Creole-Acadian cooking from New Orleans and Louisiana's Bayou country is a synthesis of four cultures: American Indian, Black African, Spanish and French. It takes advantage of the immense harvest from the Gulf of Mexico, combining Seafood with an array of spices and fresh vegetables. Gumbo, perhaps the most famous of all Louisiana dishes, is a happy marriage of cooking techniques and ingredients used by white settlers, black slaves and American Indians. It features Louisiana seafood thickened by an African vegetable, okra, and made with brown roux (a rich sauce base with French antecedents). The finished dish is a savory stew, traditionally served with a mound of freshly cooked rice.
Jambalaya, another stew, is composed of several combinations of seafood, meat, poultry, and vegetables and cooked with white rice. The dish was brought to New Orleans by the Spaniards in the late 1700s and the name is probably derived from the Spanish jamon, or "ham." Originally made only with ham, it was later modified to include the variety of meats or shellfish used today.
French donuts, or Beignets, are a trademark of the coffeehouses of New Orleans ' French Market. Originally, the 18th century customers would end a shopping expedition at the famous Old Market with several sugarcoated donuts. These donuts are traditionally served with Cafe au' Lait, made from New Orleans coffee with Chickory.
Another age-old favorite confection is Les Oreilles de Cochon, or Little Ears. The dough for this elegant sweet pastry is rolled and cut in circles, then deep-fried and drizzled with praline sauce, which is made from dark corn syrup and chopped pecans. Kings' cake, like the French Gateau Des Rois that inspired it, is traditionally served on Twelfth Night. Made of rich yeast dough and citron, this regal ring is decorated in a variation of the classic carnival colors: green, purple and yellow. Other noteworthy, well known Louisiana specialties are Oysters Rockefeller, Crawfish Bisque and, of course, Pecan Pralines.
Florida is called the land of legends, where fact and fancy are intermingled, reflecting the tastes and customs of the people who settled this narrow strip of real estate. The French, Indians, Spaniards, Conchs from the Bahamas, Confederate soldiers and Cubans have all left their marks on Florida's history, development and culinary heritage.
A version of the Spanish gaspacho, with its name Americanized to Gispachi, is one of the original dishes of the Florida cuisine. It is a salad, usually layered in a glass bowl, of cucumber, tomato, onion and red peppers. Baked Pompano and Bimini Stone Crabs are two more Florida favorites. "Old Sour" is a sauce of salted lime juice which is used with all seafood. Guava Salad, Florida Fruit Salad and Palmetto Salad top the list of this region's numerous salads. Fruit salads are usually served in hollowed-out guavas and garnished with still more fruit such as sliced kumquats, stuffed litchis and avacado and paypaya balls. As for desserts, Florida is well known for its Hearts of Palm in Cream and its Key Lime Pie, named after the islands off its tip.
THE SOUTH
page 6 of 13
By Mary Eccher
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