Crawfish Etoufee

[seurto]

Pappadeaux's is ok for being a chain outside of Louisiana.. I've only eaten there once, in Houston, and it was enough..
Pearl's not so much.. The food is decent, but it is not a very good representation of what they are claiming some dishes to be..

In OKC I recommend "The Shack"..
In Tulsa goto "Heberts", they serve lunch.. Heberts has diluted the spices in thier dishes, so its more palatable for the locals..

Well,..bought the stuff, going to try it probably Thursday. Didn't realize those crawfish tails would be that expensive,...about 6 bucks/ sack.

You'd think this country would be able to produce their own crawfish instead of shipping them from China.

Can you give me some idea on how much of that creole seasoning to use..? I want it flavorful, but not too hot or my dad might not be able to eat it.

We do, along the gulf coast.. (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi)

Wal-mart buys from the least expensive supplier..
Thier beef is from Mexico..

Dont they have good quality cattle in Oklahoma? ccc..


Poopgiggle - you gotta watch where you get "jambalaya" recipes from off the internet.. That website is from Gonzales, "cancer alley" (so nicknamed due to the high rates of cancer along the mississippi floodplain because of the refineries).. "Cajuns" (a put this in parenthases, as many of the people with frenchified last names in declare themselves as such, when in fact, they are no more cajun than yourself.. in heritage or culture) in that area are more special than most.. Notice Geautreau is spelled without an "x" at the end of the name? ccc..

Jambalaya is singular, there's no "chicken" or sausage seperately.. I did not see anywhere in thier recipe where it calls for sausage. But that may be due in part to the fact that they are on the east side of the atchafalaya basin, and cattle (hence sausage) was traditionally not as prevelant historically on that side of cajun land) That is a staple of the jambalaya from my neck of the woods (where I grew up), which is considered Acadiana.. (referring to the sausage in the recipe)

I do agree with thier resentful sentiment concerning "brown" or "red" jambalaya.. Red jambalaya is typically an indicator that the recipe was derived from a cookbook, and not a family traditional recipe..

If your health conscious, my wife started making jambalaya with boneless chicken breasts for our grandparents, and it is just as good, minus the mess of cutting up a live chicken..

But everyone has thier own "tastes" on these matters.. I'm not trying to tell anyone they are "wrong" in the way they are doing it, just attempting to give tips to a more authentic cajun dish, if that is what you are attempting to create.
is all.

 

[vonhismean]

I can't stand frozen crawfish myself but all the Asian markets around the city usually have them cheaper. Think they said they were from Louisiana funny the asian market carries the American ones and chinamart carries the Chinese ones!

 

[poopgiggle]

seurto I don't know enough to be a snob about Cajun food but the recipe I tried turned out well.

I opted for a sausage-free recipe because I'm trying to spend less money and I didn't want to shell out for andouille (in Tulsa it costs $monkeybux).

 

[deerwhacker444]

Wal-mart buys from the least expensive supplier..
Their beef is from Mexico..

Dont they have good quality cattle in Oklahoma?
is all.

Gonna have to see some documentation before I believe this one...

I don't think Mexico could meet the need for beef at U.S. Walmarts.

 

[seurto]

seurto I don't know enough to be a snob about Cajun food but the recipe I tried turned out well.

I opted for a sausage-free recipe because I'm trying to spend less money and I didn't want to shell out for andouille (in Tulsa it costs $monkeybux).

You dont have to use andouille in jambalaya (never seen andouille in jambalaya personally.. we do prefer a local sausage called Richard's or Savoy's, but you cant find it anywhere but in Acadiana or the south coast area), you can use hillshire farms, and it will taste similarly.. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a snob about it, just giving tips, hints, and background info on these things if you would like to make a more "authentic" dish is all..

There are 2 types of cajuns, those who use Tony Chacherie's (slap yo mama is a new development and is garnering a large following.. similiar to Tony's), and those who use hot sauce, to spice thier foods.. You will seldom find one who uses both interchangeably..

Lafayette, LA is the "heart" of Cajun country (largest concentration of cajuns who retained thier heritage for the longest period of time), from there outwardly, the culture and, consequently, the dishes, are diluted and mixed with other immigrant cultures (french from france - not cajun, spanish, english, african, indian, irish, italian, german, american, in that order)..

Gonna have to see some documentation before I believe this one...

I don't think Mexico could meet the need for beef at U.S. Walmarts.

I was being melo-dramatic with that statement to make a point.. But I wouldnt be surprised, wal-mart beef is pretty nasty IMO..

 

[beast1989]

(in an effort to stem this thread from an argumentative direction)

Looks like my woman is gonna be in the kitchen one of these nights trying to cook some etoufee.

Either I will be miserable with a stomach ache because she failed miserably or still miserbale but because I couldnt stop eating the delicious cajun goodness. lol

 

[jstaylor62]

Hey seurto...thanks for all the "Cajun" food input! I'm by no means an authentic "Cajun" cook, but I'm willing to learn.

I have a question about Red Beans and Rice. Most recipes call for using Andouille, but I started using fresh cajun sausage instead. I can't find a good selection of cajun sausage in OKC, so I just stock up when I go check on our farm in NE Texas. I have settled on using Comeaux's when I can find it in Texarkana stores.

 

[seurto]

my family typically uses either Richard's or Savoy's..
Like I said earlier, you can substitute hillshire farms for "cajun" sausage.. And it will not be noticeably different..

Like I said before, andouille is not regularly used by anyone I know.. The first time I ever seen/heard of it was when I was working in southwest Louisiana (19yrs old) and it is very popular there.. Its a "regional" additive..

Like gumbo.. Seafood gumbo is regularly made by people on the coast, due to the readily available seafood, whereas cajuns further inland rarely make it, they make chicken and sausage gumbo.. But you NEVER mix seafood with chicken/sausage..

Like I said previously, not trying to be "arguementative" or anything, just attempting to add some tips, hints, and information.. As, cajuns from Acadiana are very sensitive to what is called "cajun".. There are alot of people/resturaunts/franchises that attempt to cash in on the phenomenon and totally destroy what our heritage/history/culinary is.

Good example is Justin Wilson (the old guy who would be always wear red suspenders and catch phrase was "I gare-on-tee") He was from Illinois.. go figure..

Sorta like what yuppies did to country music, nascar, line dancing, etc, etc.. ccc..

 

[Okie]

The River Spirit Casino in Tulsa sometimes serves Crawfish Etoufee. That stuff is awesome

 

[poopgiggle]

Like I said previously, not trying to be "arguementative" or anything, just attempting to add some tips, hints, and information.. As, cajuns from Acadiana are very sensitive to what is called "cajun".. There are alot of people/resturaunts/franchises that attempt to cash in on the phenomenon and totally destroy what our heritage/history/culinary is.

Don't worry. Some of the guys on this forum need to avoid arguments otherwise it works their blood pressure up or something.

I really am glad for the advice since I have zero experience with cajun food except for drinking cafe au lait at le Cafe du Monde and eating at Heaven on Seven in Chicago a lot. "Real" Cajun food is totally foreign to me. All I know is that making dark roux is waaaaaay harder than you'd think.

Sorta like what yuppies did to country music, nascar, line dancing, etc, etc.. ccc..

"The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing." -- Chet Atkins