Creole is a cuisine developed in Louisiana and the Gulf States by the Creoles. The food has a unique style influenced by the people, the climate, and the geography of this area. The Creoles took the best of the French cuisine, borrowed the spicy Spanish seasonings, and incorporated the foods familiar to the American Indians in the Gulf area.

The foods of Creole cookery are highly seasoned as are the foods in most tropical climates. Creole dishes are often very spicy and very hot, yet the seasonings are balanced so that no one flavor asserts itself over any other flavor.

Because Creole cookery developed along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, fish and shellfish predominate in Creole dishes. The people also took advantage of other native foods in their area. Game and vegetables, such as okra and yams, were used extensively. Rice became the basic starch food and tomatoes a common ingredient in sauces. One of the local seasonings, file, was introduced to the settlers by the Choctaw Indians. File is made of powdered young sassafras leaves and is used in seafood dishes and gumbos to impart the texture of okra.

The Creoles, thus, developed an authentic American cuisine, a blend of the best from the old and the new worlds.

The main dishes in Creole cuisine have a number of common ingredients. Most are a combination of rice, tomatoes, onions, and garlic with the seafood, poultry, and game of the Gulf area. Bay leaves, thyme, hot pepper sauce and file produce the highly seasoned flavors.

The basis for most Creole cooking is the roux. This is a cooked mixture of flour and shortening, sometimes cooked until brown an then some liquids are added. This sauce, unlike gravy and white sauce, is made at the beginning rather than at the end of the preparation of a dish.

A dish such as Shrimp Creole illustrates the Creole style of cooking. It is a highly seasoned combination of tomato sauce, onion, green peppers and the popular seafood in a dish to be served with rice.

Specific examples of Creole dishes are the famous jambalayas and gumbos. Jambalaya is a rice dish cooked with tomatoes, onions, herbs, and seafood, meat, or poultry. This dish was probably introduced when the Spanish controlled New Orleans since it resembles the Spanish dish, paella. It is eaten as a casserole or a stew. Jambalayas, a tossed salad, and corn bread make a complete menu for a lunch or a light supper.

Gumbo resembles a thick soup made with a wide assortment of meat or shellfish, tomatoes, and okra. The name comes from this last ingredient because gumbo is derived from the African word for okra.

File is commonly used in gumbo as a substitute for the slippery, smooth texture of okra. Care must be taken that the file is never cooked because it will become stringy. The spice should be stirred in only when cooking is complete.

A variation of the basic type of gumbo is the gumbo sheers. This dish contains fresh greens and seasonings.

Gumbo, like jambalaya, is eaten as a main course dish requiring little else to make the meal a complete Creole feast.

Jambalaya and gumbo are frequently made with leftovers or odds and ends of food. This illustrates a trait of the Creoles. They do not waste food, but use leftovers to make many delectable dishes.

Creoles are famous for their many fine soups. Their bouillabaisse has been appraised as finer than any soup found in France. Turtle soups, thick and thin seafood mixtures, and bisque of shellfish or game are among a few of their specialties.

Creole cooking, like French cooking, uses sauces extensively. These sauces usually begin with roux, then fish or chicken broth, milk, or wine is added for flavor. Meat, fish, and poultry are frequently cooked with a sauce.

French ancestry is reflected in other Creole foods as well as in the sauces. Many of the desserts are basically French. Brioche, a soft roll, and beignet, a sweet fritter, are typical French foods incorporated into Creole cuisine.

Other desserts are credited to the Creole's own culture. Calas, for instance, are Creole cakes made with rice and yeast, and fried. Rich chocolate cake and pralines are also typical Creole desserts. The chocolate cakes are made with brown sugar and sometimes strong coffee to produce an especially tempting flavor. Pralines, made of brown or granulated sugar, cream, and pecans, are a traditional Creole favorite which many tourists choose to send home as souvenirs of their visit to New Orleans.

To temper the sweetness of these desserts, Creole coffee with its strong, rich, chicory flavor can be served. The bite of chicory is often softened by making café au lait with hot milk or café bra lot with citrus peel, spices and brandy.