{"id":15594,"date":"2018-05-14T13:23:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T18:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitmo.com\/articles\/missouri-cajun-and-creole-cuisine-101\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T07:56:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:56:04","slug":"missouri-cajun-and-creole-cuisine-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/articles\/missouri-cajun-and-creole-cuisine-101","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Cajun and Creole Cuisine 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Mardi Gras season<\/a>, and you’re in the mood for a New Orleans-inspired food adventure, but you’re not sure where to go or what to try. The terms and dishes can be a little daunting, for sure, but here’s a quick, down-and-dirty cheat sheet to guide your dining decisions.<\/p>\n

A little background: Creole and Cajun cuisines are similar due to the French heritage of both cultures, and they both incorporate the “holy trinity” of onions, bell peppers and celery as a base, but the terms are not necessarily interchangeable.<\/p>\n

Creole is often thought of as “city food,” while Cajun is considered “rustic.” It is said that Creole feeds one family with three chickens, and Cajun feeds three families with one chicken.<\/p>\n

Gumbo is perhaps the most iconic Louisiana dish and can be Creole or Cajun, depending on how the roux (pronounced roo) is made. Enjoy the deep flavor of the Cajun Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo at Highway 61 Roadhouse<\/a> in St. Louis. In Columbia, stop by Glenn’s Caf\u00e9<\/a> for a hearty cup of New Orleans Seafood Gumbo followed by bread pudding with whiskey sauce.<\/p>\n

Confused about the difference between jambalaya and etouffee (pronounced eh-too-fey)? Jambalaya, a distant cousin of paella, is a broth-based rice dish that includes the holy trinity and shellfish and\/or sausage. The Creole version has tomatoes; the Cajun version does not. Etouffee means “smothered” in French and is a roux-based dish served over rice.<\/p>\n

Ready to give crawfish (aka mudbugs) a try? Sample the crawfish etouffee at Boudreaux’s Louisiana Seafood and Steaks<\/a> in St. Joseph. If you want to sample something new, but in a familiar format, try the Cajun Pizza or the KC Cajun Fries at KC Cajun<\/a>. Shrimp and crawfish tails elevate these everyday staples into a dish that’s bursting with flavor.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, <\/em>boudin (pronounced boo-dan) is sausage stuffed with pork and rice and is about as Cajun as it gets. Broussard’s<\/a> in Cape Girardeau \u2013 located on the Mississippi River, like New Orleans \u2013 serves house-made spicy pork and crawfish boudin.<\/p>\n

Do you know what makes a po’ boy a po’ boy? It’s the bread. It must be crusty on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Broadway Oyster Bar<\/a> in St. Louis imports fresh-baked bread from Gambino’s in New Orleans for their po’ boys, made with shrimp, oysters, catfish or crawfish. The Big Easy Grill<\/a> in Springfield also offers a variety of po’ boys to choose from including roast beef, shrimp, oyster and sausage. Also, new to Springfield, check out the La Roux Bistro and Phoenix Vault.<\/strong><\/a> It’s the newest addition to popular C-Street. Brainchild of the already popular restaurateur, Joseph Gidman. The multi-level bistro\/bar features Louisiana-French inspired cuisine in a posh historic building. From classics like shrimp and grits to beignets, get a taste of creole in the Ozarks. The ultimate surprise sits two levels below the bistro. During renovation of the building, Gidman discovered the stone vault known now as the Phenix Vault, named for the Phenix stone, a beautiful marble that adorned the hidden vault.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Mardi Gras season, and you’re in the mood for a New Orleans-inspired food adventure, but you’re not sure where to go or what to try. The terms and dishes can be a little daunting, for sure, but here’s a quick down-and-dirty cheat sheet to guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1097,1065,1007,1157,44075,15617","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-and-drink"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri Cajun and Creole Cuisine 101<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visitmo.com\/articles\/missouri-cajun-and-creole-cuisine-101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri Cajun and Creole Cuisine 101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It's Mardi Gras season, and you're in the mood for a New Orleans-inspired food adventure, but you're not sure where to go or what to try. 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