Louisiana Celebrates - Food & Festivals Around The State

If you want to learn about a region's culture, eat their food and join in their festivals!  When a state celebrates, you get a serious taste of what the local history is all about.  When you dive into the cuisine of a local festival, listen to their music, and listen to the people, you can't help but hear the heartbeat of a region.

The state of Louisiana has more than her fair share of festivals.  Louisiana has been referred to as the 'Festival Capital of the World' due to the sheer number of festivals found throughout the state.  At one count there were over 400 festivals throughout the year, some big, some small.  No matter what the focus – music, food, heritage, arts, crafts, dance, holidays – a Louisiana festival is bound to please every participant.  Let's take a look.

Festivals You Might Expect

Crawfish and tiki people. Mardi Gras street costumers in the French Quarter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can't talk about festivals in Louisiana without talking about Mardi Gras.  But, do you know what Mardi Gras is all about?  This is a huge celebration in early Spring, culminating with Fat Tuesday (tomorrow!), the  day before Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent on the church calendar.  This festival is all about having a last big party before the sacrifices of Lent begin.  Fat Tuesday is meant to be a 'devil may care' day of decadence; eat, drink, and be merry.  Even though New Orleans has become famous for merry-making during Mardi Gras, other cities, like Mobile and Baton Rouge have huge celebrations, many dating back to before New Orleans even considered having a Mardi Gras parade.

Along with Mardi Gras, seafood festivals abound!   Location demands this abundant resource be celebrated, cooked, and eaten in large quantities.  You certainly expect to find festivals like the Louisiana Seafood Festival or the Bridge City Gumbo Festival.  And, you know there's got to be some good catfish at the Franklin Parish Catfish Festival in Winnsboro.

When crawfish are in season, you can hardly turn a corner without finding a festival featuring these tasty crustaceans.  At the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival in May, you'll be able to sample huge flats of boiled crawfish, along with crawfish baked in pies, cooked up in gumbo, or featured in all sorts of ways you simply can't resist.  Remember, when you search for crawfish festivals, include the word 'mudbugs.'  Otherwise, you might miss out on a few, such as the Mudbug Madness Festival in Shreveport.  Truth be known, you could eat nothing but crawfish, or 'mudbugs,' for months at Louisiana festivals. Crawfish were one of my favorite things about living in Louisiana, and I still miss them all these years later!

Music festivals are also abundant, which shouldn't surprise you in this land of American music.  You'll find the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Baton Rouge Blues Festival, and the Creole Zydeco Festival, just to name a few.

Crawfish mound (Photo credit: izik)

Festivals That May Surprise You

Once we wander beyond the well known Louisiana favorites, there are some celebrations that may surprise you.  Louisiana is nothing if it is not diverse.  Beyond seafood and jazz, what does Louisiana have to offer?  A lot!

Enjoy a sweet treat at the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival.  Find new and wonderful ways to enjoy tomatoes at the Creole Tomato Festival in New Orleans,.  If you're in the vicinity of  Farmerville, sink your teeth in some sweet goodness at the Watermelon Festival.  If you think yams and sweet potatoes need celebrating, dig in at the Yambilee Festival in Opelousas.  There's even a Rice Festival.  Trust Louisiana to make rice exciting and delicious!

Want more food?  Join in the fun at the Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival in September.  Craving sweets?    Take a trip to enjoy a few slices of  pie at the Lecompte Pie Festival in October.  If you haven't had your fill of music yet, but want to experience something surprising, check out the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans or the Zydeco Festival in LaBeau.

Scroll through any Louisiana festival website and you'll find pages and pages of festivals, big and small, literally every day of the year.  You can hardly throw a stone in the state without hitting a festival tent!  Fill up your car and hit the road.  You will never regret exploring the Louisiana festival scene - or it's food.

And if you want to bring some Louisiana flavor to your own kitchen, be sure to check out this week's and last week's recipes for some good eats at home!

Recipe: Crockpot Jambalaya

Use your slow cooker to make this classic Cajun recipe even easier! Just brown the meat, then add everything to the crockpot, cover, and let cook until done - voila - dinner!

Crockpot Jambalaya

Ingredients:

Jambalaya with chicken, sausage, rice, tomatoes, celery, and spices. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 large onion, diced small
1 large green bell pepper, diced small
2 celery stalks, diced small
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 lb chicken meat, diced
1 lb pork sausage
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 reg can tomato paste
1 reg can stewed whole tomatoes
1 reg can tomato sauce
1-1/2 cup water
1-1/2 cups uncooked rice
1 lb small to medium shrimp
1 box (10 oz) frozen corn, thawed
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp butter

Directions:

• Put chicken & sausage in a large skillet, add oil, and cook over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked and sausage is no longer pink.
• Add the garlic and cook, stirring until garlic is just fragrant.
• Add chicken, sausage, onion, pepper, celery, tomatoes, paste, sauce, and uncooked rice to large crockpot. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the pot, stir thoroughly.
• Cover and cook for 6 hours on Low or until rice is tender.
• Add in the shrimp, corn, brown sugar, cayenne, salt, black pepper, and the butter, stir to combine and cook until shrimp is pink and cooked thoroughly; about 20 minutes more.
• Serve hot in bowls with crusty bread and a green salad.

Video - Cajun Cooking - The Holy Trinity

Here is a Cajun cooking video describing the "holy trinity" of ingredients - he shows some good chopping techniques, and the proper ratio of these important ingredients for most Cajun dishes, as well as making a good vegetable stock, and some sauteing tips.

