Rouses Everyday - May & June

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28 MYROUSESEVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2015
the Culinary Influences issue
Donald Rouse’s Crawfish
with Sauce Acadian
This is my version of my friend John Folse’s recipe. The hot sauces
make it a bit spicier.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
½ cup of butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 pounds of Rouses boiled crawfish
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 gallon cold water
2 cups dry white wine
½ cup tomato sauce
4 teaspoons Crystal Hot Sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1 pint heavy whipping cream
½ ounce brandy
1 pinch paprika
Rouses salt to taste
White pepper to taste
HOW TO PREP
In a saucepan, melt butter over high heat. Add in flour, whisking continuously,
to make a blond roux. Remove from heat.
Peel 2 pounds of boiled crawfish. Reserve meat.
In a large pot over medium heat, make a stock by cooking crawfish shells,
garlic, onions, celery, bell peppers, bay leaves and thyme in water and wine.
Bring liquid to a low boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes, using
a skimmer to remove any impurities.
Strain stock and discard crawfish shells and vegetables. Return to pot, and
bring to a low boil. Stir in tomato sauce, Crystal and Tabasco. Add roux,
whisking constantly, until completely incorporated. Reduce heat and simmer
for 15 minutes, whisking occasionally.
Add crawfish tails, stir in cream, brandy and paprika, and season with salt and
white pepper. Serve over pasta.
of the exotic spices and ingredients available to the Creoles were to
be found by the Cajuns in bayou country. They were happy to live
off the land, a land abundant with fish, shellfish and wild game.
The Cajuns cooked with joy and love as their most precious
ingredients, a joy brought about by reunion, in spite of the tragedy
that befell cook Cajun is to discover the love and experience
the joy of the most unique American cuisine ever developed.
Cajun cuisine is characterized by the use of wild game, seafoods,
wild vegetation and herbs. From their association with Native
Americans, the Cajuns learned techniques to best utilize the
local products from the swamps, bayous, lakes, rivers and woods.
Truly remarkable are the variations that have resulted from similar
ingredients carefully combined in the black iron pots of the Cajuns.
Jambalaya, grillades, stews, fricassees, soups, gumbos, sauce
piquantes and a host of stuffed vegetable dishes are all characteristic
of these new Cajun “one pot meals.”
From the Germans, the Cajuns were reintroduced to charcuterie
and today make andouille, smoked sausage, boudin, chaudin, tasso
and chaurice, unparalleled in the world of sausage making.
Cajun cuisine is a “table in the wilderness,” a creative adaptation of
indigenous Louisiana foods. It is a cuisine forged out of a land that
opened its arms to a weary traveler, the Acadian.
And so, south Louisiana has a rich history and unique cuisines:
the Creole cuisine with its rich array of ingredients indicating its
close tie to European aristocracy, and Cajun cuisine with its one pot
meals, pungent with the flavor of seafood and game.
Chef John Folse – photo by David Gallent