Cajun and Creole Dictionary

Cajun and Creole Dictionary

Cajun (cay-jun)  Slang for Acadians, “Cajuns” settled along the swamps and bayous of Louisiana. The term now applies to the people, the culture, and the cooking.  This cooking style evolved from using the available resources such as the local seafood and wild game. The local native Americans lent the use of corn, ground sassafras and bay leaves. Cajun cooking is associated with “one-pot meals.” 

Allons (al-on):  Let’s go!

Andouille (ahn-do-ee)  A spicy country sausage used in Gumbo and other Cajun dishes.

Bayou (bi-yoo)  The streams or small rivers in Louisiana.

Bisque (bisk)  A thick, cream or milk-based shellfish soup, usually made with crawfish, shrimp or oysters.

Bon Appetite! (bon a-pa-teet)  “Good appetite” or "Enjoy!"

Boucherie (boo-shuh-ree)  A community butchering which involves several families contributing the animal(s) --usually pigs -- to be slaughtered. Each family helps to process the different cuts of meat, like sausage, ham, boudin, chaudin, chops, and head cheese. Each family gets to take home their share of the yield. This process was done in late fall to provide meat throughout the cold months.

Boudin (boo-dan)  Hot, spicy pork mixed with onions, cooked rice, herbs, and stuffed in sausage casing.

Bourre (boo-ray)  French for "stuffed”, it is the name of a Cajun card game which requires the loser of a hand to stuff the pot with chips.

Café au Lait (kah-fay-oh-lay)  Coffee with steamed milk.

Cayenne (ki-yan) A hot pepper that is dried and used to season many Louisiana dishes.

Chicory (chick-ory)  An herb, the roots of which are dried, ground; roasted and used to flavor coffee.  The use of chicory in coffee became standard in New Orleans during World War II to “stretch” coffee rations.

Chank-a-Chank:  Style of Cajun music featuring the fiddle and the accordion.

Cher (sha) Term of endearment or "my sweet.”

Cochon de lait pit-roasted young suckling pig, sliced thin and served with gravy, on a plate or on a po-boy.

Coonass (koon-ass)  To some Cajuns this term is regarded as the supreme ethnic slur, meaning "ignorant, backwards Cajun"; to others the term is a badge of pride. In South Louisiana, the word originated in South Louisiana, and is derived from the belief that Cajuns frequently ate raccoons. It is proposed that the term contains a negative racial connotation and has been banned from printing on items such as t-shirts or bumper stickers.

Couche-Couche (koosh-koosh) A popular breakfast food, made by frying cornmeal and topping it with milk and/or cane syrup.

Couillon or Cooyon (coo-yon) a fool or crazy person

Courir de Mardi Gras:  Courir, means “to run.”  This is the Cajun style of Mardi Gras popular in small towns like Mamou, La.   Costumed revelers on horse back along with hay rides go into the country-side on a “chicken run” to “steal” chickens.  The loot is brought back to town to be cooked into gumbo for the evening Fais-do-do with dancing in the street.

Courtbouillon (coo-bee-yon)  A rich, spicy tomato-based soup or stew made with fish fillets, onions, and sometimes mixed vegetables.  Also known as couvillon and coubion.

Crawfish (craw-fish)  Crawfish, sometimes spelled "crayfish," resemble lobsters, but are much smaller. They are also know by the slang term, "mudbugs," because they live and grow in the mud of freshwater bayous. A new industry grew when rice farmers flooded their fields after harvest to provide a perfect habitat for crawfish.  They can be served many ways: in etouffees, jambalaya, gumbos but the most popular is boiled with seasonings and served with corn and potatoes.

Envie (on-vee) desire; want; inclination. “I got an envie for some crawfish!”

Etoufee (ay-too-fay)  A smothered seafood sauce. This dish usually made with crawfish or shrimp.  

Fais do do (fay-doe-doe)  The name for a party where traditional Cajun dance is performed. This phrase literally means "to make sleep," although the parties are the liveliest of occasions with food, music, and dancing.

File' (fee-lay)  Ground sassafras leaves used to season and thicken gumbo.  Cajuns add this to gumbo after it’s cooked.  In creole gumbo, it’s added during the cooking process.

