re: The Origin of Crawfish Etouffee

Folse and other authors of Creole Cooking are right because Etouffee is from the Parisiane French word for smother not the Cajun French and originited in New Orleans at the hands of The Urselines who brought this finer cooking style to the city. Also, many early Creoles sent their cooks to France for training (even slave owners) and they too write of the technique of Etouffees. Tomato was also used in early Creole cooking and certainly was used in Crawfish and Chicken Etouffee. Many Cajun cooks do not use tomato in Etouffees because they prefer the orange fat to get the color and flavor where the Creoles use tomatos since it was considered more creative and available in the early French market. Tomato like okra is used often and eliminated often from like dishes....it is personal preference.