New Orleans Food Dictionary

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ANDOUILLE (ahn-do-ee)
A spicy country sausage used in Gumbo and other Cajun dishes.
BEIGNET (ben-yea)
Delicious sweet doughnuts, square-shaped and minus the hole, lavishly sprinkled with powdered sugar. Sometimes served with café au lait (coffee with chicory and milk). The most famous beignets in the French Quarter can be found at Café du Monde
BISQUE (bis-k)
A thick, cream or milk-based shellfish soup, usually made with crawfish, shrimp or oysters.
BOUDIN (boo-dan)
Hot, spicy pork mixed with onions, cooked rice, herbs, and stuffed in sausage casing.
CAFE AU LAIT (kah-fay-oh-lay)
This is New Orleans traditional coffee. Cafe au Lait is made from coffee and chickory mixed with boiled milk.
CAYENNE (ki-yan)
A hot pepper that is dried and used to season many Louisiana dishes.
CHICORY (chick-ory)
 An herb, the roots of which are dried, ground; roasted and used to flavor coffee.
CRAWFISH (craw-fish)
Crawfish, sometimes spelled “crayfish,” resemble lobsters, but are much smaller. Yankees sometimes call crawfish “crayfish.” Locally, they are known as “mudbugs,” because they live and grow in the mud of freshwater bayous. They can be served many ways: in etouffees, jambalaya, gumbos or, simply boiled.
DIRTY RICE
Pan-fried leftover cooked rice sauteed with green peppers, onion, celery, stock, liver, giblets and many other ingredients.
ETOUFEE (ay-too-fay)
Means to smother. A succulent, tangy tomato-based sauce. usually made with crawfish or shrimp. Crawfish and Shrimp etouffees are New Orleans and Cajun country specialties.
FILE (fee-lay)
Ground sassafras leaves used to season, among other things, gumbo. Feel free to buy some to take home and make your own authentic gumbo!
FRICASSEE (free-kay-say)
A stew made by browning then removing meat from the pan, making a roux with the pan drippings, and then returning meat to simmer in the thick gravy.
GUMBO (gum-boe)
A thick, robust roux-based soup sometimes thickened with okra or file’. There are thousands of variations, such as shrimp or seafood gumbo, chicken or duck gumbo, okra and file’ gumbo. All gumbos start with a rich roux and usually include either seafood, chicken or sausage served over rice.
JAMBALAYA (Jam Ba Lie Uh)
A Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence. The dish is a New World version of the Old World dish paella. Louisiana chefs “sweep up the kitchen” and toss just about everything into the pot .Usually, jambalaya is a spicy dish made with rice, tomato and a combination of beef, pork, fowl, smoked sausage, ham, or seafood, as well as celery and green peppers.
MAQUE CHOU (mock-shoo)
A dish made by scraping young corn off the cob and smothering the kernels in tomatoes, onion, and spices.
MUFFALETTA (Moof A lot a)
 A muffuletta consists of one muffuletta loaf, a type of Sicilian bread, split horizontally. The loaf is then covered with a marinated olive salad, then layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, emmentaler, and provolone. The sandwich is sometimes heated through to soften the provolone. The size of the muffuletta is enough to feed more than one person.
PAIN PERDU (pan-pear-doo)
 Means “lost bread”; a breakfast treat made by soaking stale bread in an egg batter, then frying and topping with cane syrup or powdered sugar.
PO’ BOY
A traditional submarine sandwich from Louisiana. It almost always consists of meat or seafood, usually fried, served on baguette-like Louisiana French bread. Louisiana French bread is different from the traditional American baguette, in that it has a flaky crust with a soft, airy center like baguettes in France. This is generally attributed to the high ambient humidity causing the yeast to be more active. Po’ boys can be stuffed with fried oysters, shrimp, fish, crawfish, meatballs, smoked susage and more.
DRESSED
When ordering a po’boy or sandwich “dressed”, this will indicate that there will be lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and mayo on it.
PRALINE (praw-leen)
The sweetest of sweets, this New Orleans tradition is a candy patty made of sugar, cream and pecans. Do not say pray-leen.
RED BEANS & RICE
The traditional Monday meal in New Orleans, red beans are cooked with ham or sausage and seasonings, and served over rice.
ROUX (rew)
A roux is the base for many popular New Orleans dishes, such as gumbos and steps. It is made from flour and oil.
SAUCE PIQUANTE (saws-pee-kawnt)
Means “spicy sauce”; is a spicy stew.
SNO-BALL
Shaved ice (nearly powder) served with flavored syrups.
TASSO (tah-soh)
Strips of spiced pork or beef which are smoked like jerky and used to flavor many dishes; a sort of Cajun pepperoni.