Thursday, November 29, 2012

Substitute Unavailable Cajun Ingredients

Cajun cuisine can be summed up in one word, spicy. Spicy doesn't necessarily mean hot, but it does mean that the food is very flavorful. Cajun food is basically peasant food. Their food consisted of things that could be found in the area that they lived and worked. The Cajuns also took things from the cuisine of the Indians of the area. Native herbs and vegetables played a key role.


Instructions








1. Add sausage to the dish. Most of the sausages that the Cajuns used in their dishes were spicy and some quite hot. They were packed by hand from the meat obtained from the pigs, beef and other game that they were able to use. The meat was seasoned with many spices and then smoked after packing into links.


2. Substitute other seafood for the types of seafood that the Cajun recipes call for. Using shrimp is usually a good choice as it yields the taste closely to dishes with crawfish. But making a dish in the absence of one of the main ingredients then becomes yours. Use your best judgment in finding something to substitute that will preserve the intent of the dish and mimic the flavor of the original.


3. Mix the spices to generate a blend that will bring the flavor of the dish to a close proximity of the original dish. Many blends of spices will allow you to create a taste that is similar to other spices or blends. Paprika is one ingredient that you can use in place of cayenne pepper to modify the hotness of the dish if so desired.

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