CREATING A CREOLE KITCHEN: THE ESSENTIALS

Criollo was the term the Spanish used for their cooking, but New Orleanians quickly christened it Creole. Call it what you choose, but don’t think it’s ordinary. Creoles are fiercely proud of their particular culture and heritage, which they consider more sophisticated than that of their Cajun country cousins.

Creole culture and heritage go back to the European settlers of New Orleans who were predominately of French and Spanish ancestry. Most were ...

The similarities between Creole and Cajun cuisines are due to the French heritage of both cultures, and the new ingredients to which French cooking techniques were applied by Creoles and by Cajuns. Both types of cooking have culinary roots in France, with a nod to Spain, Africa, and Native America, and to a lesser degree to the West Indies, Germany, Ireland, and Italy. Both cultures take their food very seriously, and love to cook, eat, and entertain.

It is said that a Creole feeds one family ...

To really understand the roots of Cajun food today, we must look back to the 16th and 17th centuries when the new Acadian arrivals from France were perplexed at some of the unusual foods at their disposal. 

• The Acadians brought their extraordinary culinary skills with them from France, and applied those skills to the foods that were available in their new land. Some foods were familiar, like pigs, cows, and chickens, but others were strange and some adjustment was needed to incorporate meadowl...