Étouffée
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Étouffée or etouffee is a Creole and Cajun dish typically served with shellfish or chicken over rice and is similar to gumbo. It is most popular in New Orleans and in the bayou country of the southernmost half of Louisiana.
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[edit] Etymology
In French, the word "étouffée" (borrowed into english as "stoved") means, literally, "smothered" or "suffocated", from the verb "étouffer"[1].
[edit] Description
The usual staple of an étouffée is seafood such as crawfish, shrimp, or crabmeat. Other meats, such as chicken, or a combination of chicken and seafood, are also used.
The base of an étouffée is either a dark brown-red roux, a blonde roux (a roux that isn't browned as much) or simply onions cooked down in butter. Like many Louisiana dishes, onions, green peppers and celery (a combination often referred to as the holy trinity) form the base of an étouffée. It is usually seasoned with cayenne pepper, white pepper, garlic, and salt and has a thicker consistency than gumbo. A crawfish étouffée, if made with a roux, usually has a reddish color sometimes attributed to crawfish fat (an important ingredient), which is untrue. Crawfish fat is bright yellow, and will not color the dish red. The red color comes from the dark brown-red roux. Seasonings the crawfish were boiled in could also give the dish a red tint. There is typically no tomato in this dish. However, in some areas it has become popular to add tomatoes or tomato paste to the dish. However, most purists believe that once tomatoes are added, the dish ceases to be a true étouffée, and instead becomes a stew or a creole. In many parts of the country, outside of Louisiana, people make étouffée with cream; however, cream is never part of a Louisiana étouffée[citation needed].
[edit] Roux
According to Paul Prudhomme, a dark-red brown roux is used to make etoufee, which requires the use of vegetable oil rather than butter. Butter burns more easily than oil and it is difficult to make such a dark roux without burning the butter (though it is possible)[citation needed]. Chef John Folse uses a blonde roux and notes that many people use only onions and butter as the base. Such is the variety of all types of cajun food and people of south Louisiana can get into spirited debates over the issue of whether to use a roux in etouffee.
[edit] Related cuisine
Beginning in the late 20th century, with the popularization of Louisiana cuisine beyond its place of origin, innovations to these basic forms have abounded. In fact, the term "gumbo" is often used in slang parlance to mean a mixture of anything and everything, though many Cajuns insist that it may only contain those creatures that run, swim, crawl, or fly[citation needed]. One seemingly may add whatever is available in one's kitchen to a pot of gumbo. Étouffée, on the other hand, appears to be held to more exacting standards.
