Glossaries

Ah C'est Bon: What most people say about Cajun cuisine
Andouille: Cajun sausage made from pork meat, pork stomach and seasonings. Used for flavoring gumbos, jambalayas, beans and other dishes.
Beignet: A deep fried doughnut that almost every Cajun child grew up eating and made popular worldwide at the Caf
Bisque: A popular thick stew, roux based, usually made with crawfish. The carcass carapace of the crawfish is stuffed with the meat of the tails, seasonings …
Boucherie: Before freezers and large refrigeration, families or group of neighbors would get together to butcher the fatted calf or pig and divide the various …
Boudin or Boudoin: Light brown in color, one of the more popular Cajun sausages is made with rice and pork meat. Eating cracklings with boudoin was almost a must or with …
Bouille: A pudding dish made with flour, water and milk. Used as a dessert or a treat when you were sick. Spelled also, Bouillie, it is another term for cane …
Bouilli: A dish made with pork heart and liver. Cajuns never throw anything away, even pig feet get pickled.
Boulet: A Cajun meatball made with anything from ground beef, shrimp or garfish. Usually has various seasonings and a small amount of flour for flavor and …
Bourre: To cut small pockets in various meats such as a roast, chicken or wild game and stuff the slotted pockets with a seasoning mix of onion, garlic, …
Café Brulot: Several upscale New Orleans restaurants now serve an adaptation of the Café Noir coffee (see below) adding flavorings and Cognac.
Café Noir: The Cajun’s version of Espresso coffee. Strongly flavored drip black coffee that usually made your hair stand on end. That is why it was served …
Cajun Microwave: Always inventive, this wooden charcoal heated box was used to cook meat outdoors.
Cajun Music: French music where Cajuns dance the waltz, two step and jitterbug. The band consists of an accordion, guitar, drummer and the ever popular scrub …
Cochon de lait: Translate to a “pig of milk” representing the suckling pig that was roasted for special occasions such as weddings.
Cornichon: A vinegar type of pickle that is canned in a glass jar and made with either cucumbers or mirlitons (vegetable pears or chayote squash) and usually …
Coulee: A body of water that can be free flowing or a pond in the backyard. Coulees often have small fish, crawfish and snakes. Some coulee’s waters are …
Courtbouillion: A tomato based fish soup usually made with catfish or redfish. Some Cajun cooks added a small amount of roux to this dish.
Crab Traps: Cotton netting attached to a triangle of wires and baited with spleen or chicken necks to fish/catch crabs.
Cracklins: These were generally made at the Boucherie by deep fat frying the pork skin that had fat and meat attached. The cracklins were then flavored with a …
Crawfish: A small red crustacean that resembles a lobster and is the base of many famous and delicious Cajun dishes.
Crawfish Cage: A wire meshed cage baited where crawfish can crawl into the cage but cannot get out without the help of the crawfish farmer.
Cush Cush/Couche Couche: A cereal made with cornmeal and water. This dish was a staple food for many Cajuns. Served with milk, fig preserves were commonly served or fresh …
Debris: A dish made combing the leftover parts of the animal such as the liver, spleen, intestines and the like with lots of onions. It has a delicate flavor …
Duck Blind: The stationery hunting spot where hunters could be “blind” to the ducks. You always had the faithful dog that would swim the waters to …
Duck Calling: The noise made to lure ducks near the blind on hunting trips. It was said if you could “call the duck” you had good Cajun blood running in …
Easter: A religious holiday ending the Lenten season. Cajuns celebrate by having a crawfish boil or fish fry.
Etouffee/ Etouffe/ Etoufee: No matter how you spell it, this is probably one of the more popular Cajun dishes made with a blend of spices using crawfish or shrimp. It is creamy …
File': Ground sassafras leaves used to season gumbo. It was added to the gumbo right at the end of the cooking process; either directly in the pot or in the …
Fricassee: A thick Cajun stew made with roux and any type meat. If you were using pork this stew would also have potatoes in it. Chicken is probably the most …
Frog Hunting: Always hungry for great food, a Cajun dons a bright light in the dark and using a stick or gun catches frogs for the next day’s meal or to sell …
Fruite de Mer: Fruits of the sea referred to oysters, crabs, shrimp, fish or anything else fished from the waters. Also refers to a plate of food with a combination …
Gateau de sirop: This word translates to Syrup Cake, a moist cake made with cane syrup.
Green Onions: One of the more popular Cajun herbs. Green onions are most commonly called onion tops by the Cajuns.
Guinea Hen: This noisy spotted grey bird made the best gumbo you could ever eat. The guinea has dark and very flavorful meat. This hen was raised by many …
Gumbo: Called a “brown soup”, gumbos are roux based and are made with just about any meat you can find. Meats such as duck, chicken, blackbirds, …
Lagniappe: A little something extra that is free. In the older days, you would get a piece of glassware when you purchased oatmeal.
Lent: A religious holiday, beginning with Ash Wednesday, the day after Mari Gras and continues for 40 days, would have Cajuns doing penance and not eating …
Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday - The celebration with food, beads and parade to signify the approaching leaner times. “Throw me something Mister” are the …
Mirlitons: Commonly called a vegetable pear or chayote squash, it was used to make pickles for gumbos and rice and gravy or eating right out of the jar.
Okra: A vegetable with green pods that originated from Africa that can be used to make gumbo or smothered down as a side dish. . Gumbo is also the Cajun …
Oreilles De Cochon: (Pigs Ear) A special treat in Cajun land is a crisp, sugary and light pastry. So called a pig’s ear because once it is dropped into deep hot …
Pain Perdu (Lost Bread): The dish flavored with egg and milk used bread that had gone stale and would have been lost if not used for this dish or bread pudding.
Pirogue: A small wooden boat used in the marsh, bayou or swamp for fishing or getting to the duck blind. If it was filled with beer there was a wedding going …
Poisson: Cajun word for Fish. Popular eaten fish included as catfish, redfish, and garfish.
Pralines: The most popular Cajun candy made when the pecans and the beginning of winter started. Pralines were also made popular at the French Market in New …
Reintier: The cut of meat on a pig referring to the backbone. One of the best cuts that can either be roasted or deep fat fried.
Roux: The most classic Cajun creation made by cooking flour and oil together. The popular phrase, “First you make a roux” is used to create …
Salt Meat: As the name implies, salty pork used to flavor beans and greens.
Sauce: Gravy made by deglazing (adding a little bit of water) the drippings of the meat. The gravy is usually served over rice.
Sauce Piquant: A hot spicy stew made with tomato paste or sauce, roux and most any meat available. The most popular is turtle or alligator sauce piquant.
Sausage Casing: A natural casing usually made of pork or beef intestines used in preparing boudoin and sausages. Casings are sold by the hank. With a hank of casings, …
Smothered: The process of “cooking down” food is where the volume is reduced to a smaller portion.
Tasso: A dried smoked piece of pork used to give flavor to different dishes. Slice the tasso real thin and place between two slices of fresh bread, a little …
Visite': An afternoon visit spent with family or friends passing around the coffee, the news and the latest stories..
Zydeco: A type of music enjoyed by the Cajuns that lends itself to a new style of dancing. Zydeco music had its origin in Africa.