THE CREOLE AND CAJUN RECIPE PAGE

Welcome to the Creole and Cajun WWW Recipe Page! Here we celebrate the marvelous Creole cuisine of New Orleans, and the hearty country cooking of Acadiana, or French Louisiana. You'll also find some culinary basics -- stocks, sauces, seasonings, and the like -- as well as a few tastes of many other regional and world cuisines.

The Creole and Cajun Recipe page is a subset of The Gumbo Pages, a large musical, cultural and culinary World Wide Web site concentrating on New Orleans, southern Louisiana, and the wide world of non-commercial radio. Check it out as well!

And now beware, all ye who enter here ... remove the words "diet" and "low-fat" from your vocabulary now. Louisiana and especially New Orleans have, in my not-so-humble opinion, the best cuisine in the world. However, it isn't always what you'd call healthy, and it's probably not for people obsessed with watching their intake of saturated fats. But dawlin' ... talk about good!

Before you ask the inevitable question, "What's the difference between Creole and Cajun?" ... find the answer and more by reading this introduction to the joys of Cajun and Creole cuisine by food writer Malcolm Hébert. You also may want to read my take on the infamous, so-called Cajun food craze of the mid-1980s.

We'll start off with a few of the building blocks of Creole and Cajun cuisine, including seasoning, stocks and roux; then, we'll get to a few of the most common and beloved Creole and Cajun dishes. After the basics, we'll get to some more complicated recipes.

Many of these recipes are mine, although some started with my mom, grandma or great-grandma (I experiment, refine and change things a lot). There are also recipes here from many of New Orleans' finest restaurants and master chefs. Then, after the Creole and Cajun sections, check out the final recipe section for many other exciting dishes from around the world.

Before you begin, know your ingredients.

Next, if you're living outside Louisiana, you might need to know where to get some of your ingredients.

Now ... let's dig in!

The Creole/Cajun/Etc. Recipe Page -- Table of Contents

• The Basics: Seasoning blends, stocks, and the essential New Orleans dishes (gumbo, jambalaya, and red beans 'n rice)
• Sauces
• Sausages and seasoning meats
• Appetizers and salads
• Gumbos, soups and bisques
• Elegant entrees, including many New Orleans restaurant recipes
• Vegetables and side dishes
• Breads and breakfast
• Dessert!
• Beverages, pickles and preserves

• A Culinary World Tour: Recipes from many world and regional cuisines

• Interesting food- and drink-related WWW sites

• Sign the Gumbo Pages' Guest Book

Plus a special bonus ...

A "recipe"/short story by William McKenzie Neal

• Uncle Manny's Flanny Steak Vegetables

I've also redesigned the site, so I'd appreciate any feedback, and I'd particularly appreciate bug reports.

If you came from there, you may return to the New Orleans page.

"STORE HOURS: OPEN most days about 9 or 10, occasionaly as early as 7. But SOMEDAYS as late as 12 or 1. WE CLOSE about 5:30 or 6, occasionally about 4 or 5, but sometimes as late as 11 or 12. SOMEDAYS or afternoons we aren't here at all, and lately I've been here just about all the time, except when I'm someplace else. -- Bobby D."