THE PORTABLE CHEF^TM
"Have Pans, Will Travel!"

Personal Chef & Catering Services
Chef Chip Desormeaux - 678.480.4973

Home  |  Personal Chef Services  |  Catering Services  |  Our Café  |  Testimonials  |  Newsletter  |  Recipes  |  Photo Gallery  |  Links  |  Contact

AMUSE BOUCHE                 by Chef Chip Desormeaux

/ah-mooz boosh/ def: A small complimentary appetizer offered at fine restaurants. From French, literally, "it entertains the mouth."

Food & Entertaining Tips from The Portable Chef

Personal Chef Service  |  Dinner Parties & Special Occasions  |  Meal Delivery Service

How's your week going? This week's inspiration came from an event we catered for my church this last weekend. We were asked to feature Southern food for 150 people. Since I'm from Louisiana, I decided to slip in something Cajun. (Hey! That's Southern, too!)

The primary menu was Chicken & Biscuits, Grillades & Grits and Fried Catfish. They gobbled it up!

A lot of people recognized the Grillades & Grits (pronounced /gree-YAHDS/) as being Cajun and asked me about it. A couple people asked me the difference between Cajun and Creole. And so I decided to write about it in this week's issue.

Enjoy! Oh, and by the way! Sebastien, our third son, will be celebrating his fourth trip around the sun next week on the 19th. Happy Birthday, Seb! (Yes, I know it's cheezy but it's my newsletter and I love my boys!)

Know someone who would benefit from Personal Chef Service? Please share this with them. Invite them to subscribe! Forward

The Difference Between Cajun and Creole

There are at least two terms commonly used to describe Louisiana natives. I thought you might like to learn what "Cajun" actually is and how it differs from another term used for Louisiana natives, "Creole."

The word "Cajun" actually derives from "Acadian," or the French, "Acadienne." Hearing it roll off the Cajun tongue, you would hear something like, /ah-kah-jen/.  Hence, Cajun.

Acadia (French, Acadie) was a French colonial territory in Canada in the 1600s. When the British finally claimed possession of the territory, those Acadians who refused British loyalty were exiled from their homes. Essentially, Louisiana was the first place where Cajuns were allowed to settle.

Cajun cuisine is a sort of hodgepodge of their own Old French cuisine and the native Indian cuisine, limited by what was available to them in the relatively uncivilized territory. Lacking the more refined trappings of an established kitchen, most dishes were one-pot-meals. Gumbo and Jambalaya are two good examples of making a lot with only a little.

Another word used to refer to native Louisianans is "Creole." Creole, derived from the Spanish "criollo," is a general term that really could be applied anywhere. It's used to refer to anyone born in the local region but whose parents are from another country, such as African-Americans. In the case of Louisiana, it's used to refer to anyone of European descent but born on the bayous of Louisiana—versus someone who is from Acadia. Today, the term really has more significance in the definition of culinary origins than it does of a person's heritage.

Creole cuisine has more Spanish and French influence and tends to be more refined. It's more or less what you find in New Orleans restaurants. It's the result of French and Spanish aristocracy settling in the area, bringing with them their chefs trained in the grand cuisines of France and Spain.

While Creole cuisine makes use of butter, cream, tomatoes, and thyme, Cajun cuisine uses more animal fats and spices.

If you want real soul-quenching Cajun food, you're going to have to travel out of the city, down some dirt roads and cross a few bayous to "find you summa dat, cher!"

All-in-all, the influences in Cajun and Creole cuisines are many. The French brought their rouxs and sauces; the Spanish, their spices and a dish called paella (jambalaya); the Germans, their sausages; the Africans, their "gumbo" or okra; the native Indians, local ingredients like corn, sassafras leaves (filé powder), as well as wildlife (crawfish), and their cooking methods.

As a Cajun myself, I cared less about the origin of what Mama put on the table and a whole lot more about how big my plate was compared to my brother's or if I could eat fast enough to get seconds before he did!

Now I'm hungry. Let's eat, y'all!

Chef Chip Desormeaux

But, Wait! There's More!
(Recipes, Nifty Gadgets, & Stuff Like That)

About My Newsletter

To subscribe to my newsletter: If this newsletter was forwarded to you by a friend and you would like to receive your own subscription, click here.   (The subscription form is in the yellow sidebar to the right.)

To view past newsletters: Newsletter archives can be found here.

The purpose of this newsletter is to deliver practical, useful information about cooking, nutrition, entertaining and other pertinent topics to my subscribers.

The best newsletters grow organically, by word-of-mouth. So please feel welcome to forward this newsletter along to a friend and invite them to subscribe!

I won't share your E-mail address with anyone. Ever. You've received this issue because: you subscribed at my website, or a friend forwarded it to you.

Personal Chef Service  |  Dinner Parties & Special Occasions  |  Meal Delivery Service