Why are tomatoes absent in Cajun cuisine?

Tomatoes are definitely not absent in Cajun cooking, either in a contemporary view or an historical one. Redfish courtbouillion features tomatoes, as does the bayou cajun shrimp spaghetti common in southern Lafourche & Terrebonne (a fine dish that deserves to be cooked more widely, esp with a little crab fat stirred into the sauce). Shrimp creole is popular, and a smidge of tomato paste is pretty common in crawfish etouffee. All the bayou cajun cooks I know cook smothered okra & tomatoes (usually w/shrimp), as well as using tomatoes in shrimp/sausage/corn soup. Those are just a few off the top of my head, I’m sure we could come up with a more exhaustive list.

Just because it’s not in gumbo or jambalaya doesn’t mean it isn’t used in cajun cooking.

Sauce piquante
Maque choux

cajun is a more simpler style with normally less expensive ingredients.

they use tomatos often, just not in everything because poors dont use the pricey veggies if they can do without

I like fried green tomatoes, ripe tomato & mayo sandwich, tomato and cucumber salad, stew tomato and okra, tomato basil soup...but no tomato in jambalaya!

Because they are both gross and poisonous.

Here's one from Deep South Dish:

Shrimp Boat Spaghetti

1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 tsp Creole or Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), to taste
1 Tbs olive oil
1 cup chopped Vidalia or sweet yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped medium sweet bell pepper (red or green)
2 toes garlic, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel), undrained
1 (24-26 ounce) can your favorite pasta sauce (like Del Monte)
2 medium bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 (12-16 ounce) package spaghetti noodles
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp of dried parsley flakes, optional

1. Peel and devein shrimp, rinse and drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Spread shrimp out on a large baking pan in a single layer and sprinkle lightly with Cajun seasoning to taste depending on how hot you like it. Set aside.

2. Add olive oil to a deep skillet and heat to medium. Add chopped onion and bell pepper and sauté until tender. Add garlic and cook a bit longer but do not allow garlic to brown or it will have a bitter taste. Add stewed tomatoes and use a potato masher to break them up. Add diced tomatoes and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Add pasta sauce, bay leaves, basil and Old Bay; let simmer for another 15 minutes.

3. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add to it 2 to 3 very generous pinches of kosher salt. Add pasta and cook to al dente. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water before draining and set aside. Drain pasta well and set aside.

4. Add shrimp and parsley to sauce, stir well and cook just until pink and cooked through. Add only enough pasta water to sauce as needed, and only if sauce has become too thick. Taste the sauce, adding salt and pepper as needed. Combine the pasta with several spoons of the sauce and toss well. Plate individual servings of pasta, top with sauce, crack a bit of fresh black pepper over top and garnish with a sprinkle of parsley.

5. Cook's Notes: For smaller sized shrimp, increase to 2 pounds if desired. May also stir the cooked and well drained pasta right into the sauce. Although crab spaghetti works better with a slow simmering sauce and gumbo crabs added for flavor, 1 pound of fresh crabmeat, picked over for shell, may be substituted. Add at the end to warm through, along with or in place of shrimp.

Servings: 4

Source: Deep South Dish

Old Bay??????

quote:

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Just no tomatoes in gumbo or jambalaya

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I’ve said it since I’ve been on this board. I put tomatoes in my gumbos because I like them and I’ve never had anyone slide a bowl back across the table and refuse to eat it because of them. Never had anyone push them aside either. I’ve eaten a lot of gumbo with them from other people as well.

I don’t put them in jambalaya because I can’t cook jambalaya but if they are in it I’ll eat it.

For full disclosure im not a Cajun nor to I pretend to be. Im African Irish.