If you want to try Cajun cooking yourself, this is a great beginner's video to help learn some simple tips that will yield you some tasty results!

Cajun Easy Cooking - "Cajun Holy Trinity"
This is a fun cooking video that is the first episode in a planned series of the soon to be famous hit internet series, Cajun Easy Cooking. For home chefs and amateur cooks who want to experience the tastes and styles of Cajun cuisine, Cajun Easy Coo...

More Easy Cajun Cooking Resources:
   

Mardi Gras Cooking Cajun Style

This time of year always makes me think of my time spent down "on the bayou" during graduate school.... While I didn't love everything about Louisiana, one thing I did love was the food! And during Mardi Gras was no exception. (I have some VERY fond memories of a Mardi Gras table laden with crawfish.... One of the best dinners I ever had in my life!)

Cajun Zydeco A. Kassebaum (28) (Photo credit: EBRPD Public Affairs)Mardi Gras is a special time of year down in Cajun Country. Even if you don't live down around New Orleans you can still celebrate some of the fun revelry associated with Mardi Gras by throwing a grand old meal fitting of King Rex himself. The trick with bringing Mardi Gras to the Midwest or wherever you may be is to also bring the celebratory state of mind that makes Mardi Gras such a fun and enjoyable event for people from all over the world. And if you're having trouble getting into the spirit, a bowl or two of gumbo followed by a hand grenade or hurricane and topped off with some Mardi Gras music should do the trick quite nicely.

A large part of the charm and intrigue of Mardi Gras and the city of New Orleans is the food that has made this city almost as famous as its ability to party. If you are wondering what to cook to bring the spirit of Mardi Gras into your home from afar try any of the traditional favorites. If ingredients prove difficult to come by, you might want to add a little rice, a little spice, and a lot of hot sauces to your favorite family meal.

Those who live in New Orleans often use rice to stretch the budget of the food. Rice is filling and has traditionally been quite cost effective. This makes rice a great meal for many of the families of New Orleans that have traditionally been quite poor. Rice is used in all manner of dishes from gumbo to red beans and rice to jambalaya and many dishes in between. It is probably the one staple of Cajun cuisine that you will find very few restaurants in the city without. Otherwise there are wide variances in cuisine according to cost and culture (though the more expensive foods are typically considered Creole rather than Cajun).

Spices are prevalent in these dishes for much the same reason that rice is. They have traditionally been an inexpensive method of seasoning dishes that would otherwise be quite bland (or that weren't quite fresh, back in the old days before refrigerators abounded). Expect to find plenty of spices and a little bit of heat in most traditional Cajun dishes throughout the city. Some restaurants that cater to tourists have slightly watered down versions of local favorites but for the most part you will find that Cajuns handle the heat quite well though they do keep plenty of iced tea on tap to help combat those dishes that get a teensy bit too hot to handle.

Image via WikipediaIf you want to try something with a little less kick a po-boy or muffaletta might be what hits the spot. These sandwiches are more than a little deceiving in appearance however as they are very filling. French fries are still a Cajun favorite though we also have a popular dish called fried sweet potatoes (yes in the south we fry everything, but it is something a little bit different and the sweetness of the fried sweet potatoes can often counteract some of the heat of other Cajun favorites). You can find recipes for all of these online quite easily though you will probably have a bit of time finding the perfect bread for a po boy anywhere outside the Crescent City. There is a unique "chewiness" to the perfect po boy bread that may be imitated elsewhere but I've never quite found anything to compare and I've been all over the country.

For the perfect finish for your Cajun cooking you should make a point of purchasing some chicory coffee. This is easily accomplished online if your local coffee shop doesn't have any on hand. Historically, chicory was added to coffee and often used instead of coffee because it was much cheaper than actual coffee. This meant it could stretch the more expensive coffee beans and provide a similar taste and texture with that hint of chicory. It's a rather unique flavor and for many people is synonymous with the city itself.

Try out some of these ideas, and you'll find it quite easy to plan your Mardi Gras cooking no matter how far from New Orleans you may roam. And for some great Cajun recipes, be sure to check back later this week - I'll be sharing one of my favorite gumbo recipes, which I've been greatly enjoying this past week!

More Cajun Cooking Resources:
   

Video - Cajun Cooking Secret - Making the Roux

One of the essential ingredients to many Cajun dishes, including the gumbo recipe we will share on Friday, is the Roux. Making a good Roux is important for getting the correct flavor to your Cajun cooking, and this video will help you learn to make Roux like a pro. (The video is about 10 minutes, and this old guy likes to talk, so feel free to skip the part about lighting the stove, unless you are cooking on a woodstove too, or just want to enjoy the preparations - it is kind of fun to watch!) You may want to refer back to our post from last week about cooking with oils, to find one that will be healthiest for this purpose. Remember that some oils are sensitive to heat, and will not be as healthy (or as tasty) if heated very high. Rice-bran oil may be a good choice for this particular use.

This takes a while, but your results are worth it! You can make a large batch of roux as shown here in this video, and put it in a jar in the fridge - it will keep for a while, and you can use it in several dishes, including the gumbo recipe we will share on Friday - be sure to check back for that.

Cajun Cooking #1 The Roux
A key ingredient to some popular Cajun dishes is the Roux. Learn how to make it and youll be cooking like a real Cajun in no time. Visit The Bayou Gardener in Avoyelles Parish Louisiana - Cajun Country at www.thebayougardener.com

Cajun Cooking Resources: