On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:49:32 -0600, Conan The Librarian
wrote:

wrote:

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:53:30 -0600, Conan The Librarian
wrote:

wrote:


In article , Ken Fortenberry
writes

Paul Prudhomme is an American chef credited with making
Cajun cooking popular.

Um, not among Cajuns he ain't...they were eating it before he was
born...

Well, yeah ... and there was French cuisine before Julia Child came
on the scene, too.

No ****?

Yes, really. And yet she was still credited with making French
cuisine popular. (Just like Prudhomme was with Cajun food.)

FWIW, it was probably more to do with Justin Wilson than Prudhomme as
Prudhomme isn't really a "Cajun" chef, he's more of a Creole chef (he
got his start at Commander's), and his "blackened" redfish is neither
Creole or Cajun, but a happy accident.

There are no _recipes_ per se for much of Cajun or Creole cooking. Oh,
sure, there are "recipes" out there by the ton, but much of both styles
of cooking is simply cooking with what's available and adding cayenne,
thyme, garlic, a mirepoix-ish saute of onions, sweet/green/bell peppers,
and celery (no carrots ala French cooking), and Worchestershire to
individual taste. Very few Cajuns or Creoles make "standards" the same
way...which, I suppose, makes them, um, well, not standard, depending on
your POV.

So how would you suggest that a newcomer to Cajun food learn how to
cook it? I figure recipes might be a handy substitute for those of us
who don't have relatives who came over on the boats from Acadia.

Look at the general array of flavoring ingredients and techniques used
and go from there.

Hmmm ... do you think a cookbook might be a good place to look for
that sort of information?

No, I don't. I prefer to see and sample dishes and go from there,
whatever the cuisine. But I also realize that some have _no_ access to
trying certain things, and so, if you or they do need to use a cookbook
for a general sense of what ingredients are used, that's fine. But I'd
offer that attempting to use _recipes_ from a cookbook will not produce
"true" Cajun or Creole food.

There's nothing wrong with following a precise
recipe, but since most Cajun and Creole cooks really don't, there's no
reason that a person who is at least moderately familiar with food,
herbs and spices, and cooking should, either.

I dunno ... if someone asks about Cajun recipes I'd be inclined to
just give them Cajun recipes.

Cajun and Creole "recipes" aren't as structured as, for example, many
continental recipes (part. sauces), and are "morphed" from their native
meanings - for examples, ask 100 Cajuns and 100 Creoles for gumbo
"recipes" and you'll get about 500 "recipes," and, Creole grillades have
nothing to do with grilling - and as such, they don't really lend
themselves to recipes in the sense of a fixed list of ingredients with
precise amounts. IMO, it would be like trying to give someone a recipe
for "art" or "music." YMMV, of course.

TC,
R


Chuck Vance (that's not really so hard, is it?)