Cajun vs. Creole

[frogprince]

Last season, Cajun Brothers in Mid-City (Carrollton at Iberville I believe) always had reliably good, often great, always affordable crawfish and a steady supply of live crabs (if you're like me, steam the crabs, boil the bugs but hey, I'm from the Mid-Atlantic). Folks at work RAVE about Bevi Seafood in Metairie, combo retail seafood market/carry out - I have not had the pleasure myself yet

[DaveO]

Terrific educational informative thread. Thanks. My travels to the area have been way too infrequent. Meanwhile I'm a big fan of Bayou Bakery. Mouth watering goodies!

[Ilaine]

Somewhat on topic, the DC Alumni Societies of the various Louisiana state universities is putting on their annual crawfish boil.  Sunday, May 16, 2015, at Fort Hunt Park.  Crawfish, jambalaya, Abita beer, and Louisiana music.  The crawfish is trucked up from Louisiana and boiled on site.  I can't think of a more Louisiana thing to do.  Most people there will have lived in Louisiana, and love to talk about Louisiana.  Y'all come!

[Tweaked]

Somewhat on topic, the DC Alumni Societies of the various Louisiana state universities is putting on their annual crawfish boil.  Sunday, May 16, 2015, at Fort Hunt Park.  Crawfish, jambalaya, Abita beer, and Louisiana music.  The crawfish is trucked up from Louisiana and boiled on site.  I can't think of a more Louisiana thing to do.  Most people there will have lived in Louisiana, and love to talk about Louisiana.  Y'all come!

I've been to this a couple of times, the gf and friends went to Tulane, and it is a good time.  The best boil was the first year we went, two crazy thunder storms rolled through the Park.  During the first storm we found refuge under a random family's tent who proceeded to pass around shots of whiskey.  The second storm pretty much cleared everyone out and we sort shelter under the main pavilion, throughout the storm the cajun band played on and the guys working the boil rig kept on working, hauling huge coolers of freshly boiled crawfish into the pavilion, which were immediately set upon by the soaked crowd.  So much fun.

[Ilaine]

This is actually the first year we attended the Alumni Association crab boil, rather than the Louisiana State Society boil, which was not held this year, for some reason.

The crawfish and jambalaya were really, really good, but the lines were very, very long.  If you plan on driving, get there very early.  We only got a place to park because I have a handicap hanger.  I also advise bringing folding chairs, some kind of table, a cooler of ice, water, and drinks, maybe even a little tent or pavilion.  I hope the Louisiana State Society has a crawfish boil next year, they've been having them at the Navy Yard and there are many fewer people.

We've also tried crawfish boils at Society Fair and Jackson 20 and been sadly disappointed.  I think maybe those crawfish were flown in.  Both the Lousiana State Society and the Louisiana Alumni Assocation crawfish boils feature truckloads of crawfish hauled in live and boiled on site by professionals.  Really, the Alumni Association gets better crawfish, it's just that the Louisiana State Society has a nicer location, right on the Potomac.

The only person I know who will eat crawfish other than me and my husband is my son's girlfriend, who couldn't make it this year.  If she comes next year I can count on my son to help set up a base camp in Fort Hunt Park.

[thistle]

I have never lived in LA (just a visit or two), although I love Donald Link's cookbooks, Real Cajun & Down South. I'm from NC, & I remember cooking a 'drunken shrimp creole' from Bob Blumers, " The Surreal Gourmet Entertains" at Thanksgiving, out in Leavenworth, KS for a visiting Polish officer, while we were out there. It was delicious, & spicy, & it made being out in KS worthwhile.

I don't like crawfish, either- shrimp all the way, but I'm from Sneads Ferry.

[MC Horoscope]

From the Brennan family's statement about the passing of Paul Prudhomme.  Cajun v Creole cooking:

"Paul was a joy to work with and he's been an inspiration to all of us in the food world. Cajun and Creole cuisines crashed in the kitchen of Commander's Palace in the 1970s with Paul Prudhomme and Ella Brennan and the Brennan family. Prior to that, Cajun food had not been a part of New Orleans cooking. The result was an explosion of spectacular flavors and wonderful cooking that influenced the city, state, country and the world. There's been no better ambassador for New Orleans and Louisiana than Paul Prudhomme and he will be greatly missed," the family said.

