Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites

By Neal Bertrand

Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites, Revised Second Edition

Now with links to 33 food photos!

"Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites," the Best Authentic Cajun Recipes from Louisiana’s Bayou Country Will Show You How to Cook Traditional Cajun Meals as if You Were Born a Cajun!

"Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites" takes you into the kitchens of some of south Louisiana's best home cooks.

It features 140 of the most popular dishes from Cajun country, carefully selected to give a well-rounded sampling of the flavors of the region.

It is a collection of classic recipes from moms and dads, aunts and uncles, ma-moms and pa-pops from the south Louisiana region called Acadiana, or Cajun Country.

These popular recipes were contributed by down-home folks who are tremendous cooks in their own right, who learned how to cook these dishes passed down from generation to generation.

You'll find Boudin and Cracklins, Boiled Crawfish and Crawfish Etouffee, Stuffed Shrimp, Tasso, Candied Yams, Corn Maque Choux, Smothered Okra & Tomatoes, Stuffed Baked Eggplant or Mirlitons, Bouillabaisse, Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, as well as a variety of sauce piquantes, fricassees, stews, casseroles, appetizers, desserts, dressings, breads, and breakfast dishes like couche-couche and pain perdu.

Written in clear, easy-to-follow steps, these mouth-watering dishes are waiting for you and your family.

Go ahead, try them, and you, too, will cook like a Cajun!

Now with links to 33 food photos, including photos showing how cracklins are made.!

Here’s a small selection of the recipes included:
Beignets (Creole doughnuts)
Buttermilk Biscuits
Couche-Couche
Cracklins (Gratons)
Pain Perdu – French Toast
Sirop de Gateau (Syrup Cake)
Stuffed Crabs
Chicken Fricassée
Cajun Cake
Crabmeat Au Gratin
Corn Maque Choux
Pecan Pralines
Andouille & Tasso
Catfish Courtbouillon
Crawfish Etouffée
Shrimp & Okra Gumbo
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Boudin
Fried Crawfish
Oyster Stew
Alligator Sauce Piquante
Fried Frog Legs
Jambalaya
Shrimp Creole
Rice Dressing or “Dirty Rice”
and much, much more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cypress Cove Publishing
• Release date: Oct 31, 2009
• ISBN: 9780970586858

Neal Bertrand

Neal Bertrand was born and reared in Opelousas, Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun Country. He has had experience as a farmer, gardener, cattle rancher, carpet cleaner, flooring installer, vertical blind technician, Postal worker, mail clerk for city government, owner of a printing business, a former husband, father and Mr. Mom to three beautiful children, now grown. He has over a decade of experience as an employee of a publishing company, helping his employer publish 40 magazine issues and 16 books, several of them being cookbooks. He is the founder and owner of Cypress Cove Publishing in Lafayette, Louisiana. His publications are Rice Cooker Meals: Fast Home Cooking for Busy People, Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites and the bi-lingual (English & French) Cajun Country Fun Coloring and Activity Book, which he published for a local artist. He has also published a collection of authentic Cajun art prints – beautiful South Louisiana landscapes, all painted by his father, Curtis. All of his books, art prints, rice cookers and other products can be seen and ordered from his websites, www.CypressCovePublishing.com or www.RiceCookerMeals.com. Neal has a large collection of old photos which he put in an online photo album for the world to see, including World War II photos his father took while overseas. The photo albums can be seen at http://www.picasaweb.google.com/cookbookdude/

Book preview

Free Sample Pages of Down-Home Cajun Cooking Favorites

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - Foreword, Introduction, Pronunciation Guide to Cajun Food Names

Chapter 2 - APPETIZERS & SALADS

Chapter 3 - GUMBOS, SOUPS & BISQUES

Chapter 4 - MEAT, POULTRY & WILD GAME

Chapter 5 - SEAFOOD

Chapter 6 - DRESSINGS & BREADS

Chapter 7 - VEGETABLES & SIDE DISHES

Chapter 8 - SWEETS & TREATS

Chapter 9 - INDEX OF RECIPES (with a link to each recipe)

