Authentic Cajun Cuisine - Cajun Dishes & Creole Cooking

Baton Rouge Cajun Cuisine

Baton Rouge is the largest city close to the heart of Authentic Cajun country in Southwest Louisiana, so you expect big props to this fine Cajun cuisine. You will not be disappointed. The city of Baton Rouge is steeped in Cajun culture and history. Cajun heritage in the capital of Louisiana stems from the influence of French Acadians that have populated the area for centuries.

Cajuns are primarily bayou ("swamp") dwellers of primarily French and Indian descent, but the back-story is more of a gumbo. In 1765, Cajuns, a corruption of the term "Acadians", were forced to migrate from that region in Canada. They settled in Louisiana, but to this day they maintain a derivative of the French language. They were typically farmers, fur trappers, hunters, and fishermen. They came to know the swamps like the back of their hand. Consequently, these are the folk you want as your Alligator Tour Guide and playing Zydeco Music.

Outside Louisiana the distinctions between authentic Cajun and Louisiana Creole cooking have been blurred. However, Creole dishes tend to be more sophisticated continental cuisine using local produce and seafood. Cajun dishes are rural, more seasoned, sometimes spicy, and tends to be heartier. Many well-known Cajun dishes originally were centered on wild game, rice and other local ingredients.

Since Cajuns were poor, their cuisine depended on what was available on or near the land: cornbread, greens, okra, molasses, onions, green peppers, shrimp, salted meat and beans became staples. Only people living along the coast had seafood, and rice until near the 20th century. Boiled crawfish became a signature ingredient because those delicious little critters grow in the bayous and swamps in abundance.

Cajuns make great company to enjoy boiled crawfish and other country-based, Cajun cuisine. This cuisine is earthier with an emphasis on larger portions and less on presentation compared to urban-based Creole cooking. Unlike the French roux, Cajun roux is made with oil and flour and the bisque is made without cream; though this cuisine draws from many ethnic constituents, we can all thank celebrity chefs Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse for promoting Cajun cuisine via their cookbooks, grocery products and TV appearances.