老澳门六合彩开奖记录

Every state in the US is proud of its homegrown cuisine, but not every state can back their bragging with real evidence of culinary prowess. Louisiana can. The food culture here is iconic. Perhaps no other American state can boast a cuisine as well-known as Louisiana鈥檚. In the 1980s, Cajun culture became a point of obsession around the world thanks to famous chefs like Paul Prudhomme, whose legacy has since been carried on by cooks such as Emeril Lagasse and Donald Link.

The Bayou state is a product of multiple cultural threads, including the African diaspora, Native Americans, French-Iberian Creoles, Acadians (Cajuns), and waves of settlers from Ireland, Germany, Vietnam and Honduras (to name a few). A culture developed here that elevated both the enjoyment of food and the indigenous products of Louisiana鈥檚 muddy terroir, from her prairies to her bayous to the Gulf of Mexico.

Now that you鈥檝e chewed on that, let鈥檚 dig in.

A pile of crawfish, potatoes, corn on the cob with a side of onions and a lemon wedge lay on old newspaper.
You will find the crawfish in just about everything in Louisiana 漏 sandoclr / Getty Images

The ground rules

When eating your way across the state, it鈥檚 important to note that Cajun and Creole are not interchangeable terms. The Cajuns are the descendants of Acadians (French Canadians) who settled in Louisiana鈥檚 prairies and bayous. Cajun cuisine is more rustic and arguably less complex (but we鈥檙e not saying either is better!) than Creole cuisine, which derives from the French-Iberian demographic that settled in New Orleans. Their cuisines are different, although both tend to share a love of rich flavors, colorful presentation, and generous helpings of butter and fresh seafood.

You may also be wondering, what is roux? Roux (pronounced roo) isn鈥檛 a dish per se; it鈥檚 a simple base of flour and oil or butter, stirred until the desired color takes hold. There isn鈥檛 any one restaurant in Louisiana that does roux better than others; it is simply the base of any good local dish and is often sold in jars in local convenience stores.

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Crawfish

The humble crawfish is served a million ways across Louisiana: in pies, as 茅touff茅e, over french fries 鈥 the list goes on. But there鈥檚 one preparation not to miss. A Louisiana crawfish boil is something special: a mini-festival of sorts that unites friends and family over good music, beer, and of course, tables of fresh-boiled crawfish. While the best boils tend to take place in someone鈥檚 backyard, you can鈥檛 go wrong finding crawfish in Breaux Bridge, the self-proclaimed crawfish capital of the world, which hosts its annual crawfish festival in May.

Outside of New Orleans in the town of Gretna, you鈥檒l find an excellent new frontier in Louisiana cooking: Vietnamese-style crawfish. Confusingly, these shellfish are sometimes called 鈥楥ali style鈥 crawfish, but whatever their nomenclature, they are the product of Vietnamese foodways, like a love of melted garlic butter, melded with a classic, Cajun Louisiana boil. The result is something beautiful and mouthwatering and inspiring all at once 鈥 not to mention incredibly messy and fairly spicy. Order a pound of Vietnamese crawfish at , grab some napkins and strap yourself in for a wild culinary ride.

Boudin

鈥楤oudin鈥 (boo-dan, not boo-din) is a French sausage, and although variations can be found across the Francophone world, Louisiana鈥檚 boudin is its own specialty. This mix of meat, rice and herbs is the culinary child of German immigrants, the Acadian settlers who would evolve into the Cajuns and enslaved Africans. It is smoky and rich, yet the presence of rice and herbs makes it somehow also delicate. Long story short: boudin is delicious.

You鈥檒l see boudin in restaurants, but the real stuff is found in grocery stores and gas stations across the state. Some of our Cajun country favorites include Billy鈥檚 Boudin & Cracklins in Opelousas, the nearby , and near Lake Charles.

Gumbo

Perhaps no dish in Louisiana has a name-brand recognition like gumbo. Similar to many items on the local menu here, gumbo is a one-pot wonder with a million variations.

Typically served over rice, the dish includes roux and fil茅 powder (dried sassafras), which is used as a thickening agent; past that, the sky鈥檚 the limit in terms of its diversity 鈥 anything can go in the pot. In the prairies you鈥檒l find meatier, poultry- and sausage-style gumbos, while seafood rightly dominates on the coast. This synthesis of diverse ingredients is a major reason the dish is often used as a culinary analogy for the state鈥檚 demographics.