Fricassee (fri-kay-say)  A stew made by browning then removing meat from the pan, making a roux with the pan drippings, and then returning meat to simmer in the thick gravy.

Gumbo (gum-boh)  A robust roux-based soup sometimes thickened with okra or file'. There are thousands of variations, such as shrimp or seafood gumbo, chicken or duck gumbo, okra and file' gumbo.

Jambalaya (jum-bo-lie-yah)  Louisiana chefs "sweep up the kitchen" and toss just about everything into the pot. A rice dish with any combination of beef, pork, fowl, smoked sausage, ham, or seafood, as well as celery, green peppers and often tomatoes.

Joie de Vivre (jzhwa-da-veev)  An attitude towards life

Lagniappe (lan-yop)  This word is Cajun for "something extra," like the extra donut in a baker's dozen. An unexpected nice surprise.

Laissez les bon temps rouler (lay-zay lay bon tawn rule-ay):  Let the good times roll!

Maque Chou (mock-shoo)  A dish made by scraping young corn off the cob and smothering the kernels in tomatoes, onion, and spices.

Mardi Gras (mardi graw)  Commonly known as Fat Tuesday, it is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Roman Catholic season of Lent.  It is a day known for revelry and feasting before the fasting of the Lenten season.

Manger (mon-zjay) To eat

Pirogue (pee-row) A Cajun canoe with a flat bottom

Praline (praw-leen)  The sweetest of sweets, this New Orleans tradition is a candy patty made of sugar, cream and pecans.

Rice Dressing:  Pan-fried leftover cooked rice sauteed with green peppers, onion, celery, stock, liver, giblets and many other ingredients. Known in creole cooking as “Dirty Rice.”

Roux (rue)  Base of gumbos or stews, made of browned flour and oil.  A light roux can be made with butter.

Sauce Piquante (saws-pee-kawnt)  Means "spicy sauce"; is a spicy stew.

Tasso (tah-soh) Strips of spiced pork or beef which are smoked and used to flavor many dishes; a sort of Cajun pepperoni.

Creole Terms  

Creole (cree-ole)  The word originally described those people of mixed French and Spanish blood who migrated from Europe or were born in Southeast Louisiana and lived as sophisticated city or plantation dwellers. The term has expanded to include and now embraces a type of cuisine and a style of architecture.  Creole is mostly associated with New Orleans cuisine.  The major difference between creole and cajun cuisines is the use butter instead of oil in roux and tomatoes which were introduced to Louisiana from South America. 

Beignet (ben-yay)  French doughnuts.  They are square cut pieces of a sweet dough which is deep fried and then sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with café au lait.

Creole Gravy:  A spicy chunky tomato gravy consisting of tomatoes, onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic.

Debris:  In cooking terms, this means the crumbs after slicing roast beef, roast pork or roast turkey which is then added to gravy.

Dirty Rice  Pan-fried leftover cooked rice sauteed with green peppers, onion, celery, stock, liver, giblets and many other ingredients. 

Grillades (gree yahds) Beef or veal round steak, browned, then simmered until tender in browned tomato sauce served over rice or grits 

Gris Gris (gree gree) a voodoo bad luck charm

Holy Trinity of Creole Cooking:  a mixture of chopped onion, celery and bell pepper

King Cake  A ring shaped oval pastry, decorated with colored sugar in the traditional Mardi Gras colors, purple, green, and gold, which represent justice, faith, and power. A small plastic baby is hidden inside the cake. Tradition requires that the person who gets the baby in their piece must provide the next King Cake.

Pain Perdu (pan-pear-doo)  Means "lost bread"; a breakfast treat made by soaking stale bread in an egg batter, then frying and topping with cane syrup or powdered sugar.

Po-Boy A sandwich extravaganza that began as a five-cent lunch for poor boys. Always made with French bread, po-boys can be stuffed with fried oysters, shrimp, fish, crawfish, meatballs, smoked susage and more.

Red Beans & Rice  The traditional Monday meal in New Orleans, red beans are cooked with ham or sausage and seasonings, and served over rice.

Red Gravy:  Creole sauce with roux and tomatoes.

Vieux Carre (voo ca-ray) French, meaning "old quarter," and referring to the French Quarter.

Zydeco (zi-de-co)  A relatively new kind of Creole dance music that is a combination of traditional Cajun dance music, R&B, and African blues.