The Web is cooking
Home pages featuring Cajun recipes
cropping up on the World Wide Web
By NANCY REGENT
Advocate Online news editor

"Cajun cooking web pages are created to share recipes and "set the record straight about Cajun cooking." Want to know how to cook Catfish Courtbouillon or make a roux?  

Your home computer can be a useful cooking tool, indexing recipes, calling up family cookbooks around the world or sending electronic messages to famous chefs. While Cajun cooking is hot, dozens of people are putting up home pages on the World Wide Web with Cajun recipes, complete with the how-tos for making spices.

"It seemed like every time I told someone I was Cajun the first thing they asked was if I had a good recipe. That led me to a Cajun recipe page," said Neil Dronet, 33, a native of Sulphur now living in Texas (http://rampages.onramp.net/~ndronet/).  Dronet allows visitors to submit Cajun recipes to his already growing list of dishes like Calcasieu Onion Soup, Cajun Sweet and Sour Meatballs and Cricket's Cajun Cornbread.

Others say they created Cajun recipe pages to set the record straight about Cajun cooking. "A great misconception about Cajun food is that it is always hot (spicy). We do enjoy cayenne pepper, but within reason," writes Renee Kelleher on the Kelleher Family Homepage (http://www.oocities.org/BourbonStreet/3277/) -- (NOTE: Renee moved her site to: (http://francieweb.com/renee). "While blackened food may be delicious, don't mistake it for authentic Cajun cooking," she writes. "Growing up, if we had blackened anything, we would say that dinner was burned, and the scraps would have been thrown into Bayou Boeuf!" Authors of the web pages often share glimpses into their lives, like Kelleher, who tells about her hometown of Cheneyville. "Our main meal of the day is at noon, although we call it dinner. "If you are not from Cheneyville, you won't know what the attraction is. Outsiders will see poverty, a boarded-up Front Street, too many mosquitoes, one stoplight and acres and acres of monotonous cotton and cane fields."

"Charlene Dittmer, 40, of Sulphur, said she wants to share culture, food, music and family history as part of her website, "A Taste of Louisiana" (http://www.oocities.org/BourbonStreet/3076) -- (NOTE: This site has also moved to http://www.truecajun.net).  "I've met a lot of wonderful people since joining the 'net world," she said in an e-mail interview. "My mom and dad were both born in the heart of Cajun Country. My dad's family has been traced to Paris, France, and my mom to Nova Scotia. I couldn't help but adopt the culture, and I love it. I do everything I can to preserve the culture." She writes about her children, her husband Mark and includes pictures at Holly Beach and with some of her children on vacation in Tennessee.  Her Cajun cookbook is a glimpse into her family's favorite recipes, with personal notes attached. A note with her Shrimp Piloo recipe says "This definitely looks and smells horrible, but it is absolutely delicious! My only regret is that I can't make it every week."

Andrew Guidroz, 29, of Opelousas (http://www.coonass.com/) has found a friend on the World Wide Web in Sweden who cooks his Cajun recipes. He includes a recipe for Catfish Courtbouillon, Maque Choux (he says this is the version of creamed corn with zest), Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and Alligator Sauce Piquante. "My mother cooked for more than a dozen workers when I was a child," he writes on his website. "It was customary for the wife of a farm owner to cook meals for the workers. But interestingly, women in Cajun culture cook food for sustenance. "When it was a special occasion with many people, my father would cook. When I was a child, I never really paid attention to learning how to cook or helping. But the palate and nose are sensitive things. Memories of our childhood come from the smallest drop of flavor. Cooking all of those dishes of my childhood now comes easy to me."

Displaced Cajuns Bob and Eve Broussard of St. Louis, Mo., give a warning on their website (http://users.accessus.net/~cajun/) that "some of these recipes are hot like the devil and may require large quantities of hot sauce!" Their site includes categorized family recipes, with one from Aunt Edna for Cajun seasoning. "Be careful on this one", the Broussards warn. "Mix all ingredients in a jar and store in a jar with a lid." Their warning may well be heeded when cooks start to mix portions of paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic and black pepper. Bob Broussard, 48, originally from Lake Charles, said he grew up watching his mom and dad cook Cajun recipes. (His mom is from Abbeville.) "I was fortunate to obtain all of my dad's recipes from his recipe collection when he died," he said. "I even have one of his original 'Broussard Brothers Hot Tamales' when dad sold tamales out of street vendor carts in New Orleans in the 1920s."

Although most of the people who have Cajun cooking websites maintain them free of charge for the enjoyment of sharing their culture with others, others see it as a profitable situation.  Chefs John Folse (http://www.eatel.net/~folse/) and Paul Prudhomme (http://www.chefpaul.com) include recipes on their site, but also promote their cookbooks and products. Their sites also provide a way to contact them through e-mail.

