Lets Talk Cajun History And Their Connection To Barbecue.

First let us check a few sites that tell about Cajun History and it's impact on the American Culture today.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~jmeaux/cajun.html
http://www.acadian-cajun.com/hiscaj1.htm
http://www.acadian-cajun.com/gencaj1.htm

Now that you know a little more about Cajun History lets talk Cajun/Creole Foods.

Creole and Cajun cooking developed in Southern Louisiana. Basically Creole cooking is city style and Cajun is rural. They both use many of the same locally grown ingredients. Creole refers to a native development from the French and Spanish colonial period. At one time anything grown locally was termed "creole", so you could buy creole eggs, creole cream cheese, creole beef, etc. Today the area's best tomatoes are creoles. Both styles have been influenced by Indians, French, African Americans and Spanish. Both styles use fresh local food but the preparation is different. Creole cooking is more elegant. Fish and rice and a sauce might be used but in Creole dishes the sauce would be more delicate and the ingredients served separately. In Cajun cooking it would be more likely to put all the ingredients in one pot and serve it as a one dish meal. Cajun cooking us known for its spiciness. If you're not born Cajun, taste first.

There is no one single type of cooking throughout the South. What is red beans and rice in Louisiana is more like to be peas and rice, or "hoppin john" in South Carolina while in Florida you find black beans and rice. In Virginia and Maryland crabs are steamed and then seasoned while along the Gulf Coast they are boiled in highly seasoned water. In Appalachia you find the freshest vegetables and "red-eye gravy" with your country ham. In North Carolina verbal warfare has been known to break out over the use of tomatoes in barbecue sauces. Home cooking has been the best of Southern food but today's restaurants are changing that picture. Corn, greens, pork and chicken are still Southern mainstays. At Christmas you find baked ham and turkey, sweet potatoes, rice, corn or oyster dressing and ambrosia and pecan pies anywhere in the South.

Cajun bbq begins with meat preparation and the type of rubs (combination of herbs and peppers) they use to give it that unique flavor know world wide. There are many way's to cook Cajun prepared meats and seafood. But one of the preffered is grilling or pit and another is smoking. And they do it very well.