Cajun and Creole Influences are everywhere here in Southeast Texas!

Southeast Texas is greatly influenced by the Cajuns to our East. During the oil boom many Louisiana Cajuns moved to Texas. With the Cajuns came their way of life and the way they cook.

Cajun food is of the field, bayou and the air. Famous Cajun chefs have mastered the chemistry of cooking. Paul Prudomme almost single handedly brought the redfish population to its knees. When Prudomme introduced the world to his blackened redfish many people could not resist his creation. Prudomme is also famous for turducken. Turducken was copied by thousands, but never duplicated. Paul Prudomme’s recipe is very labor intensive. His stocks alone take days to prepare. That is the reason he is often copied, but never duplicated.

Cajun dishes have long been favorites here in Southeast Texas. Boudain, gumbo, etouffe, andouille sausage, oyster po-boys, rouxs, dirty rice, jambalaya, are some local favorites. Native Houstonians tend to love their mother’s version of all of the above. Gumbo recipes here on the gulf coast are many. My mother’s gumbo recipe was handed down by my grand mother and it is deliciously simple. My neighbor’s gumbo recipe is very different from my mother’s but delicious, none the less. A great measure of the quality of a Cajun restaurant is the quality of their gumbo.

It is easy to imagine why people in Southeast Texas tend to like things spicy. With all the spice in Cajun food and all the peppers in Mexican food, spicy hot food is a way of life. I would find life less than it is if I could not add hot sauce to just about everything I eat. Jalapeno and serrano peppers accompany almost every dish. I put hot sauce on my cole slaw, pasta, soups, greens and most certainly on my shrimp and oysters. A close friend of mine looked at me sideways when I put hot sauce on my pasta. The next thing I know, he too is trying it and now he uses it all the time. I like many brands of hot sauce. Tabasco and Cholua brand hot sauce are very flavorful. If you think you can handle the hottest hot sauce in the land, try Dave's Ultimate Insanity Gourmet. That should put you in your place.