In New Orleans, opt for 贬别谤产蝉补颈苍迟鈥檚 smoky, rich spin on gumbo, or head west into Cajun country where you鈥檒l find a similar if not darker and richer gumbo at in Lafayette. For seafood gumbo the options are endless, but for a cheap bowl that is consistently high quality, check out , a casual New Orleans-based chain with multiple locations. If you鈥檙e in New Iberia, check out the seafood gumbo at , which swims with crawfish, crab meat and shrimp. Add some Tabasco hot sauce 鈥 you can even buy some from the original Tabasco Factory.

A wooden spoon sits in a large cast-iron pot of crawfish etouffee. There is a white towel with a red trim at the base of the pot.
Fill your belly and your soul with a bowl of etouffee 漏 Marianna Massey / Getty Images

脡迟辞耻蹿蹿茅别

脡迟辞耻蹿蹿茅别 (eh-too-fay) derives from the French word for 鈥渟mother鈥 or 鈥渟uffocate,鈥 which is a grim etymology for such a delicious dish. It consists of shellfish (either shrimp or crawfish) cooked constantly in a buttery sauce derived, of course, from a roux. The resulting mix is poured over fluffy, fresh cooked rice 鈥 a classic example of a poor man鈥檚 meal fit for a king.

North Louisiana is several hours removed from the Cajun heartland of Acadia, yet slings a notoriously delicious 茅touff茅e, and their boiled crawfish is pretty great too. If you want a bargain price version of the dish that comes with great New Orleans music (in the evening, anyways), try 叠耻蹿蹿补鈥檚 颅颅鈥 their version is made with alligator.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya is another one-pot rice dish that has become a metaphor for the people and food of Louisiana. A good serving includes the 鈥渉oly trinity鈥 鈥 green bell peppers, onions and celery 鈥 plus spices, smoked sausage and whatever vegetables are on hand.

The whole mix is cooked slowly and with care, with rice and stock being introduced after the other ingredients have had time to mingle. When the rice is added is partly what marks a jambalaya as Cajun or Creole. Also, Creoles often add tomatoes to their 鈥渞ed jambalaya鈥, while Cajuns use the bits of the dish that burn along the bottom of the pot to flavor the whole affair.

When in New Orleans, head to Coop鈥檚 Place for surly service and their excellent rabbit jambalaya, prepared Cajun style. In Baton Rouge, head to , a restaurant where the sheer, immense flavor of the Cajun food stands in inverse proportion to the bare-bones aesthetics.

Grilled shrimp is placed on top of onions, tomato and lettuce to create an open-face sandwich. There are french fries under the sandwich and a black plastic fork resting on the red tray.
Don't ever call a po'boy a sandwich 漏 C3PICS / Getty Images

笔辞鈥檅辞测蝉

What鈥檚 in a name? Legend has it the po鈥檅oy was first served to striking streetcar workers as a way to show solidarity. Don鈥檛 be fooled by those who tell you it鈥檚 just a sandwich: the po鈥檅oy elevates the sandwich to something special by dint of its bread (not as hard as a baguette, not as soft as a sub 鈥 the consistency is both firm and yielding) and its ingredients, which often include slow-cooked roast beef, gravy dripping 鈥渄ebris,鈥 fried seafood, and whatever else you please.

Excellent po鈥檅oys abound across the Gulf South. The French Press in Lafayette serves a boudin ball po鈥檅oy to die for. In New Orleans, the rundown shack that is the Rampart Food Store has a shrimp po鈥檅oy that is a thing of glorious, heady beauty. If you鈥檙e on a road trip through South Louisiana, make sure to fuel up at 鈥 this gas station is famous for its massive, overstuffed variation on the genre. And if you find yourself in Shreveport, head to for a unique twist on the shrimp po鈥檅oy that鈥檚 been around since 1945.

This article and video were originally produced by 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 Dec. 2018 for the Louisiana Office of Tourism and updated Dec. 2019. All editorial views are those of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录 alone and reflect our policy of editorial independence and impartiality.

This article was first published Dec 7, 2018 and updated Dec 13, 2019.

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