Any of You Bayou Cajuns Have a Recipe for Routee?

Can't help you. I thought you were asking about booyee and got all exited. My Grandma would make it for Christmas eve.

If anyone here is from Evangeline parish I would love a recipe if anyone has one.

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bouillie (n.f.) (BOOYEE) 1. custard. 2. a type of soup made of organ meats [Evangeline].

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I had for the 1st time last year at a golf tournament, baw who made it was from Gonzales

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Question, why are the bayou cajuns and not the prairie cajuns the specialists of this pork dish?

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I found it on a website that concentrated on the bayou, but if you have a prairie Cajun perspective, I'd love to hear it.

What is pictured is known as "routee" (spellings vary widely, it's some derivation of standard french roti, and a similar crispy cubed pork dish in Haitian is called roti, too). It's an R not a B. Very, very simple dish....in a heavy pot, brown the hell out of seasoned (like Tony's or a simple salt/pepper blend) pork chunks; when the color looks good, add chopped onions & garlic, keep on browning, add small amounts of water as needed to keep from sticking/browning. Cheaters use Kitchen Bouquet to darken it or other nonsense. But all you need is time and patience, and keep all of the stuff in the pot moving really well. The end result is damn delicious, done properly. It is kind of a cousin to carnitas.

It's the sort of boucherie/camp cooking/men's dish that has endless variations according to every person who cooks it. Cookbook recipes for it are pretty rare. It's definitely part of the cajun cooking canon on southern bayou Lafourche, but I'm not sure how far it extends to the north or west.....

And bouille (which just means boiled) is either a sweet custard pudding made w/eggs and cornstarch or an organ meat stew. I make the custard, but not the organ stew.

Now that I have the correct spelling, I found a recipe. The one and only hit for "routee recipe" on Google. It appears to be a Frank Davis recipe:

FRANK’S POT-FRIED PORK AND HOT POT VEGGIES

Tender chunks of pork chops fried, down in a cast iron Dutch oven until tender and richly browned then generously ladled over hot steamed rice, and an assortment of crisp fresh vegetables gently poached in a spicy New Orleans seafood boil base. . .that’s what this recipe is all about. And you got my guarantee you’re gonna love it!

½ stick margarine
10 pork chops, cut into bite-size pieces
3 Tbsp. brown gravy mix
1 tsp. Frank Davis Pork Seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. granulated onion
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 lb. Portobello mushrooms, large diced
1 Tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet + 1 cup water
2 cups Frank Davis Granular Seafood Boil
4 cups fresh broccoli florets
4 cups fresh green beans
4 cups carrots, large diced
4 cups yellow squash, large diced
4 cups cabbage, cut into thin wedges
½ cup melted butter or margarine
¼ cup Frank Davis Vegetable Seasoning
1 cup Parmesan and Romano cheese mix
6 cups cooked rice

First, in a heavy 6-quart Dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, melt down the margarine until it sizzles and begins to brown. Meanwhile, with the pork pieces laid out on a sheet of freezer paper, sprinkle them on both sides with the brown gravy mix, the pork seasoning, the salt, the pepper, the onion, and the garlic. Then by handfuls, stirring all the time, drop them into the Dutch oven and brown them thoroughly.

Note that this recipe uses the Cajun “routee” technique, which essentially means you fry extremely hot over a high fire and you stir continuously. Don’t make the mistake to walk off and leave the pot unattended! With that in mind then, stir, stir, and stir the pot. Then when the pork pieces begin to brown slightly on the edges, sprinkle in the Jalepeno pepper, the mushrooms, and about a third of the water/Kitchen Bouquet mixture. Then guess what? Yep—you stir some more!

When you notice that everything in the Dutch oven has melded and turned the same rich color(which should take about 10 to 12 minutes of constant cooking), cover the pot with the lid and allow the mixture to “pot-fry” for about 4 minutes or so (don’t worry—it’s not going to burn!). Immediately after the allotted time, however, carefully remove the lid (watch the steam!), add another third of the water/Bouquet mix, stir once again, recover the pot, and continue to cook—still over high heat—for another 4 minutes or so.

Finally, take the lid off the pot once more, stir and “pot-fry” uncovered until the resultant gravy begins to thicken, and add the remaining third of the water/Bouquet. Now “pot-fry” one more time until most of the liquid evaporates and you end up with a rich, semi-thick sauce in the bottom of the Dutch oven.

At this point, reduce the fire to “very low,” cover the pot, and allow the pork to simmer until the veggies are ready.

To do the veggies, bring about 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a 4-quart stockpot or Dutch oven. Then begin adding the granular seafood boil, stirring it continually until it fully dissolves, until the “broth” it makes is rich and spicy and flavorful. How do you know when it’s just right? When you can say to yourself, “Ooooooh—I could drink this down with a straw!” . . .it’s ready!

All that’s left is to drop in the veggies that you want to cook one variety at a time. Here’s the technique: (1) Start off with a rapidly boiling stock; (2) Add the vegetables; (3) The stock will stop boiling; (4) When the stock comes back to a boil turn the fire off and let the veggies soak in the stock with the lid on the pot until they turn “tender crisp”—cooked but still slightly crunchy.

Never had bouille as a soup, we always brown it & make a rusty gravy with it. My preference is to have it without the kidney, could never get over the urine smell when cooking. Pretty much every meat market in Evangeline parish sells it & if you know the butcher, he'll hook you up with whatever mix you like. Also, most of the time it's mostly beef meat with some pork parts. Makes the best gravy even if you don't want to eat the meat.

Just saw the recipe above. Bouille in Evangeline parish is MUCH different than that, no pork chops in bouille-made mostly of organ meats & some entrails. (Heart, liver, kidney, spleen, & some pieces that are probably better off "unidentified")

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you sir are a wizard and have the one upvote I am provided to give

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hungryone is a lady!

Thanks for the upvote....I seem to have attracted a serial downvoter as well. LOL. Now I'm hungry for a big bowl of routee.

The world needs a routee cookoff. Or maybe just South Lafourche needs a routee cookoff? Ha.

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very simple dish....in a heavy pot, brown the hell out of seasoned (like Tony's or a simple salt/pepper blend) pork chunks; when the color looks good, add chopped onions & garlic, keep on browning, add small amounts of water as needed to keep from sticking/browning. Cheaters use Kitchen Bouquet to darken it or other nonsense. But all you need is time and patience, and keep all of the stuff in the pot moving really well. The end result is damn delicious, done properly. It is kind of a cousin to carnitas.

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This is exactly how I make my pork roast.

Bet dat dish has 14 different names in 6 different parishes...