Why Cajun Eggs Are Called Cajun And Not Called Creole

By Cornelia Reyes


There is something special about eating deviled Cajun eggs after going to church Sunday morning to snack on until supper supper is ready. Lots of people get Cajun and creole foods mixed up and often believe the two are the same. Sometimes people believe that if it has some red spice on it, like deviled eggs, they are good examples of Cajun cooking.

To really understand all the differences you should first understand some background on each style of cooking and its evolution over time. Most real Cajuns cooking revolves around using what ever people had and being happy about eating it. When French settlers landed in Louisiana from Canada they had very little money or supplies. They looked around and tried to use the food sources mother nature provided.

The Creole expression is a catchall for the very first people that settled in Louisiana around New Orleans. They came from well to do families that often had chefs working for them from other places. Because most of the types of food they normally prepared were not acquirable the governor tasked his personal chefs with teaching them different ways to use native plants and indigenous animals in their cooking.

There is an odd expression in New Orleans that is, a creole feeds one family with three birds and a Cajuns feeds three families with one bird. Most creoles prefer to use flour and butter and as the base for their sauces and soups. Most Cajuns prefer to use flour and lard for the base of most of their sauces and soups.

A fine example is traditional gumbo soup. Most creole gumbo soup is made with a tomato like base and butter and flour. The end result being that it turns out more like soup when finished cooking. Most Cajuns will use a simple Roux base for making their gumbo stew using pork lard with flour. The finished dish turns out being more like thick stew than a soup.

The creole style cooking is more like the city cooking most people were used to. While they did make great use of many spices like pepper, red pepper, mustard and allspice to name a few; they also incorporated garlic, tomatoes and potatoes into their cooking. There was more emphasis placed on cream and butter and the sauces they made.

Even though the average person thinks that Cajuns season their meals fiery hot, it is not always the case. They like seasoning their foods with lots of black and white pepper, allspice and chili peppers. However, much of their food is based around the animals that are found in local swamps and the ocean. From clams and crayfish to more exotic types of fish, grains and game.

So when you do wonder why Cajun eggs are Cajun or something else on a restaurant menus for that matter, generally it is likely the addition of some hot sauce or course ground pepper that makes it this. What it should really require is a thick seafood stew with some onions, potatoes, celery and garlic floating inside it. Only then could the typical person from Louisiana think yes, just like being home.




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