A.5 The Spanish, and the Cajuns

In 1762 France secretly handed Louisiana to Spain. The Spanish brought cooking ideas they had learned from the Maya, Aztecs and Incas. Even the word Creole comes from Spanish: criollo first meant someone born outside Europe or Africa to European or African parents.

During Spanish rule, the first Acadians came. Their families had left France for Nova Scotia. In 1755 the British ordered them to swear loyalty to England or leave Canada; they refused and were deported. Many ended up in France, poor, and when Spain offered them a home in French-speaking Louisiana, many accepted. They settled deep in the swamps and bayous and lived well on the fresh food of the wetlands. Their descendants are the Cajuns. In 1986 there were perhaps 750,000 of them, and many still spoke a French close to that of the 1600s.

The Spanish loved peppers and tomatoes, and they began putting green pepper into sauces and meat dishes. Tomato together with roux became the heart of shrimp Creole sauce, of the gravy for grillades, and of court bouillon, a thick seafood stew. Paella, the Spanish dish of rice and shellfish, led to Creole jambalaya.

The Cajuns lived far from the cities, cut off by money, culture and geography. Even the poorest household could grow a hot pepper or two. A Cajun cook, Joel Cavaness, remembered eating only what the family could grow, catch or shoot, cooked in one big pot, and eating crawfish daily for weeks when it was in season. Flavor came from garden peppers with onion, garlic and bell pepper. With these, Cajun cooks made many dishes.

• bisque
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• étouffée
• court bouillon
• sauce piquante
• jambalaya
• gumbo
• plain boiled crawfish, shrimp and crabs

In the 1840s a Louisianian back from the Mexican War gave the McIlhenny family of Avery Island Mexican pepper seeds, and Tabasco sauce was the result.