Characteristic products

Rice is the basis of Creole cuisine. It was the slaves who came from West Africa who brought with them the know-how of growing and preparing rice in the United States. Although African rice was gradually supplanted by the more productive Asian rice from the 19th century onwards, Louisiana is still the3rd largest producer in the country and rice recipes are at the heart of the local cuisine. Other vegetables include peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, collardgreens and okra, a green chili-like vegetable with a slight zucchini flavor. Mirtliton

is

the local name for christophine or chayote, a kind of pear-shaped zucchini with a delicate flavor

.

Fish, shellfish and seafood are essential in this state, a veritable labyrinth of rivers, marshes, canals and coasts. In the rivers and estuaries, you can catchspeckled trout,bluegill,catfish,bass orgar. At sea, we findtuna, tarpon,swordfish, dolphin,snapper,grouper,flounder andshark. We also findcrawfish,shrimps and crabs. Between Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans is famous for its seafood, especiallyoysters. The legs of ouaouarons

(frogs) are very appreciated by the Acadians.

The local charcuterie shows an undeniable French influence. For example, the andouille, which is not made of pork intestines as in France, but of coarsely chopped, finely spiced and smoked pork meat. The Creole white pudding is made of a mixture of minced pork meat and offal, rice, onion and various herbs. The red pudding also contains blood. Cracklins are cubes of fried pork rind. Finally, Tasso ham is not aham

per se, but a pork shoulder that is salted, spiced and smoked while hot.

Spices and Louisiana cuisine seem to go hand in hand. Black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, thyme, bay leaves and celery are used with great generosity. All of these herbs are commonly found in what is known as the " Cajun mix ", the recipe for which varies from place to place, but which is always present in many dishes. Filé powder or sassafra powder is a spice obtained from the ground leaves of a local tree - the Iroquois laurel - which is widely used to flavor and thicken sauces, especially in gumbo

. If not always furiously hot, the local cuisine is not stingy when it comes to chili. In fact, it is in Louisiana, in the heart of Avery Island, that the famous tabasco has been produced since 1868, by the McIlhenny company, named after its inventor, Edmund McIlhenny. This world-famous hot sauce is simply composed of chili paste, salt and vinegar that ferments for three years in white oak barrels. After this time, fine vinegar is added and the mixture is left to rest for a month before bottling. Today, there are variants with green chili, chipotle and habanero chili, which are extremely hot. The Louisiana Hot Sauce produced since 1928 is also very popular in the USA.

The classics of Louisiana cuisine

Gumbo is probably the most famous Louisiana dish. This stew contains okra, shrimp, crab, chicken and pork sausages, all spiced up with various ingredients. The key ingredient in this specialty is roux, a mixture of flour, butter and broth, which gives the dish its creaminess, usually served with rice. Every Louisiana family, every cook, every region of the state has its own gumbo

recipe. You'll find that you'll try many different varieties and that it will never taste the same.

Rice is the basis for another of the state's cult dishes: jambalaya. This dish is said to be partly inspired by paella. Here, the rice is richly flavored with Cajun spices and topped with crab, shrimp, sausage, ham, chicken, diced bell bell pepper and celery. The simpler dirty rice is white rice that becomes "dirty" after being cooked with diced pork, beef or chicken, green bell pepper, celery and onion. Red beans & rice

is a stew of red beans and pieces of sausage, of course served with rice.

The maque choux - probably derived from African and Native American recipes - consists of corn, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, celery and tomato sautéed in bacon fat. Corn is used extensively, as in the simple cornbread, or hushpuppies (fried corn dough croquettes). Other fried foods of Cajun origin include boudin balls, breaded and fried boudin stuffing, or Cajun fried gator, fried pieces of alligator meat with tabasco. Southern Louisiana ponce is a pork stomach stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, onion and various aromatics, then baked or smoked. Mirliton

is a chayote-based dish, stuffed with shrimp, green chili, onion and tomato, then baked.

There are a multitude of fish, seafood and shellfish dishes. Louisiana crawfish are particularly famous and can be found, for example, in the form ofcrawfish étouffée, peeled and prepared in a thick, spicy sauce with rice. New Orleans-Style BBQ shrimps is a grilled shrimp dish marinated with chili, oregano, garlic, lime juice and paprika. Shrimp remoulade

is a salad of shrimp coated in a thick mayonnaise-based sauce flavored with parsley, tarragon, Cajun spices, horseradish and lemon juice.

