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September 2012
Most places of America do not really have their own signature dishes. However New Orleans is quite different. As one tourist said to me, there are only about 6 different types of food in New Orleans but there are many different varieties to the limited cuisine.
This is what I understand about the various cuisines in New Orleans.
Gumbo:
This is a mix of European, African, Caribbean and Native American Indian influence in this dish. It is like a casserole but mixed with white rice. It is a rich stock, made with Okra, onions, celery and bell peppers. You can have seafood of shrimp, crabmeat and oysters gumbo (too fishy for my liking) or chicken gumbo with sausages (my preference). I had this dish at Mother’s restaurant.
Jambalaya:
This is a meal in itself as it like Italian risotto of sausages, vegetables, and seafood but with long grain rice. The variations of Jambalaya include chicken or turkey. My preference is the chicken jambalaya with cabbage. I also had this dish at Mother’s restaurant.
Po Boys:
This is New Orleans version of a subway sandwiches. Inside this Po Boy are usually pilled with lettuce, slice tomatoes, gherkin with deli meat such as roast beef with tasty version of gravy, fried (boiled) seafood such as catfish, shrimp, crab, crawfish with white sauce. My preference is with Po Boy with shrimp. I had this dish in Frenchmen street at the Praline Connection restaurant.
Shrimp Creole:
This is one of my favorites as it is light and in my opinion healthy. It is fresh shrimp in a tomato base mixed with chopped onion, green peppers, and green onion.
Crawfish Etouffee:
This is similar to the Gumbo (in my opinion) but slightly thicker, spicy and savory.
Red Bean on Rice:
This dish is traditional made from left over pork and served only on Mondays but now you can find it everyday. Some served it with sausage. I had this dish at Mother’s restaurant.
Oyster Rockerfeller:
Yummy! My dish came with yummy Parmesan cheese topped with rich white sauce of flour and milk. There is a bit of spice in it too. Better than I have tasted anywhere so far. I have this dish at Oceania at Bourbon Street.
Beignets:
This is a French doughnut. However, it is square in shape, deep fried dough so it is slightly doughy yet feel like a lightly crispy pillow in your mouth. This one that I had was coated with fine, not too sweet sugar. Yummy! I had this at Cafe du Monde opposite Jackson square. (The place to have it) heard that there are savory versions but I have not tasted that. The savory version is supposed to be filled with crawfish or shrimp.
Muffuletta:
To me it looks like am Italian subway (long sandwich) Thus I didn’t bother to try.
Andouille:
This is spicy smoked pork sausage. I had a bite and find it ordinary.
Bread Pudding and Banana Foster:
Both are local favorite dessert. The bread pudding could have bourbon; some would have white chocolate and maybe pecan with cream and lemon juice. As for the banana foster, it has dark rum and spices. Unfortunately due to lack of stomach space, I didn’t managed to try any of these desserts.
Tip:
If you don’t have enough time to try all these dishes, my suggestion would be to try the Gumbo, Jambalaya, Oyster Rockerfeller and the Beignets.
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