Cajun Seasonings make Louisiana Cooking... it's the glitter in the gold!
Cajun Cooking takes a great blend of readily available herbs and spices
and blends them to heighten the already great flavor of your everyday
foods.
Your typical Cajun or Creole Louisiana cooking enthusiast has just about
everything on earth in his seasoning pantry. Without these... Louisiana
Style cooking wouldn't be what it is!
This well stocked Cajun cooks pantry will often have herbs and spices of
every age also, from "just got it yesterday" to "been having it for five
years and I still don't know what to use it on". Fresh herbs and spices
can be grown in beds in the garden or even rectangular containers. The
ice box (refrigerator) holds a few fresh seasonings also. The quantity
you should keep on hand will depend on the amount you use and/or the
distance to the nearest grocery store.
If you are going to try a first time dish pick up some fresh seasoning
to use in it so you'll know what it really is supposed to taste like!
I'm not going to get in to the difference between an herb and a spice
here. In general, an herb is normally the leafy part of the plant and a
spice is normally the bark or stem of a plant.
The Basics: Salt, Pepper, garlic and onions.
Salt comes in the box as usual, and, is also available as Sea Salt and
Kosher salt. Sea salts come in course and fine grain. You can find "All Natural" Sea Salt, however it doesn't have the processing chemicals
that regular table salt contains (so they say). Kosher salt is a little
courser than table salt and chefs like it because of the ease of
handling with the fingers.
Oops, I put too much salt! For gravies, sauces, gumbo (liquid based
dishes) cut up two or three stalks of raw celery in two inch pieces and
let it cook until very tender. You can also use potatoes but in my
experience celery works better.
Dried pepper types are commonly cayenne, black and white pepper. White
and black peppercorns are available for grinding as are green
peppercorns. Fresh ground pepper has a better flavor than pre-ground
(canned). You can get a cheap mill ($5 - $7) and get some peppercorns
and you're all fixed up. White, black and green peppercorns actually
come from the same pepper plant, they are picked at different times and
processed differently. White pepper is hotter than black and black
hotter than green! White peppercorns are the fully ripened fruit
followed by black (less ripe) and green (immature).
Fresh peppers are good for some dishes but be careful with the heat
ranges.
Do a web search for the Scoville Scale for a pepper you wish to use.
Several hot sauces are available especially in Louisiana, and each has
it's own flavor and heat range so try a few and see which ones you like.
We're seeing an explosion of pepper sauces flavored with other seasoning
like garlic.
I have to dispel a myth about Cajun cooking here. Cajun food is not
always HOT. The typical dish is FLAVORFUL and flavorful does not always
mean HOT!
Pepper can be added at any time to any dish. Put the pepper on the table
and let em' have at it.
Garlic comes whole or minced (you know that already). Be careful not to
burn garlic. You can lightly brown it but that's it.
Onion varieties are yellow (most common), red (purple) and of course
Vidalia. I like the Vidalia for salads or in dishes when I use big
pieces and just wilt the onion They're just sweeter and have a better
flavor. We could get into a big conversation about onions but it's not
really necessary here, right?
More essentials: Bell Pepper, Celery, Green Onions (scallions), Parsley.
Most of these are in Louisiana backyard gardens. We just think of them
as "the good flowers". And for heavens sake don't get caught riding your
bike through the green onions. Having to cut your own switch is not the
way to end the day! You can chop them and stick them in the freezer if
you run into a good sale, but, they don't keep long. I prefer them
fresh.
Don't forget Filé which is ground leaves of Sassafras. Mostly used in
Gumbos (after it's done).
You can get elegant and grow your own thyme, rosemary, sweet basil and
hot peppers. Many of these are available fresh at your grocer also.
Bay leaves are best when they're green. I fold the bay leaf in half to
break the skin before I put it in the pot. Always remove bay leaves from
your dish before serving. Don't eat them. If you're lucky, you or your
neighbor have their very own bay leaf tree! You can buy a bay leaf tree to have
your own... be ready to spend about $40.
Creole and Cajun spice combinations are available by many brands. You'll
have to try them and decide which ones you like. Keep in mind that for
the most part they ARE different. You may choose to use one brand for
one dish and another brand for some other dish. Most of them contain a
lot of salt. The red coloring comes mostly from paprika not cayenne
pepper. If you must eat a salt free diet you can
make your own Creole
Seasoning excluding the salt.
Most Louisiana dishes start with onions, bell pepper and celery (the
trinity). Garlic is the next and then your other seasonings.
We like brown gravies which is why we either make a roux, or, brown some
onions first, depends on the dish. Sometimes we do both. Stocks are also
important and of recent years are readily available, and, a beef or chicken broth
will do (canned or using bullion cubes). I mention this here because rouxs, browned onions and stocks are all seasonings in my book.
A roux will have a slightly different flavor depending on
how brown you
get it. Onions will do the same. If you burn either one don't try to
salvage it. Toss it out and start over.
You can easily make stocks and two of the easiest are beef stock and
chicken stock. Another is shrimp stock. Stocks make sauces... learn more
about the old French sauces here.
Andouille (ahn-doo-ee) and Taso (tah-so) are seasoning meats used by
Louisiana Cooks. Each is seasoned and smoked and each has its own
flavor. Andouille is a sausage with mixed ingredients. Taso is a most
often a slice of ham, beef or even turkey also seasoned and smoked. With
each you must be careful with amounts as they can overpower a dish.
Stick to the recipe amounts until you get very familiar with them!
Let's not forget "Salt Meat". This is actually salted pork, usually the
picnic ham. It is uncooked and is usually heavily salted. In Houma, LA
we buy the whole picnic, slice it and cut it to the size we want and
freeze it. (Read more here)
Oil is not thought of as a seasoning, but in my experience I look at it
as one. The final outcome of a dish can depend on the type of oil you
use. Don't be afraid to use combinations of oil like 2/3 vegetable oil
and 1/3 olive oil. I'll sometimes take a little bacon grease or butter
and add it to the vegetable oil. You just have to experiment and see
what results you like best with each dish.
I see many people stay completely away from saturated fats when cooking.
I fully understand that these fats are bad for you. I look at it like
this. I don't cook with saturated fat on a regular basis, that is, I
might use bacon grease in a dish two or three times a month. Along with
that let's say I make a stew using 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. I
would have to eat the entire stew to ingest all of the grease. I'm sure
you see where I'm going with this. In my opinion to miss out on great
flavor in a special dish because you might ingest 5 drops of bacon
grease is not logical to me. Do what you think is best for you.
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What to use in what? The internet is full of recipes and those recipes
should be the beginning of your quest for the answer. Besides, what I
like in a dish may not be what you like. Just remember to keep it simple
as some dishes need little more than the basics to produce a great
flavor. You can find a little more info on this page.
Herbs & Spices.
Cook till your heart is satisfied......
Back to the Cooking page.