Oysters are also popular, raw of course, with a little hot sauce, lemon and buttered bread, but also cooked. For example, Bienville oysters (topped with a mixture of cream and shrimp and baked au gratin) or Rockefeller oysters (topped with a mixture of butter, garlic, parsley and chutney and also baked au gratin). Among the fish dishes, there is the inevitable pompano en papillote (pompano fillet or other white fish with lemon, butter, shallots, herbs) or the Cajun blackened catfish

(catfish coated with a mixture of flour and Cajun spices and fried in butter).

The po-boy is an iconic New Orleans sandwich, made with lightly brioche baguette bread, filled with fried shrimp or oysters, roast beef, turkey, smoked sausage or fried catfish, always with the tomato-milk-onion trio and a dollop of mayonnaise and mustard. The muffuletta

is a large round sandwich of Italian origin filled with ham, salami, mortadella, olives and other condiments, all drizzled with olive oil. It is very hearty. There are also Asian-influenced preparations such as yaka mein, a wheat and beef noodle soup of Chinese origin. The term "grilled" in English refers to meat that, despite its name, is not grilled but rather fried or braised. It usually accompanies grits. This gruel made from ground corn, of native origin, is often served for breakfast. Eggs Sardou - poached eggs on a bed of creamy artichoke and spinach, topped with hollandaise sauce - is also common in the morning.

Desserts and drinks

The most famous local dessert is the king cake, of course inspired by the French gâteau des rois or the Spanish roscón de reyes. However, this large crown-shaped bun, decorated with tricolored sugar (yellow, green and purple), is not prepared for Epiphany but for Mardi Gras. Beignets are another Louisiana specialty. Flavored with lemon, vanilla and alcohol - rum or cognac - they are usually square and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are often served in the morning with coffee. Calas

are doughnuts made with rice from the previous day that is pounded and mixed with other ingredients to make a paste.

Bread pudding is a dessert made of stale bread mixed with cream or milk, raisins and rum, baked and served with a whiskey sauce. Banana pudding is a cookie-based dessert soaked in banana custard and topped with meringue. In Louisiana,French toast is often drizzled with rum or whiskey. Creole cream cheese is a fresh cheese usually used with fruit to make desserts or ice cream. Banana Foster

is the local name for banana flambéed with rum, often served with ice cream.

Doberge cake is a multi-layered cake filled with chocolate cream created by Hungarian Jewish migrants inspired by the dobos torta. Unless you prefer the sweet potato pie - often prepared for Thanksgiving - filled with a cream made from sweet potato puree with various spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. Louisiana and Texas are competing for the pecan pie

, which is a shortcrust pastry topped with pecans, corn syrup, eggs and vanilla, commonly served with whipped cream. Pecans are used to make New Orleans' most iconic confection: the praline, coated with a crunchy layer of cane syrup.

These desserts are regularly eaten with coffee, starting at breakfast. The café brûlot is infused with orange and lemon zest, cloves, cinnamon, orange liqueur and cognac. Simpler, the café au lait is found everywhere. Chicory is also very popular.

The USA began to produce rum at the end of the 17th century from molasses from the West Indies, and the cultivation of sugar cane became more and more important in Louisiana from the 19th century on. However, the vagaries of history, and in particular Prohibition at the beginning of the 20th century, severely limited the production of rum, which was replaced by bourbon (a corn-based whiskey), which was easier to produce, before gaining in popularity again from the 1930s-1940s.

Among the most popular cocktails are the mint julep (bourbon, mint leaves), the sazerac (bourbon, Pernod, Tabasco), the absinthe frappe (Pernod and sugar), the hurricane (vodka, gin, rum, grenadine, amaretto, fruit cocktail), the Vieux Carré (whiskey, cognac, Vermouth, Benedictine, bitters) and the Brandy Milk Punch (milk, bourbon, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg). The Roman Ponche (whiskey, dark rum, lemon juice, sugar) is the equivalent of our Norman hole. Among the most popular beers in the region are Dixie, Jolie Blonde and Abita.