For the cooking cajuns (or just cooks in general)

how good are you at making a dark roux? If you've got that down, just google gumbo, and you'll come up with a lot of recipes for gumbo.

What is this "recipe" of which you speak. Is that some kind of Yankee cooking device? We don't use such a thing, we just cook.

As stated above, step 1 is usually: "First you make a roux..."

shepherd - 2007-02-23 10:02 AMSo, bear - what do you throw into your roux?

You can use any oil instead of butter. Trick is to get it to the right degree of "brownness" without burning it, The color of an old penny is a good standard. At that point, you throw in your vegetables (onions, bell peppers, some include celery, Rotel tomatoes, whatever) to brown them and to keep the roux from browning further.

This looks like a decent set of instructions:

http://www.cookinglouisiana.com/Cooking/Making-a-Roux.htm

I'm not a native cajun, but I did cook for a year in a 4-Star creole restaurant before my current job opened up. The executive chef I worked under was a peer of Emeril Lagasse when he was at Commander's Palace, so I received some really good training. My advice would be to go to the Food TV web site and search by ingredient for recipes that appeal to you. There will be hundreds, and they are rated by people who have tried them.

Don't feel obligated to stick to a recipe. Creole/Cajun cooking is a form of fusion cusine anyway, and there is a range of influence that you can take in one direction or another depending on your personal tastes. There is a lot of depth to creole cooking, though there are a lot of people who think you can buy a jar of Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning and add it to anything and make it Cajun.

the bear - 2007-02-23 10:19 AM

shepherd - 2007-02-23 10:02 AMSo, bear - what do you throw into your roux?

ride_like_u_stole_it - 2007-02-23 10:11 AM Roux=flour+butter+heat+time

You can use any oil instead of butter. Trick is to get it to the right degree of "brownness" without burning it, The color of an old penny is a good standard. At that point, you throw in your vegetables (onions, bell peppers, some include celery, Rotel tomatoes, whatever) to brown them and to keep the roux from browning further.

This looks like a decent set of instructions:

http://www.cookinglouisiana.com/Cooking/Making-a-Roux.htm

That's true, I just really like butter.....UMMMM BUUUTTER (drool)

I think Emril (heaven help us) may be on to something with the "cook it for as long as it takes to drink two beers" method of timing the roux.

For most Cajuns many people that won't be nearly long enough.

I don't remember him specifying the size of the beers, though. I imagine that a couple of 40's would give you a reeeeeeal dark roux (not that one would care at that point)

shepherd - 2007-02-23 7:21 AM Mardi Gras and subsequent Lent has me thinking... It's a shame... fresh crawfish are hard to get up here (well... any seafood-type thing is)... can't wait to be back down to Georgia where fresh fish happens. And of course, a crawfish boil may be necessary for the move-in party. Cajun recipes please? I'm sick of Jambalaya out of a box! Thanks in advance!

Did you know you can have everything you need for an authentic crawfeesh boil overnighted to you? Never done it myself, but my brother has - not complaint in the house.

http://www.cajuncreations.com/detail.aspx?ID=356 

I personally like to fry four or five pieces of bacon real crispy and use the grease off that for my roux.  Then when throwing all the stuff back in the pot, bacon bits go in too.

If you've got a local fish/meat market, ask them if they can bring in crawfish.  Check on-line.  There are places in La. that ship 'em too.  Just remember, don't eat the dead ones!!!  Dang you got me jonesin' for some crawfish.