Creole Cuisine

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Overview of Creole Cuisine History
Creole cuisine originates in Louisiana, meaning the centre of the New Orleans area. The main characteristic of the Creole cuisine is the fact that it unites in a harmonic and unique way, the culinary habits of different cultures: French, Caribbean and Caribbean French, African, Italian, Spanish and American. Besides these significant cultures, the Creole cuisine resembles the Cajun one, as they are focused on the same aliments and similar preparation methods. There is one difference between the Cajun and the Creole cuisine: the fact that the Creole one finds its roots in the provincial French culinary culture, while the Creole cuisine is rather modern. The second most important characteristic of the Creole cuisine is the fact that it is considered very spicy, due to all these blenders and influences and cayenne is the most frequently used spice. Some of the staple aliments of the Creole cuisine include the fish and seafood (especially shrimp and oysters), rice, beans and various sauces that flavor these dishes.

Cuisines of Creole
The Creole cuisine is typified by fresh dishes, with French inspiration, light textures and naturalness of all the meals. Seafood dishes are mostly served as appetizers and entrees, like shrimp remoulade, oysters Bienville, oysters en brochette, oysters Rockefeller or oysters with spicy dressing, crawfish boulettes, crawfish bread and stuffed crabs. The accras, sometimes called amarindes, are among the most popular snacks and they are basically a sort of doughnuts, but instead of a creamy and sweet filling, they have cod and vegetables and they are served hot. The souskai is a local dish which is similar to a salad, as it contains green fruits, which are at first grated and then macerated in lemon juice and spices like salt and a hot kind of pepper. The Creole cuisine includes both light meat meals and complex and rich meat dishes, represented by roasted pig or goat. The balaou is a dish that includes small and long fish with various spices and the famous Creole shrimp is served with Mandalay sauce. The cabri is a famous goat dish, which is prepared either as colombo or smoked. The meat is served with rice, especially dirty rice, which is made of chopped onions and celery, garlic and parsley.

Preparation Methods for Creole Cooking
The Creole cooking is characterized by numerous preparation methods and techniques, ranging from the simple ones to complicated and complex methods. The goat is eaten smoked and this is a common procedure that it is applied on various meats, cheese and other aliments. Still, the seafood is cooked simple, steamed, fried in butter or sometimes raw or marinated in lime juice. Mashing is another common procedure and this is applied in the case of some veggies and fruits, like bananas and breadfruits, which are consumed either as garnishes or as desserts. Due to the fact that there is a significant French influence in the Creole cuisine, the fresh greens and uncooked meals, like light textured sandwiches are also very popular.

Special Equipment for Creole Cooking
The Creole cooking equipment is very much like the American and the European ones, but with some more artistic and exotic elements, borrowed from the Caribbean culinary culture, ceramics and pottery. The basic elements that are needed when cooking in a Creole style are the regular cutlery, both the wide and the flat plates, various bowls and frying pots – as frying is a common preparation method in this cuisine. Due to the fact that one of the most important characteristics of this cuisine or, better said, of this blender of various cuisines, is the spicy food, a spice grinder is very much necessary, in order to prepare the specific Creole foods.

Creole Food Traditions and Festivals
There are many religions that harmonically combine on the territory of Louisiana. There are many Catholics in the South of the region, where Christmas and Easter are significant holidays – on these occasions, roasted pig, smoked goat or lamb steak are served, together with the traditional punch. In this region, various voodoo, African and Indian rituals can be found. Generally, the Indian food and especially the celebration Indian food are very spicy and curry or cayenne is among the most used spices. There are various folk and culture festivals or activities in Louisiana, as well. Among these, there are Foodways Demonstration Sessions, where chefs from all over the state and not only, present their local specialties, representing the cuisines or mixtures of Italian, Isleno, African-American, Norwegian, Anglo-Scots-Irish, Creole, Cajun, Hispanic, and Native American. Besides these, in Louisiana there is the pig roast tradition, which is also characteristic to the French cuisine and culture, also called la boucherie.

People in Creole Food

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The Creole people are very passionate about they culinary culture, cuisine, cooking techniques and specific elements and they give their best when trying to reproduce a specific and traditional Creole dish. Still, due to the fact that the Creole cuisine is a blender of numerous and distinctive, yet significant cuisines, the Creole chefs combine in an optimum way all their characteristic elements and form a unique, exotic, yet modern cuisine. By trying to conserve this particularity of the Creole cuisine, the Creole food chefs are very fond of their traditions and old culinary habits, which are the most important aspect when cooking, eating and presenting the traditional food.