Listening to his car radio one recent afternoon, restaurateur Charlie Orr heard a panel of critics pronounce the Cajun food craze dead.
”I said to myself, `Thank you, Lord,` ” Orr recalled.
His joyful response might puzzle those familiar with the Cajun-Creole menu at Orr`s Maple Tree Inn on the South Side. But Orr figures the perceived ”death” of Cajun plays right into the hands of serious Louisiana-style chefs.
”That kind of talk might get Bennigan`s out of it-all those people who are doing pseudo Cajun, pseudo Creole,” Orr explained. ”I`d love to see Cajun dropped by all those restaurant chains that think a Cajun dish is something you just season hotter than hell. That`s not it at all.”
To dwell on one important example, the uninitiated might try to put any old smoked sausage into their gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee and beans and rice. The purists, however, insist on genuine andouille, the spicy French delicacy which is practically a staple in Cajun and Creole kitchens but somewhat of a rarity in the North. For other purposes, such as an accent meat for the breakfast grits, experts call for authentic boudin.
If anyone could extract the essence of Cajun cooking, it might be found somewhere in the sausages, because everything else about the cuisine seems to stir controversy. (See accompanying article.)
For Heaven on Seven, a lively Cajun-Creole restaurant tucked into the Garland Building at 111 N. Wabash Ave., chef-owner Jim Bannos orders his sausages from Eula Savoie, owner of Savoie`s (Real Cajun!) Food Products in Opelousas, La.
”I`ve tried a lot of them, and I like hers the best,” Bannos said.
For the Maple Tree Inn, Orr goes a step further and makes his own andouille.
”We use no preservatives,” he said. ”We smoke it for about 18 hours.” Ever the purist, Orr had to build his own smokehouse to get what he wanted: the unique flavor that smoldering hickory chips provide. Modern equipment often heats the meat with gas jets and blows hickory smoke over it. Some manufacturers employ liquid ”smoke,” and others use potatoes as a sausage filler.
Eula Savoie will take a few mass-production shortcuts at her processing plant in rural Louisiana, but she is a woman of unbending principle.
”A friend of mine, another restaurant owner, once asked Miss Eula what kind of filler she uses in her andouille,” Bannos said. ”She answered, in that dry way of hers, `I use meat for a filler.”`
Savoie`s sausage factory is just one of many in Louisiana`s Cajun country. Aside from Heaven on Seven, she supplies no other restaurants. Her retail distribution extends only to neighboring states. Bannos ran across Savoie`s products during a Louisiana trip a few years ago, and he makes special arrangements to have the sausage shipped to him.
Savoie won`t tell exactly how she creates her andouille and boudin. Cajun and Creole cooking is closer to folklore than to chemical formula, and sometimes that sense of the vague extends to the basic ingredients.
”Our sausage is a Cajun product, and it`s a handed-down recipe that I grew up with,” she said. ”There`s nothing in the andouille that anybody couldn`t use. There`s salt and pepper, red pepper and black pepper. And garlic. And the special spices …”
Savoie does not like to give away much more than that. Her only filler, the meat, comes from pork shoulders that originate in Sioux Falls, S.D.
To make boudin, she adds green onions, parsley and cooked rice to the pork. ”Then it`s stuffed in a casing and parboiled,” she said.
Orr, when he makes boudin, follows the classic Cajun recipes and adds liver, too.
(Bannos sells Savoie sausage for $5.75 a pound at Heaven on Seven, and Orr charges $4.95 a pound for take-home andouille at Maple Tree Inn, 10730 S. Western Ave. Chicago-based Leon`s andouille sausage can be bought at some Dominick`s delicatessen counters, Treasure Island, Neiman Marcus and several other stores in the Chicago area. Andouille is also available at Gepperth`s Meat Market and Wild Game in Chicago.)
JAMBALAYA
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Jim Bannos, the owner/chef at Heaven on Seven, pours a lot of ingredients into this spicy jambalaya, but he insists on andouille sausage to pull all those flavors together. This is a surprisingly light rendition, devoid of a lot of extra fat.
1 cup cooked, sliced andouille sausage
1/3 cup diced tasso (or substitute smoked ham)
1/3 cup diced pickled pork (or substitute additional ham)
1 cup each, chopped: onion, green bell pepper, celery
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 jalapeno chili pepper, chopped
4-6 cups chicken stock or broth
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Chef Paul Prudhomme`s Poultry Magic Seasoning Blend, see note
1 teaspoon Chef Paul Prudhomme`s Seafood Magic Seasoning Blend, see note
1-3 teaspoons hot red pepper sauce
Freshly ground black pepper, white pepper to taste
4 cups cooked rice
1 cup diced, cooked chicken
1 cup cooked shrimp
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1. Put the sausage, ham and pork into a large, heavy pot. Cook over medium high heat until they begin to brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the onion, green pepper, celery, green onions, garlic and jalapeno. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 minutes.
2. Add 4 cups of the chicken stock, bay leaf, seasoning blends, hot pepper sauce, and black and white pepper to taste. Heat to a boil; simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens slightly, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir in rice, chicken, shrimp and parsley; heat through. Add additional chicken broth if mixture is too thick. It will thicken somewhat as it stands. If it`s made a day or two in advance, much of the liquid will be absorbed; add chicken stock as necessary.
Note: Chef Paul Prudhomme`s Magic Seasoning Blends are sold in the spice section of specialty markets and supermarkets including Treasure Island, Jewel, Dominicks and Cubs. Or, make your own by mixing 4 small whole bay leaves, 1 teaspoon each: salt, ground white pepper, dry mustard, cayenne pepper and file powder (optional) and 1/2 teaspoon each: ground cumin, black pepper and dried thyme leaves in a jar; use mixture to taste in above recipe.
