
ilems
likespoong
washboards
andclacking
s{icks.
LafayefteConvention
& VisitorsConnission
Forevents,
accommodation
andgeneral
tionvisitlafayette.travel.
ForMarcelleBienvenu's
popufar
cookbooks
andlatestrelease,
Who'sYaur
Mama,Are YouCatholicand Can YouMake a
Roux?, visitacadianhouse.corn/acadianhouse
publishingonlinestore.
Forinformalion
onCajun
towng
musicandbackroads,
visitcajuntravel.com.