INDEX OF RECIPES

Alligator Sauce Piquante

Andouille & Artichoke Bisque

Andouille Sausage

Baked Beans

Baked Chicken

Baked Fish

Baked Potato Casserole

Baked Shrimp

Baked Wild Duck or Goose

Barbecue Sauce

Barbecued Alligator

Barbecued Shrimp

Beignets

Biscuits, Olde-Fashioned

Blackberry Cobbler

Black-Eyed Pea & Sausage Jambalaya in Rice Cooker

Boiled Crawfish

Boiled Shrimp or Crabs

Boudin

Boudin Balls, Chunky

Bouillabaisse

Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding Muffins

Broccoli Casserole

Buttermilk Pie, Old-Time

Cajun Cake

Cajun Corn Soup

Cajun Meat Marinade

Cajun Sheet Cake

Candied Yams

Catfish Courtbouillon

Chicken, Sausage & Okra Gumbo

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

Chicken Fricassée

Chicken Sauce Piquante

Chicken Stew, Tony’s Old-Fashioned

Corn & Green Bean Casserole

Corn & Oyster Casserole

Corn & Potato Soup

Corn Casserole

Corn Maque Choux

Cornbread Dressing

Couche-Couche

Country Fried Potatoes

Crab Croquettes

Crab Etouffée

Crab Mornay

Crab Stew

Crabmeat Imperial

Crabmeat or Crawfish Au Gratin

Cracklins (Gratons)

Crawfish & Corn Soup

Crawfish & Eggplant Casserole

Crawfish Bisque

Crawfish Boil, Cajun

Crawfish Cornbread

Crawfish Cornbread Dressing

Crawfish Dip

Crawfish Étouffée

Crawfish Jambalaya in Rice Cooker

Crawfish Maque Choux

Crawfish Pies

Crawfish Sauce Piquante

Crawfish Stew

Cream of Celery & Crawfish Soup

Creamy Rice Pudding

Dewberry Cake

Eggplant & Beef Casserole

Fig Cake, Old-Fashioned

Fish Sauce

Fish Sauce Piquante

French Bread

Fried Crawfish or Shrimp

Fried Eggplant

Fried Frog Legs

Gratons (Cracklins)

Green Bean Casserole

Homemade Bread

How to Make a Roux

Les Oreilles de Cochon (Pig’s Ears)

Molasses Popcorn Balls

Olde-Fashioned Biscuits

Old-Fashioned Pecan Pralines

Old-Fashioned Fig Cake

Old-Fashioned Tomato Gravy

Old-Time Buttermilk Pie

Oven-Baked Crab Dip

Oyster Mushroom Patties

Oyster Rice Dressing

Oyster Stew

Pain Perdu (French Toast)

Paté de Fois Gras (Liver Paté)

Pear Cake

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pralines, Old-Fashioned

Pecan Pralines, White

Pecan Tassies

Persimmon Bread

Potato Salad

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Pie

Rabbit Sauce Piquante

Red Beans & Rice

Rice & Eggplant Dressing

Rice

Rice Dressing (Dirty Rice)

