Title: Cajun or Creole??
Categories: Cajun Textfile
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Is it Cajun or Creole?

Some Louisiana recipes and ingredients are clearly either Cajun or Creole; others aren't so easily categorized.

Andouille sausage: Cajun. This dark, smoked sausage may have its earliest roots in a French breakfast sausage called "andoulette." But the Germans are often credited with its development in New Orleans, where they needed a highly seasoned, smoked sausage.

Chile peppers: Creole. The Spanish brought them up from South and Central America and Mexico.

Crawfish, crabs: Creole and Cajun. Both groups adapted their dishes to the abundant indigenous seafood.

Etouffee: Creole. The French word means smothered or braised, and the dish may have been created as a way of smothering game and fish in the "trinity" of sauteed onions, celery and bell pepper in various combinations with garlic, green onions and parsley.

Gumbo: Creole and Cajun. Gumbo is the Swahili word for "okra," used to thicken early Creole gumbos. Both tomatoes and okra were common in Creole gumbos, Cajuns, who favored simple one-pot cooking, quickly adapted the gumbo concept for fish stew, using a darker, richer roux. They never added okra or tomatoes, except to the occasional shrimp gumbo.

Jambalaya: Creole. It's an adaptation of Spanish paella, wherein oysters and crabs quickly replaced mussels and clams, and andouille sausage took the place of ham, Africans in Creole kitchens also influenced the dish.

Mirliton (chayote squash): Cajun. From the Canary Islands, it was introduced through the Creoles and has become a cornerstone of Cajun cooking. The Cajuns are masters at stuffing vegetables like the mirliton.

Okra: Creole and Cajun. African in origin, okra first was used in Creole kitchens. The Cajuns soon adopted it and made it synonymous with their cuisine.

Pralines: Creole. An elaborate legtend tells how a French warrior used to keep bonbons for the ladies he called on. When he ran out one day, his chef improvised. It's also said the candies came to New Orleans with the Ursuline nuns, who substituted pecans for the almonds and hazelnuts in the original recipe.

Red Beans and Rice: Cajun. The beans reflect the Cajuns' earliest French roots; rice runs through Cajun and Creole. For generations, rice was Louisianna's number one food crop.

Roux: Creole and Cajun. The thickening agent for soups and stews combines slow-cooked fat and flour. Creole roux are lighter, made with butter and flour. Cajun roux are darker and heavier, made with lard or vegetable oil.

Sausage, Cheese: Creole. About 150 German families helped settle New Orleans, bringing with them sausage-making and dairy farming.

Tomatoes: Creole and Cajun. Creole cooks began experimenting with the native North American ingredient in the early 1800s. Cajuns quickly took to them because they were easy to grow. ** Dallas Morning News -- Food section ~- 17 July 1996 **

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