"Superstar Chef Paul Prudhomme Dies at 75" by Dominic Massa on theadvertiser.com

Except in the homes of prairie Cajuns and bayou Cajuns who migrated to New Orleans, many of whom went for  jobs in shipbuilding (Higgins boats in WW II).

[MC Horoscope]

I post tthis from my Twitter account, but it's shorter:

"Chicken and Sausage Gumbo - Cajun Style"

Here's a 1:45 file from Facebook, but you must be a friend to see it (it's not my file):

"Wonderful Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, Cajun Style, from Lafayette Parish"

In a matter of a few days on my just now vacation I had gumbos from Galatoire's in NOLA, Brennan's in NOLA, Shuck's in Abbeville LA, Soop's in Maurice LA, and my sister's house in Lafayette LA last Sunday.  Sister's was tops, of course, then Soop's. Then Shuck's. Then Brennan's. Then Galatoire's.

If I may paraphrase the Louisiana state motto, it's Union, Justice, Confidence (no matter how stupid things look right now).

ETA you might be able to see the longer video now. It's on the Facebook page of my wife. I don't have my own Facebook account. She let me post to her account this time. I reset it so that not only her Facebook friends can see it but more generally.

[DonRocks]

17 hours ago, MC Horoscope said:

I post tthis from my Twitter account, but it's shorter:

"Chicken and Sausage Gumbo - Cajun Style"

They allude to this in the videos, but does the thinness bother you at all?

And what makes this Cajun vs. Creole?

[MC Horoscope]

The way I am using the terms Cajun and Creole in this context is that Cajun is from the Acadiana area two hours west of New Orleans, with Lafayette as the hub, including the parishes of Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, St. Martin, St. Landry, St. Mary, Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu, and Cameron. For the purposes of this discussion I am not including the Cajun bayou and riverside parishes that include Terrebonne, Lafourche, St.  Charles, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. John, St. James, Assumption, etc. I am just not familiar with how gumbo is done there. I am using the term Creole for gumbos I have had in New Orleans, such as at venerable old time restaurants like Galatoire's and Brennan's, or what I would call nouveau Cajun-Creole restaurants like Commander's Palace or KPaul's.

I prefer the consistency shown in the video I narrated above. To me the New Orleans Creole gumbos I have had are overwhelmed by the flavor of roux or even filé powder, which I did not add to the gumbo in the video. I am not too experienced with using filé at all. But many people from my area do add it table side at the last minute. My family did not use it, did not care for the taste or the way it thickened the gumbo.

There is another use of the terms Cajun and Creole that applies to music in Louisiana. The same instrumentation (accordion, fiddle, guitar, triangle or drums) can be either Cajun or Creole. Creole music is more syncopated than Cajun, but the standard repertoires of both Cajun and Creole music overlap a lot. Two steps, one steps, and waltzes, and sometimes blues known as slow drags. In the really old time music it also included polkas, mazurkas, contredanses, and other dances lost to time. Zydeco music is a more recent descendant of Creole music, originating roughly around the 1950s. The term zydeco itself was coined by a musicologist from Houston. The black French speaking people of the area I am from refer to themselves as Creole. The white French speaking people refer to themselves as Cajun. It is rare that a white French speaking person from that area refers to himself or herself as Creole, no matter whether the ancestors in fact came to Louisiana from Acadia (Nova Scotia) or directly from France before the Acadian expulsion, or even Spain, Germany, or other countries.

It's complicated, and not made any clearer at all in my opinion by Wikipedia.

[DonRocks]

10 hours ago, MC Horoscope said:

The way I am using the terms Cajun and Creole in this context is that Cajun is from the Acadiana area two hours west of New Orleans, with Lafayette as the hub, including the parishes of Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, St. Martin, St. Landry, St. Mary, Jefferson Davis, Cameron, Calcasieu, and Cameron. For the purposes of this discussion I am not including the Cajun bayou and riverside parishes that include Terrebonne, Lafourche, St.  Charles, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. John, St. James, Assumption, etc.

Well, I'd say this is a fairly detailed answer.