Round Steak & Gravy

Roux, How to make a

Seafood Gumbo

Seafood Jambalaya in Rice Cooker

Shrimp & Eggplant Casserole

Shrimp & Okra Gumbo

Shrimp Bisque

Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Étouffée

Shrimp Mold

Shrimp Salad

Shrimp Stew

Slow Cooker Beef Brisket

Slow Cooker Beef Roast

Smothered Cabbage

Smothered Chicken

Smothered Okra & Tomatoes

Smothered Squirrel

Smothered Veal Liver

Squash Casserole

Squirrel Fricassée

Squirrel Stew

Stewed Okra

Stuffed Baked Eggplant or Mirlitons

Stuffed Bell Pepper

Stuffed Crabs

Stuffed Shrimp

Sweet Potato Bread

Sweet Potato Casserole

Syrup Cake

Tabasco Pepper Jelly

Tasso

Tasso Dressing

Tomato Gravy, Old-Fashioned

Tony's Old-Fashioned Chicken Stew

Trout Supreme

Turtle Sauce Piquante

Turtle Soup

Venison Roast

Venison Stew with Dumplings

White Pecan Pralines

Wild Duck & Oyster Gumbo

Yam Pie de Louisianne

About the Author

Neal Bertrand was born and reared in Opelousas, Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun Country. He has more than a decade of experience in the publishing business. He is the founder and owner of Cypress Cove Publishing in Lafayette, Louisiana. His two previous publications are Rice Cooker Meals: Fast Home Cooking for Busy People and the bi-lingual (English & French) Cajun Country Fun Coloring and Activity Book. His latest cookbook is Slow Cooker Meals: Easy Home Cooking for Busy People.

OYSTER MUSHROOM PATTIES

1 box frozen patty shells, (6 count) or 6 tart shells

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup flour

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp. finely chopped green onion

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

1 clove garlic, chopped fine

1/2 pint oysters

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 (4-oz.) can mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. Bake patty shells as directed on package.

2. Sauté margarine and flour together, until golden.

3. Add onion, green onion, celery and garlic, stirring constantly for 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Add oysters, oyster liquid, salt and pepper and cook until thick.

5. Drain mushrooms, reserving juice; chop mushrooms.

6. Mix in mushrooms and parsley. If more liquid is needed, add a little of the mushroom liquid for the right consistency.

7. Remove the top and center of each baked patty shell; set aside.

8. Spoon the oyster mixture into each of the six shells.

9. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.

10. Replace top on each patty shell.

Makes six patties.

– Yvonne Verot Andersen

Contributed by Bonnie Walters Sarver

POTATO SALAD

8 large red potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks

8 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups mayonnaise

1/2 cup bread and butter pickles, finely chopped

1/2 cup green olives, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped celery

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender but still firm. Drain and cool.

2. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain off hot water, rinse under cool water, peel and chop.

3. In a large bowl, combine chopped potatoes and eggs, salt and pepper. Mix together mayonnaise, pickles, olives, onion, bell pepper and celery.

Serves eight.

– Karen B. Pilgreen

Lafayette, La.

SHRIMP & OKRA GUMBO

Cliff, this recipe’s author, was taught to make a gumbo stock first rather than jump right into making the gumbo. This extra step adds more flavor into the final gumbo.

Gumbo stock (Recipe follows)

3 quarts water

1/2 cup roux

1/2 cup onion

1/2 cup bell pepper

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 lb. sliced okra

3 tbsp. cooking oil

1 lb. peeled shrimp (reserve heads and peels)

1/2 cup green onion

1. Make gumbo stock first.

2. Then add water, roux, onion, bell pepper and garlic to the stock and boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

3. While juice is boiling, sauté okra in oil for 10 minutes and set aside.

4. Add peeled shrimp and okra and cook for 20 minutes; season to taste.

5. Just before finished, add green onion.

6. Serve over hot rice.

GUMBO STOCK

3 quarts water

1/2 bell pepper

3 stalks celery

Heads and peels from 1 lb. shrimp

1 tbsp. Cajun seasoning

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 large yellow onion

1/2 cup green onion

1. Add stock ingredients above to a large stock pot and boil on medium-high heat for 45 minutes.

2. Strain juice into a large bowl, discard contents of pot and return gumbo stock to pot.

– Cliff & Amy Amox

Arnaudville, La.

SEAFOOD GUMBO

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup bacon drippings

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 cups chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

6 cups chicken stock

6 cups hot water

Salt, black, and red pepper, to taste

6 to 8 gumbo crabs, cleaned, optional

3 lbs. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 lb. fresh lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

2 pints oysters with juice

Hot, cooked rice

1 cup chopped green onion tops

1. In a heavy iron pot, make a roux of flour and bacon drippings. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until a rich brown color.

2. Add garlic, celery, and onion. Cook over low heat until vegetables are wilted.

3. Add chicken stock and hot water. Season to taste with salt, black and red pepper.

4. Bring to a boil and then add the pre-cooked gumbo