LSU political science professor James Bolner maintains a Cajun site through the university's Louisiana link (http://www.lsu.edu/guests/poli/public_html).  "Cajuns are very interested in cooking, and that's why you find nearly every Cajun site with a recipe page," he said. From Cajun roots himself in Avoyelles Parish, Bolner says he appreciates websites that include a shrimp with a line through it saying "no" to blackened food.  "I don't like blackened food myself, so I'm glad we're letting the rest of the world know what Cajun food is all about," he said.

Cliff Hebert, 41, a native of Houma, says he decided on a Cajun theme with recipes for his homepage (http://pcis.net/papabear) because he is proud of his Cajun-French heritage. "Although I live in Missouri, my heart is still on the bayou," he writes. "Like most Cajun men, I like to cook, eat, hunt, fish and generally 'pass a good time.' "

Keith Bankston, 35, a native of Baton Rouge living in Sterling Heights, Mich., posts a Cajun recipe of the month on his Cajun Cafe website (http://www.the-cajun-cafe.com/recipe.htm). "What brings about tight relations among these Cajun friends and family?" he asks on his website. "Simple. The food, the indescribably delicious food.  "What is Cajun cuisine? It's a lot like love; unless you've experienced it, there are no real words for the feeling you have during a Cajun feast." Some of the recipes you'll find on these homepages follow:

BEER BROILED BEEF

4 lbs. cubed beef
1 pint beer
4 tbls. butter
3 sliced onions
1/2 cup flour
4 tbls. salad oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic

1. Melt butter in large skillet and saute onions until tender.
2. Dredge beef cubes in flour and brown them in a separate skillet with oil and butter.
3. Add browned meat, salt, pepper and garlic to onions.
4. Add enough beer to cover.
5. Cover tightly and simmer till meat is tender.
Yields 6 Servings.
-- Merlin Bodin

SMOTHERED CABBAGE

1 head cabbage, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 ham hock
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the cabbage, onion and ham hock together until tender.
2. After draining, add the cooking oil. Cook slowly until done.
3. Add seasonings.
Serves 4 to 6.
-- Renee Kelleher

CHAR'S SHRIMP PILOO (peeLOO)

2 to 3 lbs. of large, peeled shrimp (the more shrimp the merrier for me)
4 cups uncooked rice
1 stick margarine or butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 tbls. minced/chopped garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can onion soup
1 (10-oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chilies (Ro-tel type)
Cajun seasoning (to taste)
24 ozs. tomato sauce
Large roaster with cover

1. Saute veggies in butter till tender, add remaining ingredients one at a time and mix well after each addition. I promise you won't be sorry -- that is if you love shrimp. This definitely looks and even smells horrible, but -- you have my word, it's absolutely delicious!!!!!!!! If it's not good, please don't blame the author since I didn't cook it. Only kidding !!!!!
2. Anyway, bake in covered roaster at 350 degrees, stirring quite often to prevent scorching -- cooking time varies. The dish is done when the rice is! I know that doesn't make any sense (it never did to me, either, but....)! Good luck! I've only messed up once -- when I didn't leave it in long enough and some of the rice just wasn't tender -- stirring often is really important. Oh well -- we all make mistakes. This is a definite kitchen warmer-upper, but it's worth it in my humble but honest opinion!
3. This is my most favorite shrimp dish, and my only regret is that I can't make it every week!!!! I'd love to hear some feedback after y'all try it out.
-- Charlene Dittmer, Sulphur, La.

BROWNIES  -- DISCLAIMER: This recipe has been removed as of 02/23/01 @12:12 a.m. as Chuck Taggart (The Gumbo Pages) claims he never gave The Advocate permission to use his grandmother's recipe or his text. He sent me an e-mail basically claiming I was in violation of his copyright -- how ironic, since *I* did not write the article for The Baton Rouge Advocate. I really did not want to "edit" this article, but I really don't want to hear the whining again! The original article appeared both in the actual newspaper and in the online newspaper several years ago, and I received special permission by the author to repost it here. That was a LONG time ago -- '97, I think. Anyway.....the recipe is gone, and who really cares?! *lol*

FRIED SOFTSHELL CRAWFISH WITH RO-TEL TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

3 pints heavy whipping cream
3 tbls. fresh basil, chopped
3 tbls. minced garlic
1 tbl. all-purpose seasoning
4 tbls. Ro-tel tomatoes, chopped
2 tsps. Tabasco
20 softshell crawfish
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 cups all-purpose seasoning, divided
3 cups corn flour
Oil for frying
6 tbls. chopped green onions
3 tbls. minced parsley

1. Combine first six ingredients. Reduce till creamy; keep warm.
2. Clean crawfish and remove the eyes and calcium deposits; set aside.
3. Whip eggs, milk and buttermilk together.
4. Mix regular flour and 1 tablespoon seasoning.
5. Dredge crawfish in seasoned flour. Dip in milk mixture, and then dredge in corn flour seasoned with remaining 1 tablespoon seasoning.
6. Heat oil to 350 degrees. Drop battered crawfish in hot oil, and fry until golden brown.
7. Add green onions and parsley to the cream sauce.
8. Serve crawfish on a bed of sauce.

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